County School station from the southern end of the platform June 2010
English: County School Railway Station, near to North Elmham, Norfolk, Great Britain. A railway line was opened as part of the Norfolk Railway's extension from East Dereham to Fakenham in 1849, but County School railway station was not built until 1886 to serve the private school from which it took its name, and following the opening of the Wroxham branch line in 1882. In 1903 the Norfolk County School became the Watts Naval School, the station name, however, remained unchanged. County School became a Great Eastern Railway rural junction station even though the Wroxham branch left the Wells line a mile north, at Broom Green. The station consisted of up and down platforms and an extra bay for Wroxham services. The stationmaster's house is unusual, in that the railway did not build it. Instead it was originally the lodge house for the school - and its style reflects the school rather than the station. County School station was equipped with three platforms, two platform buildings, a signal box and a small coal yard. This yard was essentially to serve the needs of the large number of fires in the school buildings. The station was also provided with a large orchard on land provided for sidings that were never required. During World War Two the station surroundings were used as a fuel dump for the airfield at Foulsham. The site was also briefly used as a tarmac factory for bomber command. The first significant change occurred in 1952 when the County School to Wroxham line was closed to passenger traffic, although the western section of this line, between County School and Foulsham remained open for goods until 31 October 1964, being busiest in the sugar beet season. Diesel trains made their first appearance in 1956, but it was not until 1964 that the Dereham to Wells line lost its passenger service. The line remained open for freight, but the track was finally removed by British Rail following the withdrawal of goods traffic from Ryburgh in 1981. The main building survived as a small factory unit making plaster ceiling roses. By the late 1980s the station was heavily overgrown and derelict. Breckland District Council bought the station in 1987, intending to use it as a visitor centre, but felt that a station without track and trains looked wrong. The Fakenham and Dereham Railway Society were offered a 999 year lease to move to the site from their headquarters at Yaxham and restore the railway side of the site but at that stage couldnt agree terms with Breckland Council. With the announcement of the closure of the entire branch between Wymondham, Dereham and North Elmham, a new company called the Great Eastern Railway (1989) Limited was formed to save the line. The F&DRS elected to back this scheme, and the 999 freehold lease of the station was signed over to the GER (1989) Ltd by Breckland District Council, for the princely sum of £7100. Although far from certain, the future of the line, and County School station, seemed more secure than it had for many years. During these years, the F&DRS continued to provide financial backing and manpower for the development of the site. The running line was extended over half a mile towards North Elmham, and a collection of rolling stock was built up. However, disagreements broke out between the Officers of the GER and those in the F&DRS, and opposing views on how the line should be developed ensued. By 1993, relations had broken down completely, with the F&DRS removing their support and volunteers completely. The Sole remaining Director of the GER(Mr Trevor Clever) sold his interest in the GER company (a 51% shareholding) to a Mr Mick Gore, a farmer and Plant Hire Owner based at Thuxton Farm. Mr Gore attempted to place the GEER on a sound financial footing, but the finances were so corrupted that it was impossible to identify all the creditors. In 1994, the GER entered into discussions with the F&DRS, (a shareholder of the GER) which during discussions morphed into the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust in order to attract EU Section 5b regeneration grant funding for the volume of repairs that were necessary for the line to be returned to use, and to apply for charity status. The first and only meeting was held at Hood and Voores Solicitors in Dereham, with the then Chairman of the MNRPT and Squadron Leader Andy Thomson representing the GER 1989 Ltd. It was agreed that the GER would concentrate on County School to Dereham section, and the MNRPT would focus on Dereham to Wymondham. Two distinct flavours of Railway Preservation were on offer, with the GER running steam locos from County School into Dereham, and the MNRPT preferring diesel traction on the Southern section of the line. Various methods of funding the costly repairs bill for all sections of the line were discussed, including lifting and replacing worn out rail and sleepers across the entire length off the line. When this plan was presented to the MNRPT committe however, they refused to accept their Chairman's agreement , Mr Barry Woodgett replaced the then Chairman, and in his first act he removed the MNRPT support for negotiations with the GER, and then made their own bid for the line. By Mid-1995, the Yorkshire Bank appointed an administrator to solve financial concerns with the Great Eastern Railway (1989) Ltd (the 999 year freehold lease of County School Station from Breckland Council had cost the GER £7,100 in 1989 backed by the F&DRS, but additional debt had built up on the back of the Yorkshire Bank loan to pay for the lease, against which the Bank were holding the lease as loan security). The Administrator agreed that railway ops as a means of earning revenue could continue at County School until he had decided how the debt to the Bank could be repaid (much to the annoyance of the MNRPT's new leadership). After nearly a year of bid and counter bid, Breckland Council out bid the GER and paid the Receiver £25,000 in June 1996 to recover the lease. The police were indeed called to County School in 1996 because some stock was moved to the former Lenwade Concrete works (not a breakers yard as previously reported) before proper ownership was established, afterwhich with the owners consent, they were moved again to the new MNRPT yard at Hardingham. No action was taken by the police as the accusations made against the GER were completely false. After the lease was bought back by Breckland District Council, they issued a threat to stop trains running at County School station, but took no action until Nov 1996, following noise complaints from a neighbour (who turned out to be a MNRPT member). Unbeknown to the GER because it was never declared by the Administrator, Breckland Council were now the new leaseholders and fully supporting the MNRPT despite telling the GER verbally in numerous phonecalls they were neutral. In November 1996 Breckland District Council brought in 24 hour security guards at the County School site in order to prevent the stripping of the property after having served an eviction order on the GER(1989) in mid-October. The GER ceased trading, the County School site closed and was, once again, abandoned to nature. During this unfortunate passage in the County School between 1993 and Oct 1996, the GER 1989 Ltd refurbished 2 steam locomotives and operated them safely and to the satisfaction of the Railway Inspectorate. Several thousand people visited the Station which was open throughout the year for free. During this period, County School Station was maintained immaculately by approximately 12 volunteers. Between Oct 1996 and the date the MNRPT took over the site, Breckland Council allowed the site to degenerate again, such that when the MNRPT took over in 1998, they found evidence of vandalism and obvious vegitation growth, a clear indication that the GER had indeed maintained County School properly up to the point they were evicted. At no point did the GER asset or property strip the County School site. In 1998 the MNRPT signed a Tenancy at Will with Breckland District Council to take over the station and trackbed at County School. The MNR quickly returned the station to use, as a visitor centre, rather than an operational railway museum. The station forms an important key in the future plans of the Mid-Norfolk Railway, and will serve as the northern terminus of the line while the task of restoring the line to Fakenham is considered. The signal box, demolished after passenger closure, is currently being rebuilt using components from Halesworth and the trackbed between County School and North Elmham is being restored ready for the restoration of the line. A longer-term aim is the rebuilding of the demolished island platform building. There is also a plan to construct a railwayman's cottage close to the signal box, using grounded former GER railway carriages. This was a common practice during the interwar years (one is being constructed at Holt station on the North Norfolk Railway).