page_title: Mid-Norfolk Railway
section_title: Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust
hierarchical_section_title: Mid-Norfolk Railway / History / Preservation / Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust
caption_attribution_description: English: Network Rail Windhoff Multi-Purpose Vehicle DR98910/60 at Dereham
context_page_description: The Mid-Norfolk Railway is a 15-mile preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "New Generation" of heritage railways.
  Regular steam and diesel services run 11 ¹⁄₂ miles through the centre of Norfolk between the market towns of Wymondham and Dereham via Yaxham, Thuxton and Kimberley Park, and occasional sightseer services continue north of Dereham passing the nearby village of Hoe, where there is no station, to the limit of the operational line at Worthing. The line is periodically used for commercial freight operations and staff instruction for mainline railway companies.
  The MNR own and operate the majority of the former Wymondham-Fakenham branch line of the Norfolk Railway. The branch opened in 1847, was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts, and was finally fully closed to goods traffic in 1989.
  The MNR is owned and operated by the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust, and is mostly operated and staffed by volunteers.
context_section_description: The Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust (MNRPT) was formed in 1995 through the merger of the campaign groups and organisations that had been trying to restore passenger services over the route since 1974. The aims of the new charity were established:
  To preserve and to renovate reconstruct and operate for the benefit of the people of the County of Norfolk and of the nation at large, whatever of the historical, architectural and constructional heritage that may exist of the permanent way, track, buildings (including any buildings as defined in Section 336(1) of the Town And Country Planning Act 1990), bridges, operating equipment and rolling stock once forming part of or connected with or adjacent to the Great Eastern Railway line running between County School at North Elmham in the County of Norfolk and Wymondham in the County of Norfolk.
  In July 1995 two Mk2 coaches were transferred by road from County School railway station to the truncated railhead at Dereham, where they were placed between the already present Class 20 locomotives. These coaches were then hauled to the MNR's temporary base at Yaxham. A further three coaches were delivered on 17 August.
  On 29 November 1995 the section of railway between Yaxham station and a temporary halt built beside a footpath crossing on the Rash's Green industrial estate in Dereham was inspected by Chris Hall, H.M. Principal Inspecting Officer of Railways. Permission to operate passenger trains over this section was granted from Saturday 23 December 1995. 63 trains, each composed of the five Mk2 coaches topped and tailed by the Class 20s, were operated between this date and 14 January 1996. In October 1995 Breckland District Council established a rail working party to consider purchasing the line from British Rail, then leasing it out to a rail group - of which the Mid-Norfolk Railway was the preferred lessee.
  On 11 April 1998 the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust bought the route between Wymondham and Dereham for £100,000. This included the Dereham station buildings and the 6.5 acres (2.6 ha) goods yard. The British Rail Property Board also sold the 4 ¹⁄₂ miles (7.2 km) of track between Dereham and North Elmham for £25,000. On 17 March 1998 the MNRPT had signed a Tenancy at Will agreement with Breckland District Council to take over the station and trackbed at County School. This agreement was to allow the railway to take control of the station until it could afford to buy it outright, and followed on from the removal of the remaining rolling stock associated with the defunct Great Eastern Railway (1989) Ltd from the site.
  The original Dereham station was re-opened to passengers on Saturday 26 July 1997, with the first services being operated by 1890-built Manning Wardle 0-6-0T 'Sir Berkeley', hired from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. British Railways Board (Residuary) Limited transferred the line between Wymondham and Dereham to the MNRPT on 23 September 1997. The first preservation-era train to operate between Dereham and Wymondham ran on 8 February 1998, when a works train hauled by 20069 and Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0 'County School ran as part of preparations for a March freight test train. The first commercial freight train operated on 8 July 1998.
  Passenger services between Dereham and Wymondham commenced in 1999, with the opening of Wymondham Abbey railway station. The first passenger train to use the new station, on 2 May 1999, was operated by a Class 108 DMU. Thuxton station opened as a daylight hours only request halt at the same time, although Kimberley Park and Hardingham remained closed.
  Following the completion of infrastructure work, such as the replacement of the water tower at Dereham and the provision of an inspection pit, steam passenger services returned to the Dereham to Wymondham Abbey section on Sunday 30 April 2006. These were operated by Great Western Railway pannier tank number 9466 from the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. The ownership of the section of railway line between Dereham and North Elmham, part of that originally authorised by the 
caption: Windhoff Multi-Purpose Vehicle DR98910/60 at Dereham (2008)
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