page_title: Wells-next-the-Sea
section_title: Railways
hierarchical_section_title: Wells-next-the-Sea / Transport / Railways
caption_attribution_description: Map of Wells-next-the-sea from 1946. Scale 1 inch to the mile 600DPI Sheet 125
context_page_description: Wells-next-the-Sea is a small town and port on the North Norfolk coast of England.
  The civil parish has an area of 16.31 km² and in 2001 had a population of 2,451, reducing to 2,165 at the 2011 census.
  Wells is 15 miles to the east of the resort of Hunstanton, 20 miles to the west of Cromer, and 10 miles north of Fakenham. The city of Norwich lies 32 miles to the south-east. Nearby villages include Blakeney, Burnham Market, Burnham Thorpe, Holkham and Walsingham.
context_section_description: Formerly the town was served by Wells-on-Sea railway station and was connected to the British Rail network by two lines. The line westwards towards King's Lynn was never reinstated after damage in the North Sea flood of 1953, while the line to Norwich via Fakenham, Dereham and Wymondham was a victim of the 'Beeching Axe' of the 1960s. The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway, a 10¼ inch-gauge railway (the longest of such a gauge in the world), now uses part of the track-bed and has its own separate Wells railway station.
  In addition to the two passenger railway routes in and out of the town, there was a goods-only branch from the station to the quayside at Wells Harbour. This included a tramway along East Quay where rails are still visible today just beneath the modern road surface. The line continued in a curve to the south, and the trackbed can be walked.
  The Wells Harbour Railway is a separate 10¼ inch-gauge railway that takes passengers from the harbour behind the sea wall towards the beach and caravan site.
  Near the centre of the town is the former Wells County Primary School (linked by School Lane from High Street). The junior school was relocated to the former Secondary Modern school when a new secondary school, Alderman Peel High School, was built in the late 1960s, part of which is upon the former railway line to the west towards King's Lynn. For several years, these buildings housed a field studies centre.  More recently, though, the former school has been converted to social housing units.
caption: A map of Wells-next-the-Sea from 1946
exif: {}