Cromer Links Halt (located at ) was a railway station on the outskirts of Cromer. It was on the now disused Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway line between Roughton Road Junction and Overstrand station. It opened on 9 July 1923, only to close thirty years later on 7 April 1953.

History

Opened as part of an attempt to encourage holiday traffic on the line, the halt primarily served golfers at the nearby Royal Cromer Golf Club. The station facilities were very basic, consisting of no more than a single wooden platform, which cost £170 to build, two wooden benches and

running in board A running in board is a large sign showing the name of the railway station on which it is found. The signs are intended to inform passengers of their location when on a train entering the station, possibly while still moving at speed. Some signs ...

together with the obligatory oil lamps. No shelter was provided for passengers and the platform was constructed of

sleepers ''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin Ho ...

and supported by wooden trestles. The halt was approached from the road by a path leading up the embankment on which the railway ran. To the west, a bridge carried the line over Northrepps Road from where it proceeded on another embankment before reaching Cromer Tunnel which was built by the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway to take the line under the Great Eastern's Cromer High to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

route. Although only 61 yards long, the tunnel is notable as being one of only two

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

tunnels anywhere in Norfolk, the other being Barsham Tunnel on the Wells-on-Sea branch. However, as Barsham Tunnel was opened out before 1912, Cromer Tunnel is actually the only tunnel. The line was served in general by around half a dozen trains each way between North Walsham, Mundesley and Cromer Beach. However, with no direct service to

- the nearest city - the halt was little-used, and closed in 1953 as part of a package of early rationalisation measures undertaken by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

after

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

, which also involved the closure of the line from Roughton Road Junction to Mundesley. The coastal line, although highly picturesque, carried little traffic and its closure made sound economic sense to British Railways.

Present day

Due to its wooden construction, virtually no trace of Cromer Links Halt has survived other than the gate to the approach path up the embankment, the rotting remains of which were said to be entangled in the undergrowth at the site of the station.

Notes

References

* * * *{{cite book , last=Jenkins , first=S. C. , year=1989 , title=The Cromer Branch , publisher=The Oakwood Press , location=Headington, Oxford , isbn=0-85361-384-2 Disused railway stations in Norfolk Former Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1923 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1953 1923 establishments in England

History

Present day

See also

Notes

References