The Downham and Stoke Ferry Railway was a branch line in western

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The Downham and Stoke Ferry Railway (D&SF) was just over long. It was authorised on 24 July 1879, and opened on 1 August 1882, being worked by the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

(GER). It ran from a junction with the GER at

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

(to the south of

Downham Downham is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It borders the London Borough of Bromley, and is located north of Bromley and south of Catford. Downham was named in honour of Lord Downham, who was ...

), to a terminus at . There were two intermediate stations: and

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

(latterly known as ''Abbey and West Dereham'').

Ownership changes

On 6 August 1897 an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

authorised the GER to absorb the D&SF, which they did on 1 January 1898. Being part of the GER, the line passed to the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

(LNER) at the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

on 1 January 1923. When the railways were nationalised in 1948 operation of the line became the responsibility of

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 ...

Eastern Region.

Closure

The LNER withdrew the passenger service on 22 September 1930. Freight services were withdrawn from Denver (13 July 1964) Ryston (28 December 1964) Abbey (31 January 1966) and Stoke Ferry (19 July 1965).19 April 1965 BR (Eastern Region) records ref- MSL1/1439 The section between Abbey and Stoke Ferry was abandoned in 1965 but traffic continued to the Wissington Railway until 1982.

Wissington Light Railway

At , a privately owned line, the Wissington Light Railway, branched off. It opened , mostly closed in 1957, and finally closed in 1982.

Notes

References

* * * * Rail transport in Norfolk Closed railway lines in the East of England Railway companies established in 1879 Railway lines opened in 1882 Railway companies disestablished in 1898 British companies established in 1879 {{England-rail-transport-stub