The Wherry Lines are railway
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industr ...
s in the
East of England
The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...
, linking to and . There are 14 stations including the three termini. They form part of
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.11 and are classified as a rural line.
[
]
The lines pass through
the Broads
The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...
of Norfolk and Suffolk. The name is taken from the
Norfolk wherries, which played an important role in the transport of goods and people around the Broads before road and rail transport became widespread.
Passenger services on the Wherry Lines are currently operated by
Abellio Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...
.
History
The route was opened from Norwich to Great Yarmouth by the
Norwich and Yarmouth Railway in 1844, running via . The line from Reedham to Lowestoft was added in 1847 by
Samuel Morton Peto
Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet (4 August 1809 – 13 November 1889) was an English entrepreneur, civil engineer and railway developer, and, for more than 20 years, a Member of Parliament (MP). A partner in the firm of Grissell and Peto, ...
as part of the
Norfolk Railway
The Norfolk Railway was an early railway company that controlled a network of 94 miles around Norwich, England. It was formed in 1845 by the amalgamation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway opened in 1844, and the Norwich and Brandon Railway, n ...
. Finally, the northern route from Norwich to Great Yarmouth via was added in 1883 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 ...
, opening from Breydon Junction to Acle on 12 March, and through to Brundall on 1 June.
Community rail
In 2007 the services operating on the line were designated as
community rail
Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user group ...
services as part of the Community Rail Development Strategy aiming to increase patronage and income, improve cost control and develop a greater sense of community involvement.
Infrastructure
The line from Norwich to Lowestoft is
double-track
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
Overview
In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...
throughout, but the two Great Yarmouth branches that diverge from via Acle and from Reedham via are
single-track, although the branch via Acle was formerly double-track throughout.
The Wherry Lines are not
electrified
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...
, hence services are formed by
Bi-mode multiple unit
An electro-diesel multiple unit (EDMU) or bi-mode multiple unit (BMU) is a form of a multiple unit that can be powered either by electric power picked up from the overhead lines or third rail (like an electric multiple unit – EMU) or by using ...
s. The route has a
loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...
of W8, except between Lowestoft and where it is W6, and a maximum line speed of .
Of the 14 stations, two are
request stop
In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, s ...
s. These are
Berney Arms
Berney Arms is a settlement on the north bank of the River Yare, close to Breydon Water in the English county of Norfolk. It is part of the civil parish of Reedham, in the district of Broadland, and lies within The Broads. It comprises a r ...
, which typically sees four trains call per day (eight on Sundays), and , which has no weekday service but sees three trains call on Saturdays and six trains each Sunday. At most of the stations on the Wherry Lines, service frequencies are increased during the summer months.
The signalling system was modernised in 2018–19. The line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth was closed from 20 October 2018 when it opened again in April 2019.
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
a bus replacement service was available during the works In January 2019, it was reported that the project was overrunning and that the line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth would not reopen in April 2019 as scheduled. No firm date was initially given as to when the line would reopen.
The Great Yarmouth-Reedham line reopened on 24 February 2020.
Rolling stock
Passenger services are operated by
Abellio Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...
, typically using
Class 755 trains. In 2015 the train operator introduced DRS
Class 37 locomotive-hauled services due to a shortage of rolling stock as the route is not electrified. These ceased following the introduction of the 755s in 2019.
On Mondays to Saturdays, one service in each direction between Norwich and Lowestoft is served by
East Midlands Railway
Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
History
In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...
Class 158 Express Sprinter units, operated by
Greater Anglia. The service runs in the early morning on both journeys.
Nearly all services on the line run to and from Norwich. Some summer Saturday services were extended to and from
London Liverpool Street via Norwich which ran to and from Great Yarmouth. These services were formed of
British Rail Class 90
The British Rail Class 90 electric locomotives were built for mixed-traffic duties, operating from overhead lines and produce . They weigh 84.5tonnes and can typically achieve a top speed of .
The Class 90 is a modernised derivative of the ...
electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or ...
s with
Mark 3 Coaching Stock, which were hauled from Norwich by a
British Rail Class 47
The British Rail Class 47 or Brush Type 4 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush Traction. A total of 512 Class 47s were built at Brush's Falcon Works in Loughborough and at British Railways' Crewe Wo ...
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...
. The services have now ceased favouring connections with existing local services, due to the complexity of the coupling and uncoupling and other issues which led to poor reliability of the mainline operation.
References
External links
The Wherry LinesYARMOUTH AND NORWICH RAILWAY – Parliamentary debate – 1842 HansardA Map with the locations of the stations
{{coord missing, Norfolk
Rail transport in Norfolk
Rail transport in Suffolk
Community railway lines in England
Railway lines in the East of England
Standard gauge railways in England