North Wootton was a railway station on the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line which opened in 1862 to serve the village of North Wootton on the outskirts of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

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 ...

. The station closed along with the line in 1969.

History

From opening the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway was operated 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 ...

for a share of the gross receipts. On 3 August 1863 a passenger train ran into a bullock near North Wootton station. Five passengers were killed as a result with the poor state of the rolling stock being partially to blame. On 3 September 1885 the 4:45 pm King's Lynn-Hunstanton train derailed one mile south of North Wootton injuring six passengers. From opening North Wootton had a single track but in 1885 a passing loop and second platform were added. A signal box was provided at this date. However, further increases in traffic saw the line doubled in 1899 and a new signal box was provided in 1901. In 1923 following the grouping North Wootton became a

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 ...

station. Following nationalisation of the railways in 1948 the station fell under the aegis of British Railways (Eastern Region).

Diesel Multiple Unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

operation superseded steam operation in December 1958. The goods yard was closed on 28 December 1964 although the sidings were not removed until December 1965. Further rationalisation saw the line singled, the level crossing automated and the signal box closed on 2 April 1967. Despite this rationalisation the line was doomed, and closed completely on 5 May 1969.

Description

As the first intermediate station on the line, North Wootton was situated some 3 miles 19 chains from

. Much like Dersingham station, it was equipped with an up and down platform - the main station buildings on the up side and smaller waiting facilities on the down side. The main building was 'L' shaped comprising a two-storey stationmaster's residence together with an adjoining booking office; the building was a hybrid of the original Lynn & Hunstanton Railway architecture plus later modifications introduced by the

at the turn of the twentieth century. At the south end of the platforms lay a minor road which the line crossed on the level, with crossing gates being controlled by a standard Great Eastern

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

Present day

The station buildings survived closure. The station itself (along with platforms) is now a private residence. The goods area is now the headquarters of North Wootton's

Scouts Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

and

Guides A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Expl ...

. In May 2008 the old signal box was transferred to Leeming Bar station on the

Wensleydale Railway The Wensleydale Railway is a heritage railway in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in stages by different railway companies and originally extended to railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line. Since ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

as part of a £50,000 renovation project which was backed by a £22,700

heritage lottery grant The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

.Lynn News, "New home for North Wootton signal box", 27 May 2008.
/ref>

References

{{coord, 52.7920, 0.4278, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Norfolk Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1969 1862 establishments in England