Wroxham railway station is located near the villages of

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 households ...

and

Hoveton Hoveton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located within the Norfolk Broads, and immediately across the River Bure from the village of Wroxham. Whilst Hoveton is north of the river, Wroxham is south; but man ...

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 ...

, and is the southern terminus of the

Bure Valley Railway The Bure Valley Railway is a minimum gauge visitors' attraction in Norfolk, England. It was created on the original disused full-gauge bed of a defunct passenger service to incorporate a new, adjacent pedestrian footpath. The railway runs from ...

, a

minimum gauge Minimum-gauge railways have a gauge of most commonly , , , , , or . The notion of minimum-gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and the French company of Decauville for light railways, trench railways, mining, and farming ...

operation which reuses some of the trackbed of a former standard gauge branch line. The station is close to Hoveton & Wroxham railway station on the standard gauge National Rail network, and the two are connected by a footpath.

History

The station opened on 10 July 1990, with two platforms. In 2000 a long siding was installed, forming a third operational platform, but without locomotive release facilities. Blickling Hall on Wroxham turntable

Until December 2015 the station had three platforms. The main station buildings are located on platform 1. Until reordering, platforms 2 and 3 were the two sides of an island platform installation, although both were used only infrequently, with the regular timetable usually seeing no more than one service train in the station. The platform 2 line was also used as a locomotive release road and run-round loop. The platform 3 line was used for stabling of engineering trains, when engineers were working locally. The platform 1 and 2 lines were both connected to a turntable, which formed the

headshunt A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines. Terminal headshunt A 'terminal headshunt' is a short le ...

and turning facility for the station.

Facilities

In December 2015 the island platform was demolished and significant civil engineering work commenced. By mid January 2016 the station had been remodelled with two platforms and a central locomotive release road, all three tracks being directly connected to the turntable. The existing platform 1 was retained, and a brand new platform 2 installed, of superior quality to the previous island platform. At the same time, two crew rooms were constructed on the new platform 2, one serving as a lamp room, the other supporting a large new water tank, feeding two water cranes, one adjacent to the platform end of each of the two platforms. The turntable was also renovated and partially rebuilt. The station buildings contain a shop (for souvenirs and refreshments), a booking office, and toilets. A very substantial wooden building has been set up beside the station by the supporters association, the Friends of the Bure Valley Railway, and contains a fundraising charity bookshop. There is a car park.

References

External sources

Bure Valley Railway websiteFriends of the Bure Valley Railway website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wroxham Railway Station Heritage railway stations in Norfolk Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1990