King's Lynn Railway Station
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King's Lynn railway station is the northern terminus of the Fen line in the
east of England East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...
, serving the town 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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
, Norfolk. It is from and measured from London Liverpool Street. The station and all trains calling here are operated by Great Northern (with service to and from .) It has been the only station in the town since the closure of South Lynn railway station in 1959.


Early growth

The act of Parliament for the Lynn and Ely Railway, the ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. lv), received royal assent on 30 June 1845. Work started on the line in 1846 and so the railway arrived at Lynn on 27 October 1846. The original line ran South to Downham with the first station after Lynn being St Germain's. It took another two years to reach Ely.
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 ...
. Lynn, when opened was a joint station (the Lynn and Ely Railway, and Lynn and Dereham Railway). However, on 22 July 1847 the Lynn and Ely and Lynn and Dereham railways were amalgamated to form the East Anglian Railway. A spur connecting the harbour was opened in 1849, and at one point was a complicated network of lines, boasting two swing bridges, serving premises on and around the town's South Quay.Adderson & Kenworthy, map XXVI, and preface to ch. 4. Another short branch, about three-quarters of a mile (1200 m) long, connecting the docks was opened in 1862 by the King's Lynn Docks & Railway Company. The railway was initially not welcomed by the port authorities in King's Lynn; they predicted that sea-bound trade would decline, and were later proved correct when through-trains to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
ended up carrying the majority of freight to the capital.Oppitz 2002, p. 15. Lynn opened as a junction station. The Lynn and Dereham Railway Act 1845 ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. cxxvi) of 21 July 1845, authorised a line which weaved a route to
Dereham Dereham (), also known historically as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about west of the city of Norwich ...
. The line opened to Narborough, on 27 October 1846, the same day the Lynn & Ely opened to Downham. The line was extended to
Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District and England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the U ...
, on 10 August 1847, opening in stages between 1846 and 1848. The line ran out of Lynn in a South-Easterly direction with Middleton being the first station after Lynn. this later became part of 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 ...
. Expansion followed with the opening of several branches. A line running north to the seaside resort of
Hunstanton Hunstanton (sometimes pronounced ) is a seaside resort, seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash. Hunstanton lies 102 miles (164 km) north-north-east of London an ...
was opened in 1862, a journey celebrated by former Poet Laureate John Betjeman in a 1962 short BBC film about the line. The Hunstanton line included Wolferton station, which served the Royal Family's
Sandringham House Sandringham House is a country house in the parish of Sandringham, Norfolk, England. It is one of the royal residences of Charles III, whose grandfather, George VI, and great-grandfather, George V, both died there. The house stands in a est ...
, and so became the route of hundreds of Royal Trains. Since royal services to London had to first pass through King's Lynn before heading south to King's Cross, crowds on King's Lynn station cheering the Royal Train became one of the town's cherished and memorable traditions. King's Lynn also received services from the
Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated i ...
system, whose main station serving the town was in nearby South Lynn; a short shuttle service ran from King's Lynn to South Lynn as often as twenty times a day. The station opened in 1886, serving
Sutton Bridge Sutton Bridge is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A17 road, north from Wisbech and west from King's Lynn. The village includes a commercial dock on the west bank of the ...
and Spalding to the west.Oppitz 2002, pp. 26–28. Prior to the opening of South Lynn station, there had been a simple single platform station serving West Lynn, on the west bank of the River Ouse. An early constituent of the M&GN, the Lynn & Fakenham Railway, had used King's Lynn station, but ran into it from the north, via Gaywood Junction. This line was abandoned on the opening of the station at South Lynn. The "Lynn Avoiding" line was the last link in the chain which brought the eastern lines, which had reached Norwich in 1882, and Cromer in 1887, in direct contact with the lines west of Lynn. King's Lynn's original station building was replaced by the current building by the builder Robert Skipper of Dereham in 1871–72, and was significantly extended in 1910; the original of 1846 was a somewhat rudimentary
timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
building on the site of the goods yards of the time. The Railway Cafe was opened in 1910 and celebrated the centenary of its opening in 2010.


Closures

At their peak, the railways in and around King's Lynn employed hundreds of people, but Britain's extensive railway cutbacks in the late 1950s and the following decades badly affected King's Lynn's railway services. The 1959 closure of the former M&GN's lines resulted in the closure of South Lynn railway station on 28 February that year, depriving King's Lynn of services to
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
and Spalding. The dubious safety of a bridge over the Ouse, a very short way north-west of South Lynn station, was allegedly a significant factor in the closure of the whole route, and was demolished later that year. A section of this line about half a mile (800 m) long was left open for freight into the 1990s, transporting materials like oil and limestone to the sugar beet factory (since closed). Other services suffered a similar fate in the following years. Passenger services to
Hunstanton Hunstanton (sometimes pronounced ) is a seaside resort, seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash. Hunstanton lies 102 miles (164 km) north-north-east of London an ...
were discontinued in 1969, services to Wisbech (via Magdalen Road) ended in 1968, and the line to Dereham was closed in the same year, save for a three-mile section for
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
freight from King's Lynn to Middleton. The closure of these services left only one passenger route in operation—services to Ely and Cambridge on the Fen Line. Freight services to King's Lynn were less swiftly, but even more extensively, affected by cutbacks.
Campbell's The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campb ...
made heavy use of rail transport after opening its factory in Lynn in 1959, its curtain-sided wagons being one of the more distinctive sights on the Fen Line; but with the withdrawal of Speedlink services in the early 1990s, this traffic was lost to road transport. The branch to the harbour was progressively shortened before its final closure at around the same time, and the line to the docks closed as well (except for a short stub allowing the aforementioned freight trains from Middleton to change direction), the last train passing over the line in June 1994. The station's once-extensive goods yard suffered the same fate, the site being taken over by the station's car park and two large shops.


To the present

Before
electrification 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. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...
in 1992,
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
(and, later,
Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the networ ...
) diesel locomotives such as the Class 37 operated most services. Many of these services featured full-service restaurant cars. Off-peak links were often provided by
Metro-Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. The co ...
diesel multiple units, such as the Class 101. For many years after electrification, and the consequent removal of diesel locomotives from passenger services, Class 317
electrical multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s operated all services out of King's Lynn. While they were not as comfortable as the previous fleet of locomotive-hauled coaches, they quickly developed a reputation for reliability. Today's services are mostly operated by Class 387s. A new siding alongside the Middleton Towers branch line, which extends for , was commissioned in August 2020, to enable 8-car electric multiple units to be stabled when not in use. The only freight activity around King's Lynn today is the sand trains which run from the Middleton Towers branch to either Goole, Barnsley or Doncaster. These are usually operated by
GB Railfreight GB Railfreight (GBRf) is a rail freight company in the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is owned by the global investment company Infracapital, itself a subsidiary of M&G plc, a UK investment group. GB Railfreight was established in April 1999 ...
, using Class 66 locomotives. Occasionally, enthusiast railtours operate on this branch as well. The station is served by Great Northern as part of its service from King's Cross. Outside peak hours, services run non-stop between London and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
as part of a half-hourly Cambridge service; one train per hour then continues beyond Cambridge, stopping at all stations on the Fen Line to King's Lynn. In the past, through-trains from London always started from Liverpool Street, but services were shifted to King's Cross in the 1990s. Before the May 2023 timetable change,
Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...
also operated a limited number a services to London Liverpool Street, which have since been withdrawn. Ticket barriers were installed in 2012. Restoration work began in April 2013 as a station rewire which quickly grew into a heritage inspired project. The view taken was to restore the station to a 1949 state with British Rail branding and reminisces of the GER and LNER railways. The paint scheme was based upon a GER steam unit which had blue red and gold. GER cast iron benches were made locally by East Coast Castings in Wotton and BR style totems were hand-made alongside LNER station clocks. Platforms were resurfaced and LED lighting installed throughout public areas along with new CCTV. A Norfolk county flagpole was installed to replace the old one and canopies and roof restored and or replaced. The overall cost was under £1.1million. The project was jointly funded by
First Capital Connect First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern route, Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern ...
and
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
. The project's completion was marked with
Michael Portillo Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo ( ; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as ''Great British Railway Jou ...
unveiling a plaque in the booking hall area on 22 July 2014. It was originally intended that King's Lynn would be included in the
Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the so ...
, so that most trains for London from King's Lynn would be diverted on to the Thameslink route and on to St Pancras, Farringdon rather than terminating at King's Cross. However, this did not occur and King's Lynn trains continue to provide the fast service from Cambridge to Kings Cross.


See also

* Railways in Norfolk * Fen Line *
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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
* South Lynn railway station


References


External links

* *
The railway bridges of South Lynn, among other remnants
exploring disused railways around King's Lynn. {{TSGN and SE Stations, Fen=y, SN None=y, SE None=y King's Lynn Railway stations in Norfolk DfT Category D stations Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway 1846 establishments in England Train driver depots in England Grade II listed buildings in Norfolk Fen line