King's Lynn
 

I was 12 years old when we moved to King's Lynn in 1972 and we stayed there right through my teens until I left home for University in 1978. I have long thought about spending a little time reviewing the railway history of the town. This first post covers King's Lynn Harbour Branch which left the mainline just before that line entered the town in South Lynn

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/16...harbour-branch

The harbour branch left the mainline South of King's Lynn. The docks branch left the mainline close to King's Lynn Station. The post below includes a very short history of the harbour and docks and then covers the length of the branch from the station to John Kennedy Road.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/24...-branch-part-1

The second part of a study on the Docks Branch in King's Lynn. ......

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/24...-branch-part-2

This post covers the area around the Alexandra Dock. A further post will follow to cover the railways around the Bentinck Dock.

Hi Roger. Thank you for this excellent series of articles on Kings Lynn. It's been very interesting and informative. I came here 7 years ago from Kent, and lodged for a year in the flats at Trinity Key, just along from the docks.

Some of my colleagues here were Secondmen at KL when freight trains still worked into the docks, and a good friend of mine was a signaller at Lynn Harbour Jn in its last years.

The only thing I don't think you've mentioned is the little branch into Campbells Meadows. Do you have any info/pics of that ? (Apologies if I missed it).

Best wishes, BW.

Hi Beeyar Wunby

I think you are referring to the link to the Campbell's Plant in South Lynn. I have not covered that yet. I have been asked elsewhere about covering the siding to the Sugar Beet Factory, which I also gave not looked at yet. The next post will be about the lines and industry around the Bentinck Dock. I tend to go for posts that interest me as you will see if you look around my blog the range if railway posts is quite ecclectic.

Best wishes

Roger

If required, I possess a B&W photo of the line towards the docks and taken when I lived close by years ago.

Hi Bramleyman
I'd love to see the picture if possible.
Best wishes
Roger

OK Roger, I look forward to the next installment.

Somewhere on my PC I have some pics of Lynn Harbour Jn as it is nowadays. Naturally I can't find them now I need them. I'll keep on searching.

In the meantime I took some snappy snaps of Lynn Jn box.

The first pic is of Tennysons Avenue full-barrier crossing. You can see the new 'parade' of shops that was built recently.

The second photo is of the throat, where you can see the simplified approach to the yard. The left hand line leads to the platforms, whilst the right unwired one routes round the back of Morrisons' car park towards the docks - now a dead-end with just a pair of turnround sidings for the sand train.

Best wishes, BW.

Thank you Beeyar Wunby, I have included these in my blog with a reference to you in the text.

Best wishes

Roger

I will look for it ASAP for you.

This is the third post about the Docks Railway in King's Lynn.

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/0...-branch-part-3

The post covers the area around Bentinck Dock and has some detail about the Savage's Works on the East side of the dock. Savage's were internationally renowned for their steam-powered fairground attractions.

Had an exceptional busy weekend, but just found and posted in Gallery. Please copy if required, but credit me? Thank you.

Thank you, Bramleyman.
It is a great image and shows the approach to the John Kennedy Road Crossing with the Pilot Cinema to the left of the line and St. Nicholas' Chapel Spire beyond. I will include it in my blog with a credit to you.
Best wishes
Roger

Thank you very much. If I remember rightly, I took it in late 1980's/early 1990's.

I have included the approximate date. Thank you.

You are most welcome Roger.

A few random bits and pieces which relate to the docks railways in King's Lynn ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/11/06...-miscellaneous

One of the directors of the Docks and Harbour Railways in King's Lynn was William Burkitt, a self-made local business man who had the means to order his own locomotive from Alfred Dodman & Company of Kings Lynn. The loco was named 'Gazelle'. This is the story of that locomotive. It pulls, Colonel Stephens, King's Lynn and the Shropshire and Montgomery Light Railway into one story!

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/07/21/gazelle

There is a lot more to cover about the railways in and around King's Lynn. This post gives a flavour of what is to come in due course.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/10/21...-in-kings-lynn

There is a significant length of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, the branch to Hunstanton, the original length of the line from Gaywood towards Bawsey and a number of quarry and other short lines, without even considering the main line towards Ely.

When time permits. ..............

Thanks for that Roger.

Looking at the aerial photo of South Lynn station, I hadn't realised just how close to the river it was.

I'm hoping to fly my drone round there soon, before the new Nar-Ouse Way development swallows the remaining evidence.

Cheers, BW.

Interesting Beeyar Wunby. What areas have you already cover by drone?

Best wishes

Roger

Well Roger I've flown it a fair bit, but I haven't actually used it near the railway yet. I keep meaning to chat up a GBRf driver to let me record his approach to Middleton Towers (I wouldn't fly near a loco without clearing it with the driver first).

If I do the South Lynn station/Lynn Harbour Jn, I'll have to be very careful of the overheads, but it should be OK if I'm careful.

Cheers, BW.

The Lynn & Fakenham Railway - Part 1. ...

This post results from reading Issue No. 30 of the "Railway Archive" Journal. It contains an article about the locomotives originally purchased for the Cornwall Minerals Railway. That company dramatically over-ordered motive power and when it lease was taken over by the GWR, 50% of its original order were returned to the manufacturer Sharp, Stewart of Manchester.

Eight if these locomotives found their way to the Lynn & Fakenham Railway and eventually onto the books of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway.

This first post about the Lynn & Fakenham Railway focusses on these locomotives. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/11/16...railway-part-1