Railway History
The path uses the trackbeds of two former railway lines, from Themelthorpe to Norwich and from Themelthorpe to Aylsham. The Themelthorpe to Norwich line was built in 1882 by the Lynn and Fakenham Railway Company which was taken over by the M&GN in 1893, as part of a line that ran to Melton Constable. This line gave a through route to the Midlands. The Themelthorpe to Aylsham line was completed in 1893 by the Great Eastern Railway to provide a link to its other lines at Wroxham and County School railway station close to North Elmham. The lines were never profitable. Freight services were largely based on farm products and the line closed to passenger traffic in 1959. In 1960 the two lines were joined by the so-called Themelthorpe Curve (believed to be the sharpest bend in the British Rail network). Its construction was to keep open the important movement of concrete products from Lenwade railway station. Once concrete production ceased in 1985 the line was closed.
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Famous quotes containing the words railway and/or history:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“I saw the Arab map.
It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
—Adonis [Ali Ahmed Said] (b. 1930)