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/kings-lynn-harbour-branch
Fascinating Roger, I like Kings Lynne but it was always a town we drove past to either Hunstanton or Great Yarmouth as a kid!!
I've been driving through and around Kings Lynn since 1963 (though not South Lynn), did some electrical work at what was the "Berni Inn" on the corner of the Tuesday Market Place back in the early 70's, and vaguely remember sitting on a dockside bollard near the old Customs House, sobering up the morning after one silly night out, which started with a paddle at 8pm in the dark in the sea at Hunstanton (in October!) and ending at "Chucking out time" (11pm back then!) at a B&B on the Gayton Road! No wonder I'm teetotal nowadays! Keith.
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/kings-lynn-docks-branch-part-1
The second part of a study on the Docks Branch in King's Lynn. ...... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/24/kings-lynn-docks-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.
This is the third post about the Docks Railway in King's Lynn. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/07/kings-lynn-docks-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.
A few random bits and pieces which relate to the docks railways in King's Lynn .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/11/06/kings-lynn-docks-branch-part-4-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/early-railway-history-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. ..............
The Lynn and 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/the-lynn-and-fakenham-railway-part-1