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Hindsight is always in 20/20! Road haulage had been originally nationalised with the railways, but when it was suddenly separated and privatised, British Railways found themselves in a 'loss' for the first time. Closures just meant even less traffic was being fed into the larger system, and the railways slipped away from being the general carrier that they had once been.

It was, until the original Caister Camp was sold off for redevelopment into a housing estate during the 1970s.

Was it more or less scenic than going the GER route?

​@@AdventuresWithTrains M&GN more scenic than GER. M&GN ran through the highest and most attractive countryside in Norfolk. Thursford was highest station in Norfolk followed by Melton Constable.

@adamsfamily4060 compared to the GER route, the M&GN was seen as a rural winding byway that went from nowhere to somewhere. British Railways saw it as unprofitable to keep open, yet it's winding nature, meant it linked many rural villages and Hamlets with the wider railway network, that the GER had avoided by going for the direct routes between large towns and cities. The people of Yarmouth had a direct link to Lowestoft before the closure of the Breydon Swing bridge.

@AdventuresWithTrains I lived at Briston. From Melton we travelled to Yarmouth Lynn Sheringham Cromer and Norwich. With up to 80 passenger trains between South Lynn and Yarmouth on summer Saturdays, we considered the M&GN, a main line. I believe the M&GN provided a better service to the Midlands than GER.

Bi mode diesel and electric, for use across East Anglia on the Greater Anglia network.

Class 31s were considered ugly when they were replacing elegant steam locomotives that had been considered ugly when they replaced the pre grouping steam locomotives. Hindsight is always in 20/20!

@@AdventuresWithTrains Well then let's have a steam locomotive. Like today I'm going from Poole to Corfe Castle to get on the Swanage railway for free. I've bought a life time pass, plus I've got a free bus pass.

@@AdventuresWithTrains 31 in BR days were rusty relics not the likes of Preserved railway

I guess it depends how you look at it, strictly speaking British Rail planned to close the line back to Cromer. The station built by British Rail on the other side of the level crossing, was only meant to be temporary and in use for a few months. Yet, it remained in use until late May of 2019 having been rebuilt for the Stadler FLIRT units. The success and draw of the North Norfolk Railway, may well have contributed to what is now the Bittern Line remaining open.

Not wrong on this. I would much prefer the M&GN route to running via Ely or using the A47 by car.

It's in the former Wymondham Station buildings. The food is great, especially the All Steamed up breakfast!

@@AdventuresWithTrains sounds like you are a bit of a regular?

Might have been there.... Once or twice

I have a dream of living in a former railway station. While most of the stations on the line between North Walsham and Yarmouth are long gone, Stalham Station building remains in railway use as the NNR's Holt Station.

Glad you enjoyed it, if time travel were a thing, I would love to go back and travel the full length of the M&GN to Yarmouth and back again.

It was a very different world! I read that the M&GN section was one of the only areas of British Railways to have it's passenger services standardised with the introduction of the Ivatt Standard Class 4s.

I tried that on my channel, rare get a sub then 2 go off, no comments

It enters into the realms of conspiracy theory to me, that it was a deliberate move by government to replace rails with roads. But, many railway routes found themselves with tarmac where rails and ballast once were. The A149 pretty much follows the route of the M&GN to the Norfolk Coast. Short sighted choice, leaving our road network overcrowded and a railway network with no room for expansion.

Exactly, short sighted by a long way. With present day thinking and wishing to put back railway routes ripped up during the early 1960s in the Beeching plan​@@AdventuresWithTrains

Cross Keys Bridge at Sutton Bridge is a great piece of engineering, road one side and rail the other.

@Exparcelman I travelled over it many times as a child, thinking it was far too grand to have been built just to carry road vehicles. It wasn't until years later I learnt that it at one time carried both trains and road vehicles. The Ivatt Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0s dwarves road vehicles of the time.

Good question, I didn't realise it was there until I started looking into making this video.

No, that was Wendling Railway Station on the Dereham to Kings Lynn line, which had recently closed at the time of filming. They also used some stock footage from The Titfield Thunderbolt in the 'Battle School' episode. Weybourne Station on the NNR, was used for the episode 'Royal Train'.

Glad you enjoyed it! A different time when people would dress well even for travelling on holiday. I think those same people would be shocked to see modern travelling outfits.

Must have been a fair few changes on that journey, was it more direct than going via the M&GN line to reach Yarmouth Beach?

Yes. My mistake as it was via the M&GN . Also, we were hauled each time by 2 x L M S 0-6-0s each time. Thanks for correcting me.

@samtaylor858 a journey I would love to travel back in time and take. The view of the sea on the run into Weybourne from Holt on the NNR, is the closest I get to the experience.

That's very true, a lot of attention when looking at the Beeching axe falls on passenger services and closures of lines. The GCR did a great job recreating BR in the 1960s.

@@AdventuresWithTrains good to see more of these moments in railway history recreated.

But the point that is invariably overlooked is that Dr.Beeching compiled a report as he was bid by Ernest Marples, the Minister of Transport at the time. The report then had to be sanctioned by Marples and then presented to the Government for approval. It's one of those ironies of history that Beeching was blamed for the recommendations in his report that had been approved by both Marples & Government. The following Labour Govt. with Tom Frazer responsible for transport, then renaged on their election promise to stop the closures and also caused further closures that weren't even suggested in the report - !

@simongee8928 in doing research for this video, I discovered that the Beeching Report totally failed. It failed to take into account so much of what the railways did and how they worked, closing of lines didn't mean an instant stop to losses. I think it was only a few million a year that was saved. Many lines fed into the wider network, making up money elsewhere. The reforms were an attempt at the British Rail becoming a for profit business, when really as they are seen in other parts of the world, they are a public service. This, should have been decided at the inception of British Railways.

@@AdventuresWithTrains Also for years successive Governments had been financially and legally encouraging road haulage and passenger services to the detriment of the railways. That certainly didn't help the rail situation.

I think it was, my Grandpa who worked for British Rail during the transition period, recalls seeing what was the last steam service into Paddington. Except, it wasn't! A diesel failed the next day, and the steam loco took the train instead!

People were a bit more refrained in the 60s 🤣

@@AdventuresWithTrains back in the days when men would not swear in front of women!

It really felt that way, one of the most realistic period events put on by a preserved railway that I have been to!

Very much a train journey I wish I could have taken, must have been so quaint as the train wound it's way by the sea for four miles to Great Yarmouth.

Better sense of company branding I guess, the street the station was adjacent to, was formerly known as Cemetery Road!

It's my understanding that West Runton although opened with very basic facilities was a permanent station opened with the rest of the Melton Constable to Cromer line in 1887. Caister Camp Halt was the second station built near to the village, and as a halt was request only.

No problem, glad you liked them! I have a real like for the M&GNR, its closure really coincided with a loss of a way in life that came during the 1960s, especially with the railways closures.

I think that will happen as alot of work was done on the Ipswich to lowestoft line a year or so back ...

@@1tonyboat would be good plus makes alot of sense

Thanks! Second video still to come this month!

Thanks for the sub! I think the NNR Poppy Line was really a phoenix rising from the ashes, it has become such a popular tourist attraction, that I'm sure it contributes to keeping the Bittern Line open.

Seems it was forgotten by British Rail they were meant to be providing a public service 🙄

@@AdventuresWithTrains what on earth are you waffling on about?

Closure of the MG&N made your late night journey impossible beyond 1959

Let's hope ITV don't recognise it! I agree, they have come such a long way from the condition it was left in after BR closed it! It was almost all gone, when BR looked at closing all of the Bittern Line in 1968!

@@AdventuresWithTrains I knew I recognised it! (Remember my parents watching that particular programme. It "soldiered" on for many years...)

If it wasn't that one, it was the other one about policing in the 1960s! It had the tone I was going for though, and apparently doesn't flag up as copyright on TH-cam!

It is a quaint and charming little line, that brings history to life.

My Grandfather was working for British Railways during the era of 'modernisation', from what he witnessed at the time, he firmly believes that the people wanted a modern 1960s railway system running on an 1860s railway infrastructure!

Glad you enjoyed it

The era of closures when rail was seen as old fashioned has proved to be incorrect, our roads are now overcrowded, what was wrong with going by train? It is a great way to see Britain! I have done a video covering the Themelthorpe curve, it went against the grain of those many rail closures in the region.

I am a die hard steam lover, but having travelled onboard a BR Class 104 DMU restored to original condition, I can see why they were popular upon entering service. Great views of British scenery from onboard, are hard to be beaten!

More in the works, plenty of history left to explore from the last 400 years or so of railways in Britain!