The North Norfolk Railway offers far more than just a train ride! Grab your tickets, watch the guard wave his green flag, listen for the sound of the whistle and a whoosh of steam as you set off on a timeless journey through some of Norfolk’s most stunning coastal scenery and beautiful countryside.

Join us in February half-term as we celebrate the centenary of locomotive No 53809. The 100 year-old engine was built by Robert Stephenson & Co in Darlington to haul heavy goods trains on the famous Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway spending her whole pre-preservation career based on that line. She was withdrawn by British Railways in 1964 and languished at the legendary scrapyard at Barry in South Wales from where she was saved in 1975.

2025 marks 53809’s fiftieth year in preservation and 50 years since the NNR ran its first ever steam train so it is fitting that the giant locomotive will rise the curtain on our Golden Anniversary Season.

The lovingly-restored steam engine will transport passengers on an 11 mile return journey between the delightful Victorian resort of Sheringham and the smart Georgian town of Holt. Make a day of it with our great value rover tickets that are valid for unlimited travel allowing you to hop on and off all day! We recommend booking in advance and passengers doing so receive a generous 15% discount on their fares.

The week will also see a preservation “first” as working alongside 53809 will be a newly recreated “lightweight” heritage railcar of the type that ran on the line in the 1950s. E79263 will be making its debut in this guise following an overhaul lasting almost two years. The vehicle entered traffic in 1957 as E56062, spending much of its life in the North East before working services on branch lines out of Norwich in the 1980s.

The railcar has been on the NNR since 2003 but its latest overhaul has included a degree of cosmetic reverse engineering to recreate a Metro Cammell Lightweight railcar. These pioneering diesel trains were introduced in 1955 and the design formed the basis of later Class 101s such as E56062. The trains could be driven from either end and were classified “lightweight” as they didn’t need a separate (heavy) locomotive to haul them. The type was used extensively in East Anglia including the line from Melton Constable to Sheringham, part of which is today’s North Norfolk Railway but the last of the class was withdrawn in 1969 and all were scrapped meaning half-term will be the first opportunity for the public to travel in this type of vehicle for over 55 years. The recreated railcar affords excellent driver’s eye views of the line and will allow passengers to get a feel for travel on the line in the decade prior to its closure by British Railways in 1964.

For further details, please visit: https://nnrailway.co.uk/halfterm-steam-trains/