Heacham railway station

Built about a mile (1.6 km) to the west of Heacham village, the station was intended to tap a thriving holiday market which had developed in the 19th century. A favourite resort of Queen Alexandra, the village attracted large numbers of caravans and chalets to its shingly foreshore.[3] The Lynn and Hunstanton Railway proved an immediate success, and encouraged the construction of a second line, the West Norfolk Junction Railway from Heacham to Wells, which opened in 1866, thereby making Heacham a junction station.[4]

Former waiting rooms on platform 2 of the old station, now converted into holiday accommodation.

Services to Wells started and terminated in a bay platform to the east of the station, while trains to Hunstanton and King's Lynn departed from the two through platforms. The station was rebuilt at least twice, with the Great Eastern Railway adding platform canopies, a turntable and improving the platform buildings.[5] More substantial modifications were carried out by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1937 as Heacham had by then become a significant holiday destination, and it was necessary to extend the passing loop to accommodate 13-coach trains. A lattice girder footbridge linked the platforms, while a signal box was situated on the down side. Arriving passengers could find lodgings for the night in the nearby West Norfolk hotel.[6] In 1960, the station was allocated a camping coach converted from a Pullman car, which was fitted with a full kitchen, two sleeping compartments and a room with two single beds.[7]

The post-war boom experienced by the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line was not felt on the West Norfolk Junction Railway, where inconveniently sited stations contributed to the declining passenger traffic. Passenger services from Wells were withdrawn from 31 May 1952, but the line remained open to freight until the North Sea flood of 1953, when the track between Wells and Holkham was so severely damaged that British Rail considered it not worth repairing and the line was closed completely between these two places. The King's Lynn to Hunstanton line survived 17 more years before itself closing in 1969 amid falling traffic and service cutbacks.[8]

The station buildings mostly survived, and as from 1993, were converted into holiday accommodation, with a camping and caravan site on the old trackbed.[9] The owners of the site acquired a British Railways Mark 1 first class carriage from the Battlefield Line Railway in 2006, converting it into further holiday accommodation.[10] The old signal box survived for many years, but was removed to make way for a housing estate.[11]

• List of closed railway stations in Norfolk