Place Buckenham Station code BUC DfT category F2 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference TG350056 Managed by Abellio Greater Anglia 2011/12 100 | |
 | ||
Address Norwich NR13 4HW, United Kingdom Similar Haddiscoe railway station, Berney Arms railway st, Somerleyton railway station, Brundall Gardens railway st, Cantley railway station | ||
Buckenham railway station is on the Wherry Lines in the east of England, serving the village of Buckenham, Norfolk. It is 7 miles 62 chains (12.5 km) down-line from Norwich on the route to Lowestoft and is situated between Brundall and Cantley. Its three-letter station code is BUC.
Contents
The station was opened in 1844. Today it is managed by Abellio Greater Anglia. According to usage estimates, Buckenham is one of the least-used stations in the country, registering just 134 passenger entries/exits in 2015/16. A limited number of services stop at the station on weekends, with no services on weekdays.
RSPB Buckenham Marshes is located next to the station, with RSPB Strumpshaw Fen a short walk away. Strumpshaw Hall Steam Museum is also located in the area.
History
The Bill for the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway (Y&NR) received Royal Assent on 18 June 1842. Work started on the line in April 1843 and it and its stations opened on 1 May 1844. Buckenham is situated east of Brundall and west of Cantley. The Y&NR was the first public railway line in Norfolk. On 30 June 1845 a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Y&NR with the Norwich & Brandon Railway came into effect and Buckenham station became a Norfolk Railway asset.
Two years after the Norfolk Railway took over, Cantley station was closed, meaning Reedham was now the next station after Buckenham.
The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) and its rival the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) were both sizing up the Norfolk Railway to acquire and expand their networks. The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the Norfolk Railway, including Buckenham station, on 8 May 1848. Three years later, during January 1851, the ECR reopened Cantley station.
By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR, which wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until an Act of Parliament passed on 7 August 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the consolidation. Actually, Buckenham had become a GER station on 1 July 1862 when the GER took over the ECR and the EUR before the Bill received its Royal Assent.
The system settled down for 60 years, apart from the disruption of the First World War. The difficult economic circumstances that existed after the war led the government to pass the Railways Act 1921 which led to the creation of the "Big Four" companies. The GER was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Buckenham became an LNER station on 1 January 1923.
A generation later, in 1947, the government of the day passed the Transport Act which nationalised the Big Four and created British Railways (BR). On 1 January 1948 Buckenham became a BR station.
Following privatisation of the railways, Railtrack became responsible for infrastructure maintenance in 1994. Following Railtrack's financial problems Network Rail took over operation of the infrastructure in 2002.
The operation of the line was privatised in 1997 when the franchise was awarded to Anglia Railways, which operated it until 2004 when National Express East Anglia won the replacement franchise, operating under the brand name 'one' until 2008. In 2012 Abellio Greater Anglia won the franchise.
Services
As of December 2015 services only stop at the station at weekends. On Saturdays there is one train to Norwich and two to Lowestoft. On Sundays three trains to Norwich call at the station, with three trains to Great Yarmouth on the Berney Arms branch of the line via Reedham. During the summer service frequency is increased, to at least five trains in each direction.