Holt railway station

Construction

In 1880 and 1881, the Lynn & Fakenham Railway obtained successive Acts of Parliament authorising the construction of a line north from its Melton Constable station as far as Kelling Heath where it would fork: one branch heading to the north-west to reach the fishing port of Blakeney, whilst the second would proceed to the north-east to reach the coastal village of Sheringham and then Cromer. A new company - the Eastern & Midlands Railway - was formed to build the line. Construction began in April 1883 and later that year the rails had reached Holt, five miles from Melton Constable, but work on the station and yard did not begin until much later. Holt was to remain the line's northern terminus and only station until 1887 when it finally reached Cromer. The line to Blakeney was never built due to doubts over its viability.

Station building

The original 1884 building consisted of little more than a sleeper platform and basic wooden buildings. Upon the completion of the line to Cromer, more durable buildings - most likely designed by William Marriott - were built; these included a brick-built main station building of typical Midland and Great Northern (M&GN) design, with a central block and two projecting gabled cross wings - the central portion being set back slightly to form a loggia for passengers on the down platform. A wooden waiting shelter was erected on the up platform with a saw-tooth canopy. The original wooden station building later became a 'reading room' at Melton Constable station. Holt station was destroyed by fire in 1926 and a concrete replacement was built.

Decline and closure

When most of the former M&GN railway lines were closed in 1959, the branch on which Holt remained open until 1964.

Following closure of the line between Melton Constable and Sheringham, the station buildings at Holt were demolished and part of the trackbed subsequently reused to construct part of the A148 Holt bypass. In 1965, a company known as Central Norfolk Enterprises (which changed its name to the North Norfolk Railway (NNR)) had attempted to purchase the trackbed, but were rebuffed by Norfolk County Council who wished to proceed with the road scheme. The NNR did manage to restore the line between Sheringham and Weybourne and, in 1987, opened a replacement Holt station on the edge of the village. The NNR also salvaged Holt's original signal box which was relocated to Weybourne.

Present and future

The proposed Norfolk Orbital Railway could see Holt with a regular railway service again. It would link together Sheringham and Wymondham using the existing lines of the NNR and the Mid Norfolk Railway and laying some fresh connecting track on old track-beds.

The project is facilitated by the fact that reinstatement through Holt remains technically possible as the A148 bypass was built so as to leave sufficient width to enable a single-track railway line to be constructed alongside it. The scheme therefore proposes a new route running from the NNR's Holt station, crossing the A148 on the level before running alongside the road to the site of the original Holt station where a very basic station would be provided. From there it would continue in a cutting running beneath Station Road and Norwich Road before rejoining the line's original alignment to reach Melton Constable.