Norwich Victoria railway station
Norwich Victoria | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | City of Norwich England | ||||
| Coordinates | 52°37′24″N 1°17′28″E / 52.6232°N 1.2911°E | ||||
| Grid reference | TG227080 | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Status | Disused | ||||
| History | |||||
| Pre-grouping | Eastern Union Railway, Eastern Counties Railway, Great Eastern Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | London and North Eastern Railway, Eastern Region of British Railways | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 12 December 1849 | Opened | ||||
| 22 May 1916 | Closed to passengers | ||||
| 31 January 1966 | Closed to goods | ||||
| September 1986 | Coal concentration depot and branch closed | ||||
| |||||
Norwich Victoria was a railway station in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and the former terminus of the Great Eastern Main Line. It was one of three stations in the city; the others were Norwich City and Norwich Thorpe; only the latter remains in operation.
Opening
The station was opened by the Eastern Union Railway (EUR), with regular passenger services commencing on 12 December 1849. The booking hall of the station had once housed a circus which formed an entertainment centre known as Ranelagh Gardens. The circus on the site had been operated by a Spanish-sounding gentleman named Pablo Fanque; in reality, it was a Mr Darby from Norwich. When the EUR purchased the site, it then sold several circus fittings.[1][2]
Description
The station had two platforms arranged in a V-shape, with the V at the south end and the rotunda (or pantheon) containing the ticket office at the north end. A small garden was located between the two platforms. According to the 1914 Ordnance Survey plan of the site, there was a two-road engine shed, which measured 136 by 40 feet, and a turntable to the west of the station; there were goods facilities to the east.[3]
Operations
The station was in a poor location and passengers wishing to continue a journey beyond Norwich had to transfer to Thorpe station. On 8 September 1851, a link opened from the EUR line to Ely and most Ipswich services were diverted to Thorpe station, with Victoria only being served by four or five trains each day.[4]
The EUR was taken over by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) in 1854; however, by the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR. It wished to amalgamate formally but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the amalgamation. As a result, Thorpe and Victoria became GER stations in 1862.[5]
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Great Eastern Railway Norwich branch |
Swainsthorpe Station closed | ||
Closure
The station closed to passenger traffic in 1916 but remained open as a goods depot, with coal being handled in the adjacent yard.[4]
The engine shed and turntable had been removed by 1926.[6]
The station buildings were largely demolished after the Second World War and were finally removed in February 1953.[4]
Goods traffic
Victoria played a significant role in handling goods traffic in the city. The table below shows the tonnages handled by the four Norwich stations in a 12-week period ending in October 1958:
| City | Victoria | Thorpe | Trowse | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merchandise | 2,423 | 6,439 | 16,409 | 2,673 |
| Minerals | 2,933 | 2,167 | 3,555 | 340 |
| Coal and coke | 20,061 | 14,649 | 656 | 1,548 |
| Total tonnage | 25,417 | 23,255 | 20,620 | 4,561 |
The station closed to goods in 1966; at that time the adjacent coal yard was modernised, becoming a coal concentration depot. Traffic was generally worked by Class 03 or Class 08 shunters from Thorpe station until closure of the line in September 1986.[7][8]
The site today
The coal depot site is now occupied by a Sainsbury's store and the main station site is occupied by the Norwich offices of Marsh LLC.[4]
The trackbed has been converted into a shared-use path, known as Lakenham Way, for use by pedestrians, runners and cyclists.[9]
See also
References
- ↑ Allen, Cecil J. (1975). Great Eastern Railway (5th ed.). Shepperton UK: Ian Allan Limited. p. 29. ISBN 07110-0659-8.
- ↑ Joby, Richard S. (January 2000). "Brassey, Bruff, Locke and the Norwich Extension". Great Eastern Journal. 101: 27.
- ↑ Robertson, Alic (April 1995). "Norwich Victoria, Norfolk". Great Eastern Journal. 82: 15.
- 1 2 3 4 Kilday, Glen (22 January 2019). "Station name: Norwich Victoria". Disused Stations. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
- ↑ Vaughan, Adrian (1997). Railwaymen, Politics and Money. London: John Murray. pp. 134, 135. ISBN 0-7195-5150-1.
- ↑ Hawkins, Chris; Reeve, George (1986). Great Eastern Engine Sheds: Part 1. Didcot: Wild Swan. p. 183. ISBN 0-906867-40-1.
- ↑ Robertson, Alic (April 1995). "Norwich Victoria, Norfolk". Great Eastern Journal. 82: 15.
- ↑ Adderson, Richard (January 2013). "Norwich Victoria - a survivor against the odds". Great Eastern Journal. 153: 25–26.
- ↑ "Lakenham Way". Norwich City Council. 15 September 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
External links
