Whatever happened to the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway?

There are railway lines and there are railway lines. There are the famous, like the Great Western. There are those that have history, such as the Stockton and Darlington, or the Liverpool and Manchester. There are the heroic failures - the Mid Suffolk Light Railway springs to mind, a railway which was bankrupt from the day it opened. And then there are those who are, for the most part, forgotten, their track removed, only preserved through the endeavours of a few slightly mad, utterly romantic, individuals.

The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway is in the latter category, originally intended to link East Anglia to the Midlands. It was no small affair either, with a network linking Bourne in Lincolnshire, and Peterborough, with Yarmouth via Fakenham, Melton Constable and North Walsham. There were loops serving Cromer, Sheringham and Mundesley, plus a line to Norwich via Drayton.

And yet, and yet, there are some surviving fragments. The Sheringham to Cromer line operated by National Express East Anglia is the only section within the control of National Rail, and the North Norfolk Railway very successfully operates between Sheringham and Holt.

Better still, there are those who have a dream. The Mid Norfolk Railway is intended to be a heritage railway and a commercial venture, running trains from Dereham to Norwich, connecting through to the Norwich to Cambridge line at Wymondham. It also runs north to County School Station, where once the East Norfolk Railway ran trains to Wroxham via Aylsham. Meanwhile, the Holt, Melton Constable and Fakenham Railway Company dreams of connecting up County School with Holt, forming the Norfolk Orbital Railway.

So, just maybe, the 'Muddle & Get Nowhere' may yet have a new lease of life. After all, Lord Bonkers doubtless used it to get to engagements in Norfolk, and such things should not be let go of too lightly...