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Berney Arms

Norwich to Great Yarmouth

Wherry line

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Berney arms on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth Wherry line is one of the country's most remote railway stations sitting in the Halvergate Marshes in Norfolk.

Berney Arms is 15 miles 71 chains (25.6 km) from Norwich.

The wherry line between Norwich & Great Yarmouth got Royal Assent in 1842, work started in 1843, and on the 1st of May, 1844, Berney Arms opened with the rest of the line.

Part of the conditions that owner Thomas Trench Berney would sell the land was that a railway station would be built in the marshes.

After a few years, the railway stopped serving Berney Arms, stating there was no agreement for trains to call at the station they agreed to build.

However, after lengthy legal proceedings, it was agreed that the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway would serve this station.

In 1883 the Great Eastern railway opened the Norwich to Great Yarmouth route via Acle.

The short track section between Reedham and Great Yarmouth has only one station.

Berney Arms.

At one point, Berney Arms supported a small settlement of 11 domestic dwellings and a chapel.

Berney arms has one very short platform; there was once a signal box here that's now at the Mangapps Railway Museum in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.

Also, there was once a waiting shelter at Berney Arms, but when I visited in February 2023, there was no waiting shelter.

The sign at Berney arms once had a ladder and a gas lamp leaning up against the side for staff to light this old lamp at night.

This had also all gone, and researching, I found that the sign now at Berney Arms station, even though looking original, was a replacement station sign.

It is made to the same high standard as the original.

Berney arms only has one farmhouse, windmill, and a closed pub when I visited in 2023.

The pub has been closed for many years and maybe will reopen. However, no one knows as there is only access to the pub via the railway, boat, or a long walk to the public house.

Will it reopen?

The windmill at Berney Arms was used to grind cement clinker and was later converted into a drainage mill that closed in 1948

To this day, Berney Arms remains a working railway station with services between Norwich and Great Yarmouth via Reedham Junction, with very few services a day served by Greater Anglia with newly added class 755 units.

Berney Arms has two trains daily in both directions and three services on Sundays in the winter months.

Berney Arms has three services each way and five on a Sunday in the summer months.

Most services running between Norwich and Great Yarmouth run along the Acle route to this day.

With hourly services to Great Yarmouth from Norwich

Not via Reedham and Berney Arms.

Berney arms, when visiting, has a new metal sign installed as well as the old-fashioned Berney Arms sign; there are also handrails leading up to the platform, a station information board with paper a timetable, cycle racks and a help point that will get you hopefully through to a member of Greater Anglia staff.

Also, what surprised me was when talking to the conductor on the trip to Berney arms and asking for a request stop, he told me that Berney Arms is no longer a request station along this line, and the few trains that pass now all stop both ways if timetabled.

The last Great Yarmouth service to Norwich does not stop here in the Winter months due to the lack of light.

The Weavers' Way and Wherryman's Way long-distance footpaths pass near the station. This footpath attracts many walkers to this area for bird watching and long-distance walking.

Also, along this short stretch of line between Brundall junction are Buckingham, Cantley and Reedham stations, mainly served by Norwich and Lowestoft services, with Berney arms services also stopping at these stations.

Brundall junction is where the trains go towards Great Yarmouth, and you can go from this junction to Great Yarmouth via either Acle or Reedham.

Norwich to Lowestoft services mainly serves Buckingham, Cantley and Reedham stations, with the few daily Berney arms services also stopping at these stations.

Just after Reedham station sits the junction that takes most of the services that serve Buckingham, Cantley, and Reedham heading off towards Lowestoft, travelling over the Reedham Swing bridge

Least used station.

Berney arms, in December 2020, was the UK's newest least-used station from the 2019/2020 period.

Berney Arms had only 42 people registered using this station all year.

Thats 0.8 passengers every week

The low numbers were caused by the line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth being closed for major signalling works during this period and the pub being closed.

The pub being closed also was one of the reasons the station numbers had been falling dramatically since its closure in the 2016/2017 period of passenger figures.

In the year to March 2021, the station was used by 348 passengers that year.

That was 6.69 passengers a week.

The highest yearly rise for any station in the UK.

The second least used station was Elton and Orson railway station in Nottinghamshire on the Nottingham to Skegness line.

There is only one service each way a day and no Sunday service, and Elton and Orson was a close second place with 68 passenger entries that year averaging 1.3 passenger entries a week at Elton and Orson.

So due to Berney arms being closed for most of the year, was the actual least used station Elton and Orson?

The stats said Berney arms won the title this year even though it was closed due to Signalling work for most of the year.

When I visited in February 2023, I was not the only person to exit the train at Berney Arms but was the only person to get back on later in the day for the return to Norwich.

Also, the train that went to Great Yarmouth first, and I caught the return to Norwich; no one got off at Berney Arms on that service.

So why did I visit Berney Arms?

Berney Arms was the first mainline railway trip I took in many years.

Since the Least used station reports, I was strangely fascinated with this remote station in the middle of the Halvergate Marshes with no road access at all and not even really a pathway leading to this station, the only access being by the river and being a bit of a disused explorer and a keen walker and photographer I just had to jump on a train and visit this still in use station that surprised me that it's still open to this day and luckily not closed down during the Beeching cuts, luckily keeping this short part of the Norwich to Great Yarmouth line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth open, even though there is another line via Acle into Great Yarmouth that takes most of the passenger services from Norwich into Great Yarmouth this part with only Berney Arms along the short section of the route has been kept open.

The line was kept open to link Reedham, Cantley and Buckingham up with Great Yarmouth.

I caught the second train of the day from Norwich, leaving Norwich at 09.36 on Sunday, the 26th of February 2023 and taking roughly 27 minutes to arrive at Berney Arms station.

Once at Berney Arms, I was the second passenger off the train. The first passenger was a walker walking to Great Yarmouth, and firstly I went for a walk around the river talking to only one person all day, a keen and friendly bird watcher who had walked in from Great Yarmouth.

I took a lovely walk along the river bank, visiting the old windmill and then visiting the pub that was sadly closed and had been sadly closed for many years before my visit.

After visiting the pub, I decided to walk around the Marshes and look around the small station that you could look around in a few minutes. Still, this place in the middle of nowhere fascinated me no road access and one house, a closed pub and a closed windmill, and it still had its own railway station.

I fell in love with Berney Arms being a Norfolk boy and grew up on the Norfolk coast. The hustle and bustle of a city station never interested me. The quietness of Berney Arms was more me.

Leaving the station once again, I walked around. I Photographed the Halvergate Marshes whilst waiting for my return train to arrive and head first off towards Great Yarmouth, which came at 12.03 and photographing this service leaving, I awaited the return service from Great Yarmouth to Norwich at 12.17 that. Finally, I boarded and headed back to Norwich station.

Will I revisit Berney Arms??

Maybe I will visit this hidden Norfolk station; thanks Greater Anglia conductor on board who recommend walking the 4-odd miles from Berney Arms to Reedham and boarding the train back to Norwich

This station visit could have started something off with in-use railway trips. There are also some viaducts outside of Norfolk that I would like to visit in time.

Has this started something off?