NEW AUGUST 2018.  This is the first of five annual traffic censuses carried out by members of the Norfolk Railway Society in the late 1950s and early 1960s, all of which are available in the Files Emporium. On Saturday 20 July 1957, members of the Norfolk Railway Society observed the workings of trains throughout the area. Observers were stationed at Norwich Thorpe, Wymondham, Ely North Junction, Beccles, Ipswich, Melton Constable and South Lynn. They published their fascinating results in a card-covered typescript booklet, long out of print. We offer this file of it so the information it contains may be made widely available once more.

In this one the Midland and Great Northern was still very active in handling holiday traffic, and steam was the main motive power over the whole region. By the time of the final one (file TO047 from 1962) the M&GN was closed and its passengers used Yarmouth Vauxhall instead, and steam had all but disappeared.

At each location every train was timed, its number of vehicles and loading were recorded and its timekeeping was calculated. The cumulative statistics are provided. Individual trains were not listed in the report, apart from the ones which suffered delays of over 5 minutes. Nor was the motive power of any given train given. The overall situation was recorded in a table, so we know for example that Norwich (32A) had eight of its Britannias and seven Clauds out working.

The only steam locomotive numbers given are in a table listing the ones from outside the area which were spotted. On the GE most trains changed engines at March, but three 'foreign' B1s got through and even a solitary black five, 45372 of Willesden, penetrated as far as Norwich. Two N7s on local trains are in the list as well, but these had recently been transferred here and the news of it had not yet broken. The M&GN section featured a larger number of outside visitors from Leicester, Nottingham and New England.

The later censuses just described the express passenger trains, but this one recorded all movements including freight trains and light engines. There were a surprsing number of freights for such a busy Saturday, and the approximate number of wagons in each one was listed.

A summary of the workings of the 30 local DMUs is tabulated. Some of these are listed by the number of their power car, others by their trailing car. The reason for this inconsistency is that the observers were all told to report the number of the car at the end furthest from Norwich, to ensure that the same unit did not get recorded under two different numbers.

The file is word-searchable and is provided with bookmarks to take you to each of the main parts of the report. It will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.