This cache celebrates a Norfolk railway station which changed its name 3 times over the years! It was situated on the old line between Downham Market and Stoke Ferry, and when it opened on 1 August 1882 it was named Abbey Station by the Downham and Stoke Ferry Railway. It was re-named Abbey for West Dereham Station on 1 January 1886, and re-named again as Abbey and West Dereham Station on 1 July 1923 when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER)!
This is the view of the station house as it is now (2020), and the station was located (as many East Anglian stations) outside of the village on a road still called Station Road:
The station closed to passengers on 22 September 1930, but it was still open for goods traffic until 19 April 1965. A view of the station in the mid 1970's when there was still track in situ as trains passed through on their way to and from the Wissington sugar refinery (trains stopped in 1982):
A view of the station house in the early 1990's:
This aerial view shows the position of the original Abbey Station compared with what is there now. The cross marks the cache position:
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