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William Marriott Museum
The building is based on the Goods Shed that stood at
Thursford Station on the M&GN main line between Melton
Constable and South Lynn. Following closure of the
system in 1959 the Goods Shed at Thursford was converted
into a Highways Department depot for Norfolk County
Council (NCC) - a function it performed for many years.
Following the success of the reclamation
of Stalham Station building (now
Holt station), which
was also a highways depot, NCC offered the Thursford
Goods Shed to the NNR on the same basis.
The dismantling of the Thursford shed proved more
difficult than Stalham station and ultimately the
decision was taken to simply recover as many materials
as possible (e.g. roof timbers and slates) and use these
in a replica building. Many of the slates on the roof
are original, but the roof timbers have been kept to one
side and may be used in a later development
The building was erected and fitted out with financial
assistance from the European Regional Development fund
and now serves as a permanent museum for the Midland and
Great Northern Joint Railway Society (M&GN Society).
Sometimes known as ‘tranship’ sheds, not all M&GN
stations were provided with goods sheds. The greater
proportion was on the Western Section, but even here all
but the one at Bourne had been demolished by 1925.
The idea was that the raised internal floor level should
match that of the railway wagons, and the road level on
the other side of the building was raised so that the
beds of the lorries should be at the same height. In
this way the manual transfer of goods ‘in transit’ was
made much easier.
From 1883 stations on the Eastern & Midland Railway were
provided with goods sheds in three sizes. Cromer had the
largest, at 53 x 24 feet, and the smallest were
generally 24 x 16 ft, although that at Hillington was
only 15 x 10 ft.
The shed at Thursford, on which this building is
modelled, was of the medium size at 40 x 20 ft. It is a
plain gabled structure with four sets of large,
inward-opening doors.
A common feature of the sheds was a timber weather
screen or lean-to, protecting the trackside loading
doors. Cromer Beach shed had such a shelter.
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