Archie King Norfolk scrapyard

[Red Sparrow]

I'm looking to visit Wymondham in Norfolk next month . I am really keen to track down the location of the former Archie King scrap yard that existed along the spur that originally ran from Wymondham to Forncett and which was used for the destruction of old carriages . There is scant information about its location on the internet . Does any one have details of any good books that might feature it or old photos of the yard in operation ? My personal interest stems from it being the last resting place of the HVP carriage from the GTR in 1963.

 

[DerekC]

OK. There is a site shown quite explicitly as "Rolling Stock Breaker's Yard" on the OS 1:2500 map for 1970. Here's a link to the map, but I am not sure if it will work if you don't have an old-maps.co.uk account:

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/611500/301500/12/100954

In case not, the site is now occupied by the Lenwade Oil Terminal at:
OS grid ref TG 132006
Latitude: 52° 33' 42" N
Longitude: 1° 8' 41" E

It's very clearly visible on Google Earth as a set of oil tanks accessed from the B1135 about 1 1/2 miles east of Wymondham.

Hope this helps.

 

[eastdyke]

I have a copy of the October 2005 Norwich Evening News publication 'The Railways of Norfolk'.
Included is the picture repeated here under the heading
Great train robbery carriage being burnt at Wymundham [sic]
http://www.iwitness24.co.uk/mediadetail/2155614-Great-train-robbery-carriage-b?groupId=618&uid=&sort=upload DESC&offset=4001
The text with ('The Railways of Norfolk') picture includes:

It was a job that was supposed to be done without anyone seeing what was happening but a photographer managed to sneak up and take this picture.
A Royal Mail van was being destroyed by Archie King & Sons at their scrapyard in Wymondham. This was the van from which the Great Train Robbers carried off more than two and a half million pounds.
The railway authorities were keen that this notorious van should be burnt - nowadays it would probably end up in a museum! ...... Kings used part of the long-disused railway from Wymondham to Ashwellthorpe as part of their scrap metal operations. Coaches were hauled there and burnt leaving just the metal underframes and components to be cut up for scrap.

[Edited to clarify source of picture in my possession]

 

[Red Sparrow]

OK. There is a site shown quite explicitly as "Rolling Stock Breaker's Yard" on the OS 1:2500 map for 1970. Here's a link to the map, but I am not sure if it will work if you don't have an old-maps.co.uk account:

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/611500/301500/12/100954

In case not, the site is now occupied by the Lenwade Oil Terminal at:
OS grid ref TG 132006
Latitude: 52° 33' 42" N
Longitude: 1° 8' 41" E

It's very clearly visible on Google Earth as a set of oil tanks accessed from the B1135 about 1 1/2 miles east of Wymondham.

Hope this helps.

OK. There is a site shown quite explicitly as "Rolling Stock Breaker's Yard" on the OS 1:2500 map for 1970. Here's a link to the map, but I am not sure if it will work if you don't have an old-maps.co.uk account:

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/611500/301500/12/100954

In case not, the site is now occupied by the Lenwade Oil Terminal at:
OS grid ref TG 132006
Latitude: 52° 33' 42" N
Longitude: 1° 8' 41" E

It's very clearly visible on Google Earth as a set of oil tanks accessed from the B1135 about 1 1/2 miles east of Wymondham.

Hope this helps.

Thank you , that is an immense help .

 

[Red Sparrow]

I have a copy of the October 2005 Norwich Evening News publication 'The Railways of Norfolk'.
Included is the picture repeated here under the heading
Great train robbery carriage being burnt at Wymundham [sic]
http://www.iwitness24.co.uk/mediadetail/2155614-Great-train-robbery-carriage-b?groupId=618&uid=&sort=upload DESC&offset=4001
The text with (my) picture includes:

That is fantastic , many thanks .

 

[Red Sparrow]

That is fantastic , many thanks .

Eastdyke , was ’ The Railways of Norfolk ‘ a newspaper supplement or a printed book ? Also , did you take the photo yourself ?

 

[eastdyke]

@Red Sparrow
'joemasonspage', a blog of memories of East Anglia, includes multiple references to Archie King.
I remember a number of the items referenced, locos for scrap and especially the ships loading scrap from 'Wensum Wharf' [the old coalyard wharf] on the River Wensum, opposite the old factory site of Boulton & Paul.
Some links here which may be of interest:

'Gone for Scrap', King's Yard, Hall Road
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/gone-for-scrap/

Wymondham to Forncett Railway
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/wymondham-to-forncett-railway/

Some old photos of Norwich and related items
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2020/02/16/views-of-norwich/
Scroll down through the pictures to 'Loading scrap metal at Wensum Wharf Norwich, c 1978'

I hope that you enjoy your upcoming visit!

 

[Red Sparrow]

@Red Sparrow
'joemasonspage', a blog of memories of East Anglia, includes multiple references to Archie King.
I remember a number of the items referenced, locos for scrap and especially the ships loading scrap from 'Wensum Wharf' [the old coalyard wharf] on the River Wensum, opposite the old factory site of Boulton & Paul.
Some links here which may be of interest:

'Gone for Scrap', King's Yard, Hall Road
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/gone-for-scrap/

Wymondham to Forncett Railway
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/wymondham-to-forncett-railway/

Some old photos of Norwich and related items
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2020/02/16/views-of-norwich/
Scroll down through the pictures to 'Loading scrap metal at Wensum Wharf Norwich, c 1978'

I hope that you enjoy your upcoming visit!

Hi Eastdyke , the Joe Mason pages are really interesting , not just for the information about the Wymondham site but the operation as a whole . I’m only just beginning to understand the scale of the train related scrapage business ! In retrospect it seems a tragedy that so much has been lost . With my aviation hat on I still struggle to understand the rationale behind scrapping Guy Gibson’s Dambusting Lancaster , surely someone would have thought it was preserving even in those immediate post war days ?

 

[eastdyke]

Eastdyke , was ’ The Railways of Norfolk ‘ a newspaper supplement or a printed book ? Also , did you take the photo yourself ?

'The Railways of Norfolk' was an Eastern Evening News Publication to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Norfolk Railway Society. It is on newsprint, the quality of photographic reproduction reflects that. It was 68 pages, large size around 36 x 29 cm with a glossy soft cover and sold for 'Only £1.50'.
Page 51 has a picture of A1 60129, 'Guy Mannering', from Dec 23 1965, still largely intact awaiting the King torches.

The picture referred to in my first post was not taken by me, I have amended to clarify

 

[eastdyke]

Hi Eastdyke , the Joe Mason pages are really interesting , not just for the information about the Wymondham site but the operation as a whole . I’m only just beginning to understand the scale of the train related scrapage business ! In retrospect it seems a tragedy that so much has been lost . With my aviation hat on I still struggle to understand the rationale behind scrapping Guy Gibson’s Dambusting Lancaster , surely someone would have thought it was preserving even in those immediate post war days ?

IMO we sometimes try to keep too much! As a pragmatist I say keep only what we can afford to preserve in good, either working or static, order. Our children will not thank us for leaving too many rusting hulks. And that general principle should apply to listed buildings as well.
I am afraid aviation is not my bag so wouldn't know what to preserve either 'on the ground' or in the air!

 

[Red Sparrow]

'The Railways of Norfolk' was an Eastern Evening News Publication to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Norfolk Railway Society. It is on newsprint, the quality of photographic reproduction reflects that. It was 68 pages, large size around 36 x 29 cm with a glossy soft cover and sold for 'Only £1.50'.
Page 51 has a picture of A1 60129, 'Guy Mannering', from Dec 23 1965, still largely intact awaiting the King torches.

The picture referred to in my first post was not taken by me, I have amended to clarify

Many thanks for clarifying, I’ll keep an eye out for a copy of that.

 

[DelW]

With my aviation hat on I still struggle to understand the rationale behind scrapping Guy Gibson’s Dambusting Lancaster , surely someone would have thought it was preserving even in those immediate post war days ?

I think that you're maybe not appreciating the great differences between then and now. The country was hugely impoverished by the war effort, and suffering from severe shortages of raw materials and money. Building materials were in such short supply that bomb sites in every town and city were left as wasteland for years or decades, even basic foodstuffs were rationed well into the 1950s, and manufacturers could not obtain the raw materials needed to increase production. Recycling was done on a scale unimaginable now - my mother made clothes and home furnishings out of old curtains, because new clothes were rationed and very expensive, and new fabrics simply weren't available. Clothes, furniture and household goods were used until they fell apart, then patched up or turned into something else. The idea of keeping an old aircraft, even a significant one, in case someone wanted it in the future, would have come a poor second to turning it into saucepans.

That's the practical argument, but I suspect there was also a psychological one. Bombers, even British ones, were associated with 6 years of hardship, destruction and fear which everyone was desperate to get away from. In 2020, the second world war is an interesting historical study, but then it was recent and all too real in memory. No one wanted to be reminded of bombing and its consequences for both sides, and I think that most of the warplanes that did survive were the result of historical accidents rather than any plan for their preservation.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I think that you're maybe not appreciating the great differences between then and now. ...

You have saved me from answering this. Your first point is very valid, though I was going to emphasise your second. (Except, one might argue, there were more than two sides involved, but we know what you mean.) In the 60s, I do remember my mum - who lived under much of the Battle of Britain in Kent, and lost a brother in law or two in the conflict - complaining about the number of war films coming out. She just wanted to forget it all.

 

[Red Sparrow]

You have saved me from answering this. Your first point is very valid, though I was going to emphasise your second. (Except, one might argue, there were more than two sides involved, but we know what you mean.) In the 60s, I do remember my mum - who lived under much of the Battle of Britain in Kent, and lost a brother in law or two in the conflict - complaining about the number of war films coming out. She just wanted to forget it all.

DelW and IronDuke , good points , well made . Just reading the reports in the 1962 newspapers makes you realise how different life was even 60 years ago never mind going back to the mid 40's.