Revivalists honoured for 120 years of combined service

TWO brothers who were among the revivalists who founded the North Norfolk Railway six decades ago have been honoured for their lifetime's service.

In the early 1960s, Andrew Ison, now 79, and his brother Roger, aged 74, from Buckhurst Hill, in Essex, along with two friends had the vision of reopening a railway.

The brothers, who now live in Sheringham, are still members of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society, the charity which supports the Poppy Line, and are still volunteers. During their service, they have seen key milestones in the railway's history: the arrival of locomotives and stock in 1967, the opening to Weybourne in 1975 and to Holt in 1989, and dining trains running to Cromer via Network Rail's Bittern Line.

Much of their early planning took place around the dining table of their parents' home and on trips to North Norfolk made in an old Commer minibus. Roger remembers taking part in decision-making as a 15-yearold and visiting Stratford depot on a cold January morning in 1962 to look at withdrawn steam locomotives that might be acquired. One of these was B12 4-6-0 No. 8572, which came to Sheringham in 1967 and has been the flagship of the NNR for many years.

Since those early days, the brothers have rolled their sleeves up in a variety of practical work, including raising funds, laying track and working on locomotives and rolling stock, as well as labelling envelopes and selling souvenir brochures.

Making a presentation to the brothers at a ceremony at Sheringham station on October 31, the last day in service of the B12 prior to overhaul, society chairman Neil Sharpe said: “Andy and Roger's contribution to making possible what the NNR is today is very special indeed.”

He handed framed commemorative photographs of themselves with the caption: “Marking a combined 120 years' service and dedication to the M&GNJR Society and the North Norfolk Railway (1961-2021). A significant and highly commendable contribution to our work.”

After the ceremony, Roger travelled on the footplate of the B12 on a return trip to Holt, while Andy made the journey ‘on the cushions'.

PETER MAYNE ALLEN/NNR Pictured at Sheringham with B12 No. 8572, the locomotive which the brothers saw at Stratford almost 60 years before, are (left to right) North Norfolk Railway managing director Hugh Harkett, M&GN Society chairman Neil Sharpe, Roger and Andy Ison, general manager Andrew Munden and (in the cab) chief mechanical engineer Keith Ashford.