At its height, the railway played a key part of the transport of goods both to and from the town. Having been mothballed for several years this 00 gauge model running railway display of Harleston Station has been resurrected specifically to complement this year’s Heritage Open Days theme. The model shows the station and yard with buildings and facilities associated with an early 20th century country branch railway.

The working railway display will be combined with a photographic exhibition of the line through its history from 1855 to 1966, and a film of the last day of passenger steam on the branch line in January 1953. There will also be a presentation edited from film from the engine mounted camera.

The grade 2 listed Harleston Station survives today at 37 Station Road IP20 9ES. It stands at the mid (passing) point of the Tivetshall to Bungay Waveney Valley Line, part of the great network of railways that criss-crossed East Anglia in the 19th century. The model stands as a record of a bygone era, when the pace of life was slower and more peaceful.