NHER 43546 (Monument record) - World War Two military railway siding

April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two railway siding used to unload bombs for nearby USAAF bomb stores is visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2). This site is centred on TM 3082 8791 on the former Waveney Line railway. The earliest aerial photographs showing the site date to October 1945, at which time it was still in use (S1). A concrete hardstanding extended for 470m along the northwest side of the railway line. Three buildings, including a Nissen hut or similar curved profile building, were present on a triangular area at its northeastern end. To the southeast of the railway line were four more buildings located along an access road. A small structure, possibly a spigot mortar emplacement, was located at TM 30875 87935. This siding was constructed to unload bombs for a nearby USAAF bomb store, the headquarters of which were at Earsham Hall (NHER 41375) (S3). The bomb stores were distributed around the adjacent area, with several located in woodlands (NHER 41372-4) and others along roadsides (NHER 43547-9). The siding appears to have been out of use by April 1946 (S2) and the railway line closed in 1960 (S4). All of the buildings at the site had been removed by 1963 (S5).
J. Albone (NMP), 12 April 2006