The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a gauge heritage railway in Norfolk, England running between the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea and the inland village of Walsingham. The railway occupies a section of the trackbed of the former Wymondham to Wells branch which was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts. Other parts of this line, further south, have also been preserved by the Mid-Norfolk Railway. Despite its miniature dimensions, the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway is a "public railway", indicating that its operation is established by Act of Parliament. The original establishment of the preserved line was authorised by the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway Order 1982, the terms of which were altered under the subsequent Wells and Walsingham Light Railway (Amendment) Order 1994. Prior to 1982 the gauge Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway had traded as "The World's smallest public railway", a phrase sometimes quoted by the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway since the 1982 Light Railway Order. Overview The line, which is long, is now the longest gauge railway in the world. It runs from the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea to the village of Walsingham, famous as a centre of pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining authority to operate across main roads via level crossings, the railway operates between a new-build station located on the A149 approximately south of the original terminus at Wells, and a similar new terminus at Walsingham situated a short distance north of the original GER station, and within sight of it. Trains run daily between March and November, with the timetable intensifying during the high season period. Trains are mostly steam-operated, although diesel motive power is also utilised. Original (standard gauge) line The Norfolk Railway established a line from Wymondham to Dereham in 1847, which the nominally independent Wells and Fakenham Railway extended to Walsingham and Wells-next-the-Sea ten years later, in 1857. During the consolidation of minor railway companies in England, the line became part of the Great Eastern Railway, and during the 1923 Big Four grouping became in turn part of the London and North Eastern Railway. The Transport Act 1947 nationalised the British railways, and the branch line became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948. The line's final steam passenger service ran on 17 September 1955, services