The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway to Poppyland- From the Midlands to Norfolk & Norwich

M&GNJR was a Midlands to East Anglia railway linking towns and villages like a patchwork knitted together by clever business entrepreneurs. It started in the 1850s when there was intense rivalry between railway companies and two rich and powerful companies, MR and GNR, were behind the project. A Special Act of Parliament in 1893 confirmed this patchwork was the amalgamation of several small independent railway companies plus the MR and GNR. The company was especially interested in stealing a march on the Great Eastern Railway (GER). Poppyland was the nickname created for the Cromer area of the Norfolk coast by Clement Scott, who first visited in 1883. He claimed that clean air laced with perfume of wild flowers was opiate to his tired mind. The M&GNJR grew eastwards to Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and attracted passengers from the Midlands and London. Closure came on 28 February 1959 but the Poppy Line has survived as a heritage line so the Joint is not forgotten.