Short video of Wroxham

 

The Vintage Broadsman is a significant boat in the history of the Norfolk Broads, having been launched on Spring Bank Holiday 1988. It was commissioned by the previous owners of Broads Tours, Len and Hazel Funnell, and designed and fitted from a steel hull by engineers and boat builders in the winter of 1987/88. The boat was craned in at the docks in Great Yarmouth and then towed to its final location on Church Road in Wroxham. The Vintage Broadsman was a revolutionary new concept for Broads Tours, replacing the traditional single decker boats with a more spacious double-decker experience. It has delighted hundreds of thousands of passengers and hosted many special events over the years, including Boogie Nights, Jazz evenings, themed Easter Cruises, and the ever-popular Santa Cruises. As the Vintage Broadsman turns 30, it continues to be a favorite trip boat and one of the most photographed boats on the Broads.

The Queen of the Broads was a significant figure in the history of the Norfolk Broads, serving as a passenger trip boat since its launch in 1977. Originally a single-decker boat, it was extended in 2002 and equipped with a top deck. The boat provided great viewing in all weathers, with an enclosed saloon on the upper deck and comfortable seating on the lower deck. It was powered by a 70hp compound steam engine and carried up to 160 passengers at a time. The Queen of the Broads operated until 1976, after which it was decommissioned and later broken up. The boat's history reflects the evolution of river travel and the changing landscape of the Broads region.

Rest Day Saturday 09:30 to 21:30 Thorpe Station, 12 hours overtime 🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉

 =======

------------

🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉

745008 platform 4 - 1P01 05:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 06:47 platform 6 -

745003 platform 1 - 1P03 05:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 07:17 platform 9 -

745105 platform 4 - 1P05 06:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 07:47 platform 10 -

745101 platform 2 -  1P07 06:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 08:17 platform 9 -

745010 platform 1  - 1P13 07:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 08:47 platform 10  -

755331 755416 755420 platform 2 -  1P15 07:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 09:17 platform 9 -

745005 platform 1 1P19 - 08:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 09:47 platform 10 -

745006 platform 2 -  1P02 07:10 Ipswich to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (07:50) for 1P21 08:30 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 10:17 platform 9 -

745004 platform 1 - 1P04 06:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (08:18) for 9P23 08:57 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 10:31 platform 11 -

745108 platform 2 - 1P06 07:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (08:44) for 1P25 09:30 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 11:17 platform 9 -

745002 platform 1 - 1P08 07:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (09:18) for 10:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 11:47 platform 10 -

745003 platform 2 - 1P10 08:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (09:44)for 1P29 10:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 12:17 platform 9 -

745105 platform 1 - 1P12 08:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at  (10:18) for 1P31 11:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 12:47 platform 10  -

745101 platform 2 - 1P14 09:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (10:46) for  1P33 11:30 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 13:17 platform 9 -

745010 platform 4 - 1P16 09:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (11:18) for 745010 platform 3 1P35 12:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 13:47 platform 6 -

755331 755416 755420 platform 2 - 1P18 10:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (11:44) for 1P37 12:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 14:17 platform 9  -

745005 platform 1 - 1P20 10:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (12:18) for 1P39 13:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 14:47 platform 8 -

745006 platform 2 - 1P22 11:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (12:45) for 1P41 13:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 15:17 platform 9 -

745004 platform 1 - 1P24 11:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (13:19) for 1P43 14:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 15:47 platform 6 -

745108 platform 1 - 1P26 12:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (13:45) for 1P45 14:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 16:17 platform 9 -

745002 platform 1 - 1P28 12:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (14:18) for 1P47 15:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 16:47 platform 10  -

745003 platform 2 - 1P30 13:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (14:46) for 1P49 15:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 17:17 platform 9 -

745105 platform 4 - 1P32 13:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (15:18) for 1P51 16:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 17:47 platform 10 -

745101 platform 2 - 1P34 14:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (15:45) for 1P53 16:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 18:17 platform 6 -

745008 platform 1 - 1P36 14:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (16:18) for 1P55 17:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 18:47 platform 10 -

755331 755416 755420 platform 2 - 1P38 15:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (16:44) for 1P57 17:30 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 19:17 platform 9 -

745005 platform 1 - 1P40 15:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (17:20) for 1P58 18:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 19:47 platform 10 -

745006 platform 2 - 1P42 16:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (17:46) for 1P61 18:32 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 20:17 platform 9 -

745102 platform 1 - 1P44 16:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (18:19) for -

745108 platform 2  -1P46 17:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (18:44) for 1P63 19:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 20:47 platform 10 -

745002 platform 2 - 1P50 17:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (19:19) for

745003 platform 2 1P54 18:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (19:44) not for 1Y75 23:05 Norwich Thorpe to Ipswich 23:45 platform 4 -

745 platform 1 - arrived at  for 1P67 20:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 21:47 platform 10 -

745105 platform 3 - 1P56 18:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (20:20) for 1P71 21:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 22:55 platform 10 -

745104 platform 2 -  9P58 19:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (20:33) for -

745008 platform 2 - 1P60 19:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (21:18) for 1P73 22:00 Norwich Thorpe to London Liverpool Street 23:55 platform 10 -

755331 755416 755420 platform 1 - 1P62 20:00 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (21:44) for

745005 platform 1 - 1P64 20:30 London Liverpool Street to Norwich Thorpe arrived at (22:18) for 1Y75 23:05 Norwich Thorpe to Ipswich 23:45 platform 4 -

+++++++ Rest Day Saturday +++++++ 09:30 to 21:30 Thorpe Station, 12 hours overtime 🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉🚉

Trip to Wroxham

 

[03/04, 13:42] Michael Noël Turner: 2S20 1345 Norwich to Sheringham

Departing today

Greater Anglia

UID P49456, identity 2S20

TSC 21897002

SSuX - 15/12/2025 to 15/05/2026

Ordinary Passenger

Great Britain (Network Rail, TPS)

755411

Standard class only seating

TRUST ID 482S20MN03

Activated 03/04/2026 12:45

[03/04, 13:43] Michael Noël Turner: 2S19 1446 Sheringham to Norwich

Departing today

Greater Anglia

UID P49451, identity 2S19

TSC 21897002

SSuX - 15/12/2025 to 15/05/2026

Ordinary Passenger

Great Britain (Network Rail, TPS)

755411

Standard class only seating

15:22 at Wroxham

[03/04, 18:10] Michael Noël Turner: 2S25 1748 Sheringham to Norwich

Departing today

Greater Anglia

UID P49477, identity 2S25

TSC 21897002

SSuX - 15/12/2025 to 15/05/2026

Ordinary Passenger

Great Britain (Network Rail, TPS)

755402

Standard class only seating

TRUST ID 482S25MV03

Activated 03/04/2026 16:48

[03/04, 18:27] Michael Noël Turner: 755402 arrived at 18:28 at Hoveton and Wroxham railway station 🚉

Been to Wroxham , and been on a boat trip, I went on the 15:00 boat trip, two boats, Queen of the Broads was one hour trip, and 1,5 hours Vintage Broadsman, the Vintage Broadsman feel like a pub to me, with a bar, with a open upper deck, seen where George Formby used to live in Wroxham, and Kevin Keelan , ex Norwich City FC goalkeeper 🥍, used to live too, with a swimming pool on the roof ?

I wanted to take this trip for sometimes, to see how it like, and I did love it.

May be I should take the ferry over the Mersey, I think they got a new boat now ? I have a photo of my mum on this, took by my Dad in the 1960's,

Notes to me

 You’ve put your finger on something very human and very old: the future is always sold to us as a promise, but the cost is always paid in the present. And when you’re the one standing on a cold platform in Wolverton or trying to re‑route a Norwich–Glasgow trip because Euston has vanished from the map for a week, that promise feels very abstract.

Let me put some shape around what you’re describing.

🌧️ The Pain Today

When big infrastructure work lands, we don’t experience “investment” or “modernisation.” We experience:

• Longer journeys

• More changes

• Crowded replacement buses

• Uncertainty

• A sense of being pushed around by forces we don’t control

And because rail travel is emotional as much as logistical — it’s how we get to work, to family, to commitments — disruption feels personal. It’s not just a timetable problem; it’s a life‑admin problem.

🌤️ The Hope of the Future (which feels distant)

The benefits — faster running, more reliable overhead lines, fewer failures, smoother timetables — are real, but they’re invisible until the day they quietly start working.

You don’t get a ribbon‑cutting ceremony for “fewer signal failures at Watford Junction.”

You just… stop noticing the delays.

That’s why the future feels vague while the present feels sharp.

🌈 Why this tension always feels unfair

Because the cost is immediate and individual. The benefit is delayed and collective.

You’re paying with your time today, but the payoff is spread across millions of journeys over years. That’s a hard emotional equation, even if the engineering logic is sound.

🔧 And on the WCML, this is especially intense

The West Coast Main Line is:

• One of the busiest mixed‑traffic railways in Europe

• Running at the edge of its capacity

• Dependent on Victorian geometry

• Constantly patched, upgraded, and re‑upgraded

So every improvement requires shutting down something that’s already overloaded. It’s like trying to renovate your kitchen while still cooking three meals a day.

🌱 You’re not wrong to feel the imbalance

And honestly, I think it’s healthy to name it. It’s not negativity — it’s realism.

You can appreciate the long‑term vision and still feel the sting of today’s inconvenience. Those two truths can sit side by side without cancelling each other out.

If you want, I can help you map out:

• what today’s WCML works are actually building toward,

• which upgrades will genuinely change journey quality,

• and which ones are just maintenance dressed up as “future investment.”

Sometimes seeing the shape of the future makes the present a little easier to tolerate.