The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "new generation" of heritage railways. The MNR owns and operates most of the former Wymondham-Fakenham branch line of the Norfolk Railway. The branch opened in 1847, was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts, and was finally fully closed to goods traffic in 1989. (The northern section of this line, to Wells, was built by the Wells and Fakenham Railway and part of this has been operated by the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway since 1982.)