Ales by Rails 2017 is the new event with the Dereham Beer Festival which takes place at the Mid-Norfolk Railway, over the August Bank Holiday weekend of Friday 25th August to Monday 28th August. The railway line is transformed into an 11 mile beer festival, with the main festival site at Dereham Station. The bar will have up to 50 real ales and ciders from around the country and local breweries, and a live music stage (see below) playing on Platform 3, Under the Canopy.

On board most trains there will be local cask ales from Grain Brewery as well as soft drinks and other light refreshments.

â€â€Â¹DEREHAM FESTIVAL BAR OPENING TIMES
â€â€Â¹Friday, Saturday & Sunday 11:00 - 23:30
â€â€Â¹Bank Holiday Monday 11:00 - 18:00 or when the beer is gone!
â€â€Â¹Last orders will be called 15 mins before the bar closes.

BEER TOKENS
Like most beer festivals, we operate a token system at the festival bar. The best and cheapest way to buy your drink will be by token. All the bars, including the on-train bars will accept tokens. Each beer costs a set number
of tokens.
You can buy a Starter Pack (Glass and four tokens) for £10. Each additional card of six tokens costs £10.00
(There are no refunds available on unused tokens or glasses)

Cash transactions will also be available, but this works out more costly per pint.

There is a card machine at Dereham to allow you to make purchases on your credit/debit cards. Both on-train bars will also sell beer tokens but do not accept Debit or credit cards.

Note: The railway does not have a cash machine at any of the stations. Nearest cash machines:
Dereham: Morrisions supermarket, 1 min walk from Dereham station
Wymondham Abbey: One Stop Shop, a 10 min walk into the town from Wymondham Abbey Station.

â€â€Â¹Found a beer or cider you love? Take Two Pints home!
Back by popular demand, you can carry out any two pints of your favourite beer or cider to help you continue your celebrations after the festival has closed for the night. There is a small 50p charge to cover the cost of the carton.

â€â€Â¹FESTIVAL GLASS - NEW DESIGN FOR 2017
â€â€Â¹Back by popular demand, a new limited edition festival glass has been produced.
â€â€Â¹Glasses cost £4 â€â€Â¹per glass and are non refundable, but it is cheaper to get your glass as part of a starter pack.

â€â€Â¹To cut down on the amount of plastics that are thrown away, we encourage you to buy a glass.

FREE SOFT DRINKS FOR DRIVERS
â€â€Â¹We want as many people as possible to enjoy our festival. If you're with people who are buying alcohol, and you're the designated driver, or just having an alcohol free evening, you can have free soft drinks from the main festival bar only - just show us your car keys or speak to bar staff.

LIVE MUSIC
â€â€Â¹Live music will run every evening at our unique venue on Platform 3, Under the Canopyâ€â€Â¹. On Monday, an Open Mic day has been organised during the day.
â€â€Â¹Friday:
â€â€Â¹LAST MEN STANDING
â€â€Â¹Kolin Durier, Vinyl DJ
Saturday:
MAMMAL NOT FISH,
Chris Dowling & Friends
Sunday:
BONNIEVILLE 58's,
â€â€Â¹Against The Grain, Locomotifs

TRAIN SERVICES
â€â€Â¹We are planning an intensive mixture of steam and diesel services with late night trains Friday, Saturday & Sundayâ€â€Â¹. Details of these will be available here soon.