Freight trains continued to pass through the station to North Elmham until 1989; passenger services from Dereham to Wells-next-the-Sea had closed under the Beeching Axe in 1964.

By 1880, Dereham boasted a two road wooden locomotive shed and a 45-foot turntable; it was believed to have dated from the late 1860s and known to have replaced an earlier structure.

A replacement depot, on part of the former goods yard, was developed using a £100,000 grant from the European Union Leader Fund's Wensum and Coast Local Area Group.

Although National Rail passenger services do not operate from the station this has been proposed for the future as part of the wider Norfolk Orbital Railway scheme,[7] and the station presently serves periodically as a National Rail freight terminal and charter destination.

The footbridge formerly from Whittlesford station was delivered to Dereham in July 2010, where it was intended to serve as a replacement to the demolished original structure.

Early Ordnance Survey maps show a second railway station located in the South Green area of Dereham on the branch line to King's Lynn which opened on 11 September 1848.

[9] A crossing keeper's cottage, which survived the closure of the branch to become a private residence, matches the design of other minor stations along the route.

The entrance to the booking hall and former platform door, now converted to be windows, can be seen and compared to contemporary station buildings.