The railway occupies a four-mile (6.4 km) section of the trackbed of the former Wymondham to Wells branch which was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts.

Owing to the difficulty of obtaining authority to operate across main roads via level crossings, the railway operates between a new-build station located on the A149 approximately 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) south of the original terminus at Wells, and a similar new terminus at Walsingham situated a short distance north of the original GER station, and within sight of it.

Trains run daily between March and November,[2] with the timetable intensifying during the high season period.

[7] Significant developments during the history of the line have included the abandoning of locomotive turning facilities (the line was originally envisaged with turntables at both ends, and locomotives always operating in the forwards direction) in favour of the operationally simpler system of locomotives operating forwards on their outward journey, and backwards on their return journey, after running round the train by means of a headshunt and run-round loop.

Pilgrim was the sole locomotive, although the nearby Wells Harbour Railway was an available source of alternative motive power in an emergency.

These two engines provided the main service, with Weasel in reserve and out-of-season use, whilst Pilgrim was sold.

This engine, which was never owned by the railway, had marginally different gauge standards (the range of measurements of elements of the wheelsets of a vehicle, in addition to the strict gauge from flange to flange), and proved unsuitable, as the newly established practice of running in reverse from Walsingham to Wells meant that the engine led with its tender, and the slightly different measurements, coupled with the lighter weight of the leading tender, led to the tender regularly derailing.

With the planned future introduction of a two-train summer service, it is intended to have three steam locomotives on site.

This is the 2-6-0 mogul type steam locomotive, simply called No 4, which was constructed in 2012 by Tony Martin, the chief engineer of the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway, using the former boiler of Norfolk Hero as the basis for the project.

[9] The mogul is rarely used on W&WLR passenger services, but can sometimes be observed operating privately on the railway, out of hours.

The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway operates a fleet of comfortable passenger carriages, with adults sitting two-abreast in compartments with both facing and backward seating.

A number of wagons form a basic engineering fleet of rolling stock for use on maintenance trains, as shown below.

The locomotive required minor repairs, and volunteers formed a working party to dig out the mud, and return the line to usable condition.

After leaving the station trains begin to climb the 1 in 80 gradient to Warham, passing the remains of the Leicester Lime Works and The Midden Halt, a small request stop station serving a camp site, before passing under a road bridge carrying the Wells to Walsingham road.