Owner Derek Gamble was traced after the item - which still contained its original contents - was found inside a railway carriage being restored.
Train driver Michael Massey told the Eastern Daily Press he discovered the wallet on the North Norfolk Railway.
Gamble said the contents "brought back memories of 30 years ago".
An old one pound note and a handful of coins, as well as documents bearing the name Derek B Gamble and his former address in Rugby, Warwickshire, were inside the wallet.
Also Read
He turned detective to find the wallet's owner, eventually tracking down Gamble's son in Northampton.
"He [Gamble] doesn't remember losing it, but thinks it must have been when the carriages were on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough," Massey was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Gamble, now in his 60s and living in Northampton, said: "I am pleased and not a little surprised to be reunited with my wallet.
"Its contents bring back memories of what my family and I were doing over 30 years ago," he said.