Barton line | |||
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Overview | |||
Status | Operational | ||
Owner | Network Rail | ||
Locale | North Lincolnshire North East Lincolnshire Yorkshire and the Humber | ||
Termini | |||
Stations | 14 | ||
Service | |||
Type | Heavy rail | ||
System | National Rail | ||
Services | Barton-on-Humber–Cleethorpes Ulceby–Great Coates (freight to Immingham) | ||
Operator(s) | East Midlands Railway | ||
Rolling stock | Class 170 | ||
History | |||
Opened | 1848 | ||
Technical | |||
Line length | 22 miles 72 chains (36.85 km) | ||
Number of tracks | 1 (Barton-on-Humber–New Holland) 2 (New Holland–Ulceby) 1 (Ulceby–Habrough Junction) 2 (Habrough–Grimsby Town) 1 (Grimsby Town–Cleethorpes) | ||
Character | Rural | ||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | ||
Electrification | None | ||
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The Barton line is a railway line in North and North East Lincolnshire, England. It runs from Barton-upon-Humber south east to Cleethorpes and was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in February 2007. Barton station is near to the Humber Bridge. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary.
The stations served by the route are listed below.
Passenger services on the line are provided by East Midlands Railway but used to be operated by Northern Trains services on the line were due to switch to East Midlands Railway from the start of the new franchise in August 2019, but this transfer was deferred until May 2021. [1] Freight services previously served the chemical works at Barton-upon-Humber and the sidings at New Holland Pier. Services every two hours in each direction on weekdays. Sunday trains only run during the summer months (May to early September).
Before Class 156s operated the line, Class 153s, Class 142s and Class 150s (and before that Class 114) DMU sets were used. On Mondays – Saturday, the first service of the day from Cleethorpes to Barton-on-Humber, the 06:00 departure, and the 06:58 return was operated by a First TransPennine Express Class 185 (for operational reasons), although this service did not call at Great Coates and Thornton Abbey due to the low platforms. This practice ceased at the December 2013 timetable change and the first train from Cleethorpes now serves all intermediate stations other than New Clee, which is currently served by trains on request during daylight hours only. East Midlands Railway currently operate the line with Class 170s. [2]
Since the closure of the chemical plant no scheduled freight services operate on the route, though occasional trainloads have operated from the bulk grain terminal at New Holland (which now occupies the former pier it remained rail-connected for a period, but the tracks are now in disrepair and unusable).
The line is mostly double track, except for the sections at each end and the connecting curve between Habrough and Ulceby. The eastern portion of the route as far as Habrough is shared with the South Humberside Main Line to Doncaster and Lincoln, whilst the short section either side of Ulceby also forms part of the busy freight artery between Brocklesby and the Port of Immingham. West of Ulceby the line is double as far as Oxmarsh Crossing (near New Holland), reverting to single for the final 3+1⁄4 miles (5.2 km) to the terminus at Barton. This section has several manual signal boxes with semaphore signalling and staffed & gated level crossings in operation. [3] Network Rail planned to re-signal the line in 2015–16, with control passing to the York Rail Operating Centre – the level crossings on the line were automated and the existing signal box at Ulceby Junction abolished (those at Goxhill, Barrow Road and Oxmarsh Crossing remain).
The New Holland to Grimsby Town section of the line follows the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway, opened in 1848. This subsequently became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and eventually the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 Grouping. The line was extended to Cleethorpes by the MS&LR in 1863, with a branch from Goxhill to the docks at Immingham added in 1911. The line was particularly busy during the Second World War, as it served Royal Air Force airfields at Goxhill and Killingholme in addition to the various industrial installations in the area. [4] The line was twice proposed for closure in the 1960s (in 1963 and again four years later), but was reprieved on each occasion (though the Goxhill to Immingham Line did close in June 1963). [5]
Prior to the opening of the Humber Bridge in June 1981, passenger services ran via New Holland Pier where they connected with the Humber Ferry service across the Humber to Corporation Pier in Hull but after the bridge was commissioned the ferry service was withdrawn and a new chord line and replacement station provided at New Holland to allow trains to run directly to and from Barton. Since then, the connection to and from Hull has been provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire bus over the bridge and now operates out of Hull Paragon Interchange.
The service ran hourly until the spring of 1990, but was cut to the current two-hourly pattern at that year's timetable change by British Rail due to unreliability and a shortage of rolling stock. The winter Sunday service also suffered the same fate in 1999 following the abolition of Humberside County Council and subsequent withdrawal of funding by the replacement unitary authorities. [5]
The south end of the line is signalled under Track Circuit Block by the York Rail Operating Centre. To the north, several signal boxes control the line under Absolute Block with semaphores. The single section is signalled under One Train Working with staff, with the signaller at Oxmarsh Crossing signal box giving the staff and collecting it.
Cleethorpes is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then developing into a resort in the 19th century. Before becoming a unified town, Cleethorpes was made up of the three small villages of Itterby, Oole and Thrunscoe.
The Sheffield–Lincoln line is a railway line in England. It runs from Sheffield to Lincoln via Worksop, Retford and Gainsborough Lea Road. The route comprises the main line of the former Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), to Gainsborough Trent Junction, where it then follows the former Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway (GNGEJR) to Lincoln Central. The former MS&LR main line continues from Trent Junction to Wrawby Junction, Barnetby, much of it now single line, where it then runs to Cleethorpes.
Barnetby railway station serves the village of Barnetby-le-Wold in North Lincolnshire, England. It is operated by TransPennine Express, with East Midlands Railway and Northern Trains also serving the station.
Habrough railway station serves the village of Habrough and the town of Immingham in North East Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway in 1848. Up until 1988 there was a signal box at the station on the south side of the track and east side of the road with manually-operated gates. It was of typical Great Central Railway signal box design. The main buildings were located on the eastbound platform and were linked to the westbound one via a footbridge, but both have also been demolished and the level crossing was converted to an AHB crossing. In 2015/2016, it was converted to a full-barrier level crossing with Obstacle Detection (MCB-OD).
Cleethorpes railway station is a railway station serving the seaside town of Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, England. The station is managed by TransPennine Express, with East Midlands Railway and Northern services also using the station. The station is the terminus and start of multiple services.
Barrow Haven railway station serves the village of Barrow Haven in North Lincolnshire, England. The station has a single platform on the single-track line, with a shelter and a telephone on the platform. Stopping services from Barton-on-Humber to Cleethorpes call at the station. All services are provided by East Midlands Railway who operate the station.
Barton-on-Humber railway station serves the town of Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire, England.
Goxhill railway station serves the village of Goxhill in North Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway in 1848. The station is on the Barton Line 17 miles (27 km) north west of Cleethorpes and all trains serving it are operated by East Midlands Railway.
Ulceby railway station serves the village of Ulceby, North Lincolnshire near Immingham in North East Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway in 1848 and is located at Ulceby Skitter.
Stallingborough railway station serves the village of Stallingborough in North East Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway in 1848.
Grimsby Docks railway station serves the Freeman Street area of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. This is one of the oldest parts of the town, close to the Freeman Street Market and the town's docks both commercial and fish, the railway entrance to both being over the level crossing at the Cleethorpes end. The docks offices can be seen in the photograph in the distance, in which the line to Cleethorpes swings round to the right.
New Clee railway station serves the suburb of New Clee, Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. The station originally had two platforms, since reduced to one and is served by trains on the Barton line between Cleethorpes and Barton-Upon-Humber, operated by East Midlands Railway. New Clee is 2 miles 42 chains (4.1 km) from Cleethorpes and only 67 chains (1.3 km) from Grimsby Docks station.
The Grimsby District Light Railway (GDLR) was one of three standard gauge railways, all part of the Great Central Railway, promoted by the latter to connect the wider world to Immingham Dock which it built in the early Twentieth Century on an almost uninhabited, greenfield site on the south bank of the Humber, England.
The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway (G&IER) was an electric light railway, primarily for passenger traffic, linking Great Grimsby with the Port of Immingham in Lincolnshire, England. The line was built by the Great Central Railway (GCR), was absorbed by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923, and became part of the Eastern Region of British Railways. It ran mainly on reserved track.
The Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway was an early British railway company which existed between 1845 and 1847 with the intention of providing rail services between Grimsby, New Holland and Gainsborough in the county of Lincolnshire. It amalgamated with the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway and the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway, the three being renamed the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1847.
Immingham Dock railway station served the dock at Immingham, Lincolnshire, England.
New Holland Pier railway station is a former railway terminus in North Lincolnshire, England. It stood at the seaward end of the New Holland Pier, which juts 1,375 feet (419 m) northwards into the Humber estuary at the village of New Holland. Its purpose was to enable railway passengers, vehicles and goods to transfer to and from ferries plying between New Holland and Hull.
The Barton and Immingham Light Railway is a railway line in North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. It ran from a junction at Goxhill to Immingham Dock. Another spur runs from Immingham Dock to Ulceby. It was later absorbed by the Great Central Railway and later, on grouping, it passed to the London and North Eastern Railway. The railway is used for freight traffic to the ports at Immingham. The section from Goxhill to North Killingholme was mothballed and lifted. The track is still in situ but now overgrown and out of use.
The South Humberside Main Line runs from Doncaster on the East Coast Main Line to Thorne where it diverges from the Sheffield to Hull Line. It then runs eastwards to Scunthorpe and the Humber ports of Immingham and Grimsby, with the coastal resort of Cleethorpes as terminus.
New Holland Town railway station is a former railway station in the village of New Holland in North Lincolnshire, England. It stood at the landward end of the pier, whilst the purpose of Pier station, which juts 1,375 feet (419 m) northwards into the Humber estuary, was to enable railway passengers and goods to transfer to and from ferries plying between New Holland and Hull. New Holland Town station's purpose was for more conventional use by the local community.