East Lincolnshire Railway

Last updated

East Lincolnshire Railway
IndustryRailway Company
Founded26 June 1846
Successor Great Northern Railway

The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston, Alford, Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in 1848. The ELR Company had leased the line to the Great Northern Railway, and it was the latter which constructed the line and operated it, as its East Lincolnshire Line.

Contents

As the Great Northern Railway completed its network, the East Lincolnshire Line formed a main line to Louth and Grimsby. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century seaside leisure pursuits became important, and the line became the trunk route supporting branches to Skegness, Sutton on Sea and Mablethorpe. Agricultural produce was important throughout the life of the line.

As road transport became more convenient, the line lost custom, and in 1970 it closed except for the portion from Boston to Firsby, which supported the Skegness branch, which continued in use. All intermediate stations on the ELR, and all of the route from Firsby to Grimsby were closed to passengers in 1970.

Authorisation

The East Lincolnshire Railway was authorised by the East Lincolnshire Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxviii) of 26 June 1846, with permitted share capital of £600,000. [1] The authorisation was to build a 47+12 mile line built from its own terminus at Pasture Street in Great Grimsby to Boston, where it was to join the Loop Line [note 1] of the Great Northern Railway, which had been authorised the same day. The potentially much larger Great Northern Railway immediately entered negotiations to lease the East Lincolnshire Railway. The GNR's purpose was to secure territory to itself, and it did so by acquiring, by lease or by purchase, authorised lines in areas it sought to control. The GNR took the East Lincolnshire Railway on a lease at 6% of its paid-up capital, an arrangement described as "somewhat improvident". [2]

This lease was made immediately after the authorisation of the two lines, and was renewed later as a lease for 1,000 years. The East Lincolnshire Railway Company was from that time a financial shell, only concerned with distributing the lease charge of £3,600 annually to shareholders. [3] [4]

Originally the ELR had intended to provide its own terminus at Pasture Street in Grimsby, but the GNR agreed with the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway to use its Grimsby station. The following year on 2 July 1847 a further act of Parliament[ which? ] authorised the ELR to build a branch half a mile in length to make the connection to the GG&SJR. The Great Grimsby company soon merged with others and became the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Further share capital of £10,000 was authorised. A further act of Parliament[ which? ] of 9 July 1847 authorised the acquisition of the ELR Company by the Great Northern Railway, although this was not acted on. [5]

It was the Great Northern Railway which built, and later, operated the line. Most of its extent was a perfectly straight line with no heavy cuttings. There were ten bridges, three over the line and seven under the line. The contractors were Waring and Sons of Louth. The architects of the station buildings were John Grey Weightman and Matthew Ellison Hadfield of Sheffield. [6]

Opening

Boston station frontage Boston - station frontage (geograph 3248328).jpg
Boston station frontage

The 14-mile section between Louth and Grimsby opened on 1 March 1848. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway opened its line from Grimsby to New Holland on the same day. The MS&LR and the GNR both used the Grimsby station; the MS&LR and GNR arranged to run over each other's lines. The original passenger service was five trains each way on weekdays over the 30 miles between Louth and New Holland, with two trains each way on Sundays. New Holland was the ferry terminal for Hull. [7]

Later that year, the East Lincolnshire Line was further extended southward, from Louth to Firsby (at that time spelt Firstby). This opened on 3 September 1848, and on 2 October 1848 the line was opened from Firsby to a temporary station at Boston; the entire East Lincolnshire Railway authorised system was now complete. [7]

GNR Loop Line

Work had been proceeding on the GNR Loop Line, and the 58 miles from near Peterborough through Boston to Lincoln opened on 17 October 1848. That line was double except for a mile at Boston immediately south of the junction of the East Lincolnshire Line and the Loop Line. This was awkwardly squeezed in between houses at Witham Town and the River Witham, on the north approach to the skew bridge over the Grand Sluice. It was soon realised that this was not proper, and the section was made double track by a deviation (to the other side of the houses) on 11 May 1850; the point of junction of the East Lincolnshire Line was shifted slightly as well. [8]

These line openings enabled through journeys to be made to London from Lincolnshire and from Hull (by ferry to New Holland), using the Eastern Counties Railway or the London and North Western Railway from Peterborough southwards. [9]

Connecting lines

Firsby railway station Firsby railway station (2).jpg
Firsby railway station

The East Lincolnshire Line formed a spine from which a number of branch lines diverged. Its straight course led it to by-pass several important towns, and the development of seaside holidays and excursions from the 1860s generated a demand for easier transport links.

Geographically from south to north, these were:

Spilsby branch

Spilsby was a significant market town, and a branch line from the East Lincolnshire Line at Firsby was promoted locally. It opened in 1868. Although the branch line was busy enough, servicing loans taken out during the construction period was perpetually problematical, and in 1891 the Great Northern Railway purchased the company. The passenger service was suspended in 1939 as a war economy, and never reinstated; the line closed completely in 1958. [10]

Wainfleet and Skegness

The East Lincolnshire Railway followed a direct path to Grimsby, and in doing so passed by the coastal towns. As seaside holidays became popular in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, these towns realised that they suffered from not having a good railway connection, and in some cases set about rectifying the matter. The Wainfleet and Firsby Railway was authorised in 1869 to build from Firsby on the East Lincolnshire Line to Wainfleet, which was a semi-defunct port halfway to Skegness. It opened in 1871, and road transport completed the journey to Skegness. This wasn't satisfactory either, and in 1873 a line from Wainfleet to Skegness completed the branch line.

The junction at Firsby faced away from the most important traffic, and a west to south curve was installed in 1881. The Skegness branch carried a very heavy holiday traffic. [11]

Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea

Like Skegness, Mablethorpe developed as a seaside resort for excursionists and holidaymakers. A branch line was opened by the Louth and East Coast Railway in 1877. Sutton le Marsh, a few miles to the south, was also popular, and the Sutton and Willoughby Railway and Dock company opened a branch line in 1886, and used the pleasanter name Sutton on Sea for the resort. This line was more practical, as it was south-facing, enabling an easier approach for the holiday trains. A major part of the Sutton and Willoughby Railway and Dock was the construction of a fishing harbour to rival Grimsby, but the company never generated enough money to attempt the dock. (Later on, other companies promised to open it, but they also failed.) The distance between Sutton and Mablethorpe was not great and the company decided to build a railway to fill the gap; that opened in 1888. This had the effect that the holiday trains nearly all approached Mablethorpe by running through (and calling at) Sutton.

The Sutton and Willoughby company was absorbed by the Great Northern Railway in 1902, followed by the Louth and East Coast Railway in 1908. [12]

Louth to Bardney Line

The Louth to Bardney line was planned to run to Five Mile House, near Lincoln, and provide a through run between Lincoln and Grimsby, also connecting (as yet unproven) ironstone resources. The line was cut back for lack of money, and opened to Bardney in stages between 1874 and 1882. The hoped-for through trunk traffic did not appear, and the ironstone was available in small quantities only. The line remained a penniless local line. It was reluctantly purchased by the Great Northern Railway in 1883.It closed to passengers in 1951, and completely in 1960. [13]

Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway

As holiday traffic to East Coast resorts became dominant, the roundabout route from the Midlands and Northern population centres to Skegness via Boston (reversing direction there) became increasingly an irritation. In 1911 the GNR decided to build the New Line, between junctions east of Kirkstead and west of Little Steeping. The line was 15 miles long, and it opened in 1913. Much of the holiday traffic was diverted over it; its local traffic was modest, and confined to agricultural business. [14]

Railmotors

The long and thinly populated tract of the East Lincolnshire Line led the directors to consider how passenger operation might be made cheaper. In the early years of the twentieth century, a number of railway companies experimented with railmotors. These were self-contained passenger coaches which had a small integrated steam locomotive. Central retractable steps enabled passengers to board and alight from simple platforms at ground level. In 1905, such a service was started between Louth and Grimsby, and a number of new halts were opened: (Fotherby Halt, Utterby Halt, Grainsby Halt, Holton Village Halt, Weelsby Road Halt and Hainton Street Halt).

The railmotors had mixed success; their limited passenger capacity led to problems at busy times; and they were incapable of hauling a tail load of any great weight. [15]

Commercial results

The East Lincolnshire Railway company had promoted the construction of the line to connect Grimsby to Boston. It was fortuitous that the Great Northern Railway built an important route through Boston, giving useful connectivity to the East Lincolnshire Line, as it became. Nevertheless, the intervening terrain was largely rural and very thinly populated. Trunk passenger travel from Grimsby to London was not enough to sustain the line. The development of Skegness, Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea brought a huge and unforeseen volume of traffic to the relevant parts of the line, and indeed at the peaks overwhelmed the capacity of terminals to handle the traffic.

When passenger and goods transport by road became practicable and convenient in the 1920s and after, the use of the line gradually declined accordingly, and there was a possibility in the early 1960s that the whole network, including the Skegness branch, might close. Protests had an effect, but only a delaying effect in general. [16]

Closure

The line was recommended for partial closure in the 1963 Beeching Report as it was not felt to be economically viable. The closure went through two public enquiries before being approved at the end of the decade. The final decision was to retain services between Boston and Skegness, and retain the remainder of the line for freight. [17] The passenger service throughout the East Lincolnshire Line and all branches was closed on 5 October 1970, with the exception of Boston - Skegness. A special train ran that evening, with 1,000 spectators at Louth station. [18]

Skegness was to continue to be served by train from Boston via the 1881 curve at Firsby. All the stations on the original East Lincolnshire Line closed, but the Skegness trains traversed the line from the site of the former junction at Boston to Firsby South, and then over the Skegness branch. [19] In addition the section from Grimsby to Louth remained in use for goods trains to Associated British Maltsters at Louth, but this ceased in December 1980. The line was offered to the Grimsby to Louth Preservation Society to run as a heritage railway, but they could not afford the £400,000 required. A special passenger train ran over the line before it was lifted. [20]

Restoring Your Railway

In March 2021, two bids were submitted to restore the line from Louth to Firsby and the line from Mablethorpe to Firsby as part of the third round of the Restoring Your Railway fund. [21]

Preservation group

The Lincolnshire Wolds Railway now operates a heritage railway system. It owns the five miles of trackbed from its present terminus at Ludborough to the Fairfield Industrial Estate at Louth, where a substantial site for a new station has been set aside. [22]

Station list

East Lincolnshire Railway
BSicon CONTg.svg
Grimsby Town
BSicon BHF.svg
BSicon xABZgl+xl.svg
BSicon STR+r.svg
Hainton Street Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon HST.svg
Grimsby Docks
Weelsby Road Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
Riby Street Platform
Waltham
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon HST.svg
New Clee
Holton Village Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon KBHFe.svg
Cleethorpes
Holton-le-Clay
BSicon exHST.svg
Grainsby Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
North Thoresby
BSicon KHSTxa.svg
Ludborough
BSicon KHSTxe.svg
Railway
 
BSicon exlDAMPF.svg
Utterby Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
Fotherby Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
Louth
BSicon exBHF.svg
BSicon exCONTgq.svg
BSicon exABZgr.svg
BSicon exBS2+l.svg
BSicon exBS2+r.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Grimoldby
Legbourne Road
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Saltfleetby
Authorpe
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Theddlethorpe
Aby for Claythorpe
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Mablethorpe
Alford Town
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Sutton-on-Sea
BSicon exSTR.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Mumby Road
BSicon exBS2l.svg
BSicon exBS2r.svg
BSicon exSTR.svg
BSicon KBHFa.svg
Skegness
Willoughby
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
Seacroft
Burgh-le-Marsh
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon HST.svg
Havenhouse
Firsby
BSicon exBHF.svg
BSicon HST.svg
Wainfleet
BSicon exKRW+l.svg
BSicon exKRWgr.svg
BSicon HST.svg
Thorpe Culvert
Halton Holegate
BSicon exHST.svg
BSicon xABZgxl+l.svg
BSicon STRr.svg
Spilsby
BSicon exKHSTe.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
Little Steeping
BSicon exCONTgq.svg
BSicon eABZgr.svg
BSicon eHST.svg
East Ville
BSicon eHST.svg
Old Leake
BSicon eHST.svg
Sibsey
BSicon exCONTgq.svg
BSicon eABZg+r.svg
BSicon BHF.svg
Boston
BSicon STRc2.svg
BSicon ABZ3x2.svg
BSicon exSTRc3.svg
BSicon CONT1.svg
BSicon exSTRc1.svg
BSicon STRc4.svg
BSicon exCONT4.svg

Notes

  1. or "Lincolnshire Loop" or just the "Loop".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)</span> British railway company, 1846 to 1922

The Great Northern Railway (GNR) was a British railway company incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took leases of, many local railways, whether actually built or not. In so doing, it overextended itself financially.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincolnshire Wolds Railway</span>

The Lincolnshire Wolds Railway (LWR) is a heritage railway based at Ludborough station, near Louth, Lincolnshire, England and the only standard gauge steam railway in Lincolnshire open to the public. The line is part of the original Great Northern Railway (GNR), a rail system that opened in 1848 and once linked Grimsby, Louth and East Lincolnshire with London. In early 2002, 2009 and 2013 the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway received a top national award from the Heritage Railway Association for its heritage railway efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poacher Line</span> Railway line in Lincolnshire, England

The Grantham–Skegness line, promoted originally as the Poacher Line, runs for 55 miles (89 km) between Grantham and Skegness in Lincolnshire, England. Trains on this route generally operate hourly from Nottingham to Skegness via the Nottingham to Grantham Line, with additional slower stopping services at peak times. The line is operated by East Midlands Railway, using Class 170 Turbostar and Class 158 Express Sprinter diesel multiple units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firsby</span> Small rural linear village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England

Firsby is a small rural linear village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 30 miles (48 km) east from the city and county town of Lincoln, 4 miles (6.4 km) south-east from the nearest market town of Spilsby, and 7 miles (11 km) inland from the holiday resort town of Skegness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Riding and Grimsby Railway</span> United Kingdom legislation

The West Riding and Grimsby Railway was a railway company that promoted a line between Wakefield and Doncaster, in Yorkshire, England. There was also a branch line connection from Adwick le Street to Stainforth, which gave access towards Grimsby. The company was promoted independently, but it was sponsored by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway, and became jointly owned by them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton-on-Sea</span> Town in the East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England

Sutton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, beside a long sandy beach along the Lincolnshire Coast and north sea. The southern part of the town is known as Sandilands and nearby is also Trusthorpe.

The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line" was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern counties of England. It was owned jointly by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and the Great Eastern Railway (GER). It was formed by transferring certain route sections from the parent companies, and by the construction of a new route between Spalding and Lincoln, and a number of short spurs and connections. It was controlled by a Joint Committee, and the owning companies operated their own trains with their own rolling stock. The Joint Line amounted to nearly 123 miles (198 km) of route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firsby railway station</span> Former railway station in Lincolnshire, England

Firsby railway station was a station in Firsby, Lincolnshire. It served as a main line station and a terminus for two branch lines to Skegness and Spilsby respectively. The station was popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries for seaside connections to Skegness, but was recommended for closure in the Beeching Report and closed in 1970. The station was mostly demolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willoughby railway station</span> Former railway station in Lincolnshire, England

Willoughby was a railway station on the East Lincolnshire Railway which served the village of Willoughby in Lincolnshire between 1848 and 1970. In 1886, a second larger station replaced the first following the opening of a junction with the Sutton and Willoughby Railway to Sutton-on-Sea and later Mablethorpe. The withdrawal of goods facilities at Willoughby took place in 1966, followed by passenger services in 1970. All lines through the station are now closed.

The Ambergate, Nottingham and Boston and Eastern Junction Railway was a British railway company, which hoped to connect Lancashire with the port of Boston, in Lincolnshire, England. It was authorised in 1846 but was unable to raise much money. It opened a standard gauge line from a junction near Nottingham to Grantham in 1853. At Nottingham it was to rely on the Midland Railway, but that company was hostile and obstructive.

The Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway, locally known as the New Line, was a railway line in England built to shorten the route between Lincoln and Firsby in Lincolnshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louth to Bardney Line</span>

The Louth to Bardney Line was an English railway line built by the Louth and Lincoln Railway Company, in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in stages between 1874 and 1876, after serious difficulties in raising subscription capital, and following alteration to the planned route. It was hoped to serve large reserves of ironstone along its route, but the deposits were not as large as hoped, and the line was never financially successful.

The Spilsby branch was a railway line built in Lincolnshire, England by the Spilsby and Firsby Railway Company. It was made to connect the market town of Spilsby with the main line network. It opened in 1868, and was worked by the Great Northern Railway.

Louth North railway station is the future southern terminus of the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway where it will occupy a new site on the Fairfield industrial site.

The Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway opened a railway line between Grantham and Boston, through Sleaford, England. It opened in two stages, in 1857 and 1859.

The Firsby to Skegness railway line is a branch railway line, in Lincolnshire, England. It was built by an independent company to connect Wainfleet, at first, and then the seaside town of Skegness, with the main line network at Firsby. It opened in 1871 from Firsby to Wainfleet, and 1873 throughout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mablethorpe loop railway</span> Railway in Lincolnshire, England

The Mablethorpe Loop railway was formed in Lincolnshire, England, by two independent railway companies, which built branches from the East Lincolnshire Line.

The Grantham and Lincoln railway line was a line in Lincolnshire, built by the Great Northern Railway to shorten the distance between the town of Grantham and city of Lincoln. It had already formed a network in Lincolnshire, but the route from London and points south and west of Grantham was very indirect.

The Lincolnshire lines of the Great Northern Railway are the railways, past and present, in the English county built or operated by the Great Northern Railway.

The Leen Valley lines of the Great Northern Railway were railway branch lines built to access the collieries in the Nottinghamshire coalfield in England. The Midland Railway had long been dominant in the area, but there was resentment against its monopolistic policies from coalowners, who encouraged the Great Northern Railway to build a line. The Leen Valley Line was opened in 1881; it ran as far as Annesley colliery. A passenger service was run the following year, and very considerable volumes of coal were hauled.

References

Citations

  1. Ernest F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959, page 128
  2. Wrottesley 1979, pp. 11–17, 23.
  3. Wrottesley 1979, p. 23.
  4. Grant 2017, p. 174.
  5. Carter, page 179
  6. Hull Packet (newspaper), 3 March 1848, available from British Newspaper Archive, subscription required
  7. 1 2 Wrottesley 1979, p. 33.
  8. Wrottesley 1979, p. 37.
  9. Wrottesley 1979, p. 39.
  10. Paul Anderson, Railways of Lincolnshire, Irwell Press, Oldham, 1992, ISBN   1-871608-30-9, page 63
  11. Stephen Walker, Firsby to Wainfleet and Skegness, KMS Books, Boston, 1987, ISBN   0 948017 04 X, page 7 and following
  12. Squires 1986, pp. 38–39.
  13. A J Ludlam, Branch Lines of East Lincolnshire: volume 1: Louth to Bardney, published by Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Society, 2015, ISBN   978 0 9926762 5 4
  14. Squires, pages 38 and 39
  15. Wrottesley 1981, p. 137.
  16. Wrottesley 1981, p. 164.
  17. Stennett 2016, pp. 227, 230–231.
  18. "Looking back on the closure of the East Lincolnshire railway". Grimsby Live. 9 October 2017 via www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk.
  19. Stennett 2016, pp. 230–231.
  20. Stennett 2016, p. 250.
  21. In full: The 85 abandoned rail schemes vying for restoration funding 16 March 2021
  22. Lincolnshire Wolds Railway website at https://lincolnshirewoldsrailway.co.uk/
  23. Col M H Cobb, The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas, Ian Allan Limited, Shepperton, 2002
  24. Michael Quick, Railway Passenger Stations in England, Scotland and Wales: A Chronology, the Railway and Canal Historical Society, Richmond, Surrey, 2002

Sources