Immingham Town electric railway station

Immingham Town
Tramcar at Immingham Town
Location	Immingham, North East Lincolnshire England
Coordinates	53°37′00″N0°10′48″W / 53.6167°N 0.1800°W / 53.6167; -0.1800 Coordinates: 53°37′00″N0°10′48″W / 53.6167°N 0.1800°W / 53.6167; -0.1800
Grid reference	TA204148
Platforms	0
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Great Central Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
15 May 1912	opened
3 July 1961	closed [1] [2]

v t e Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway
Legend
Barton & Immingham Lt Rly to Ulceby and Goxhill Immingham Dock Dock entrance to Ulceby Immingham Eastern Jetty Immingham Dock Eastern Entrance to Immingham Dock Immingham Engine Shed Immingham Queens Rd Immingham Town Immingham Halt Kiln Lane Marsh Road LC No.6 Passing Place No.5 Passing Place No.4 Passing Place Great Coates LC Pyewipe Depot Halt & Pyewipe car sheds Cleveland Bridge Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Rly Grimsby Pyewipe Road West & East Marsh Junctions to Grimsby Pier Cleveland Street Stortford Street Boulevard Recreation Ground Jackson Street Grimsby Town Yarborough Street Corporation Bridge East Lincolnshire Rlwy to Boston to Cleethorpes and Grimsby Pier

v t e Passenger lines of North East Lincolnshire
Legend
Hull Corporation Pier Barton- on-Humber Humber Ferry Barrow Haven New Holland Pier New Holland engine shed New Holland Town New Holland Goxhill East Halton Killingholme Admiralty Platform Thornton Abbey Killingholme Thornton Curtis Immingham West Jn Immingham Western Jetty Ulceby Aerodrome Platform Humber Road Jn Ulceby North Jn Immingham Dock Ulceby Dock Entrance Immingham engine shed Immingham Eastern Jetty Immingham Queens Road Immingham Dock Immingham Town Eastern Entrance to Immingham Dock Sheffield– Lincoln line & South Humberside Main Line Immingham Halt Habrough Kiln Lane Stallingborough Marsh Road LC Healing No.5 Passing Place Great Coates Great Coates LC Pyewipe Depot Halt Pyewipe car sheds Cleveland Bridge Grimsby Pyewipe Road West Marsh Jn East Marsh Jn Cleveland Street Stortford Street Grimsby Town Boulevard Recreation Ground East Lincolnshire Rlwy to Boston Jackson Street Grimsby engine shed Yarborough Street Grimsby Docks Corporation Bridge Grimsby Pier Riby Street Platform New Clee Cleethorpes Kingsway (CCLR) Discovery Lakeside Central North Sea Lane Humberston North Sea Lane Beach South Sea Lane Lincolnshire Coast Lt Rly 1960–1985

Immingham Town electric railway station was the penultimate unconditional stop on the inter-urban ^[3] Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway when travelling from Corporation Bridge, Grimsby to Immingham Dock. All tramcars reversed here. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

The halt was the line's temporary western terminus for the eighteen months from opening until the extension to the permanent terminus at Immingham Dock was opened on 17 November 1913. Throughout this period the halt appeared on tickets as plain "Immingham", being permanently "Immingham Town" thereafter. ^[8]

Overview

The electric railway was built primarily to carry workers between Grimsby and the dock facilities, Immingham Dock having been built on a greenfield site in a sparsely populated area. The line was built by the Great Central Railway and remained in railway ownership up to closure in 1961. It therefore appeared in railway timetables ^[9] and it was possible to buy through tickets between any of the stops on the line and anywhere on the national railway network, ^[10] though there never was any physical connection with any conventional track, nor with the tramways in Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

In modern parlance the vehicles would be described as trams, but they were typically referred to locally and in publications such as Bradshaw as "cars" ^{[11] [9]} or "tramcars", with related things being called names such as "tramcar halt" and "tramcar bridge." "Car" was always a more common short form than "tram."

Location and facilities

Immingham Town - known locally as "Tramcar Halt" - was situated outside the dock estate in what in 2012 was still open country. It was the nearest point to the line for its two lesser markets - railwaymen travelling to and from Immingham engine shed and residents of the village of Immingham, ^[12] by far the greatest market being dock workers. The station was nevertheless a third of a mile from the engine shed and a good mile from the village proper.

The line was a tramway, no platforms ever existed at any of the stopping places; passengers were expected to board and alight from the roadway or trackside cinders according to the location. The "stations" were much more commonly referred to as "halts" or "stopping places." In the case of Immingham Town the tracks ran along a metalled road, giving passengers a firm footing at least. ^[13]

A wooden waiting shelter was provided at Immingham Town, but it gave scant protection from the elements. ^{[14] [15]} During the Second World War this was replaced by an altogether more substantial brick shelter designed to double as an air raid shelter. This structure was still in place in 2013.

Passengers bought tickets from the conductor on board the cars.

The lines from the station

Tramcars arrived from Immingham Dock down the grooved double track southern slope of one of the two "hills" on the whole line, i.e. the bridge over the conventional Grimsby District Light Railway line near Immingham East Junction. ^[16] This bridge, which was in regular, heavy road use in 2015, was known locally as "tramcar bridge." All cars reversed at Immingham Town, a process which took several minutes as the conductor had to unhook the rear trolley pole from the overhead wire then attach the front one, which would become the rear one on reversing. On restarting the tramcar would swing right off the public road, ^[17] change from grooved rails to conventional ^[18] and merge to become a single track ^[19] on a reserved way running parallel to the conventional Grimsby District Light Railway line through open, marshy farmland. Tramcars running in the opposite direction followed the same procedure in reverse.

This was not quite the whole story. When the line was proposed it included plans to continue from Immingham Town southwest along Queens Road to a point near the footpath to the engine shed, or "Loco" as it was called locally. When the line was completed in 1913 the extension was omitted. Influential fingers were wagged so the company grudgingly built it to what would have been Queens Road Halt. Proving tramcars ran every quarter to maintain the right of way, but no revenue earning vehicle ever traversed it. ^[20] The overhead wires and points were removed in the Second World War ^[21] and all trace of the branch had gone by 1955.

Services

Unusually among British tramways services ran round the clock, particularly to provide for railway workers based at Immingham engine shed, whose duties often involved starting or finishing at unsocial hours. Traffic was highly peaked, with convoys of tramcars leaving and arriving to match shift changes at the dock. It was normal for several tramcars to queue to reverse at Immingham Town at the peaks. ^[22]

In 1956 over a million passengers used the line ^[23] and even with deliberate rundown a quarter of a million used it in its last twelve months up to closure in July 1961.

Closure

The line took some years to die, being cut back at the Grimsby end in 1956 then reduced to peak services only in 1959, when it disappeared from Bradshaw and through ticketing beyond the line was withdrawn. ^[24] Formal closure of the line and Immingham Town tramcar halt came on Monday 3 July 1961, with the last tramcars running on Saturday 1 July 1961, when a convoy of six tramcars set off from Immingham Dock, nominally at 14:03. ^[25] The last tramcar of this convoy and therefore the last from Immingham Town was Number 4. ^[26]

Aftermath

The first track on the line to be removed was at Dock tramcar station, to give increased parking space. The process of demolition was piecemeal and even in 2013 many hints of the line remained, such as spun concrete masts near Immingham Town.

Former Services

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Queens Road Line built but never opened		Great Central Railway Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway		Eastern Entrance to Immingham Dock Line and station closed
				Kiln Lane Line and station closed

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 127.
2. Quick 2009, p. 224.
3. Feather 1993, p. 1.
4. Ludlam 2006, pp. 426 & 428.
5. Price 1991, Front cover and p.102.
6. Mummery & Butler 1999, p. 66.
7. Wilson & Barker 1998, p. 360.
8. Pask 1999, p. 3.
9. Bradshaw 1985, p. 717.
10. Price 1991, p. 112.
11. Bradshaw 1917, p. 710.
12. Price 1991, p. 69.
13. King & Hewins 1989, Photo 56.
14. Ludlam 2006, p. 427.
15. Mitchell & Smith 2017, Photo 118.
16. Price 1991, p. 81.
17. Mitchell & Smith 2017, Photo 119.
18. Bates & Bairstow 2005, p. 86.
19. Price 1991, p. 88.
20. Dow 1965, p. 242.
21. Price 1991, p. 77.
22. Kent 1959, p. 566.
23. Price 1991, p. 94.
24. Bates & Bairstow 2005, p. 85.
25. Skelsey 2011, p. 239.
26. Price 1991, p. 102.

Sources

• Bates, Chris; Bairstow, Martin (2005). Railways in North Lincolnshire. Leeds: Martin Bairstow. ISBN   978-1-871944-30-3.
• Bradshaw, George (1917). Bradshaw's Railway Guide. Bradshaw.
• Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN   978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC   12500436.
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199.
• Dow, George (1965). Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900–1922. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN   978-0-7110-0263-0. OCLC   500447049.
• Feather, T. (February 1993). "Great Central Inter-Urban". Forward. Great Central Railway Society. ISSN   0141-4488.
• Kent, L. (August 1959). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "The Grimsby & Immingham Tramway". The Railway Magazine . London: Tothill Press Ltd. 105 (700). ISSN   0033-8923.
• King, Paul K.; Hewins, Dave R. (1989). Scenes from the Past: 5 The Railways around Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Immingham and North-east Lincolnshire. Stockport: Foxline Publishing. ISBN   978-1-870119-04-7.
• Ludlam, A.J. (July 2006). Kennedy, Rex (ed.). "Immingham-Gateway to the Continent". Steam Days. Bournemouth: Redgauntlet Publications (203). ISSN   0269-0020.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2017). Branch Lines North of Grimsby, including Immingham. Midhurst: Middleton Press (MD). ISBN   978-1-910356-09-8.
• Mummery, Brian; Butler, Ian (1999). Immingham and the Great Central Legacy. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN   978-0-7524-1714-1.
• Pask, Brian (1999). The Tickets of the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway. Sevenoaks: The Transport Ticket Society. ISBN   978-0-903209-33-5.
• Price, J. H. (1991). The Tramways of Grimsby, Immingham & Cleethorpes. Light Rail Transit Association. ISBN   978-0-948106-10-1.
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN   978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC   612226077.
• Skelsey, Geoffrey (April 2011). Blakemore, Michael (ed.). "Flirting with the enemy, Railway Operated Electric Tramways in the United Kingdom". Back Track. Easingwold: Atlantic Publishers. 25 (4). ISSN   0955-5382.
• Wilson, Bryan L.; Barker, Oswald J. (October 1998). Smith, Martin (ed.). "The Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 3 (8). ISSN   1360-2098.

Further material

• Anderson, Paul (1992). Railways of Lincolnshire. Oldham: Irwell Press. ISBN   978-1-871608-30-4.
• Bett, W. H.; Gillham, J. C. (1979). Price, J.H. (ed.). The Tramways of South Yorkshire and Humberside. London: Light Railway Transport League. ISBN   978-0-900433-75-7.
• Ludlam, A.J. (1996). Railways to New Holland and the Humber Ferries. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN   978-0-85361-494-4. LP 198.
• Electric Traction Archive, 118, Uffington, Shropshire: B&R Video Productions, contains a fine archive section on the tramway
• The Passing of Pyewipe, Online Video, available via Great Central Railway Society, solely about the tramways of Immingham, Grimsby & Cleethorpes

External links

• Immingham as a green field site before the dock National Library of Scotland
• Immingham Town on an inter-War OS map National Library of Scotland
• Immingham Town tramcar halt on an OS map surveyed in 1930 National Library of Scotland
• The station Rail Map Online
• The Grimsby & Immingham Tramway www.lner.info
• Tramway photos davesrailpics
• The Tramway Local Transport History Soc
• Tramway remains Thorne Railway
• Tramcar at Immingham Town geograph
• The halt from the air Britain from Above