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.
The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated in 1893. It was jointly owned by the Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railway, and those companies had long sponsored and operated the predecessor companies.
Peterborough railway station serves the cathedral city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. It is 76 miles 29 chains (122.9 km) down the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross. The station is a major interchange serving both the north–south ECML, as well as long-distance and local east–west services. The station is managed by London North Eastern Railway. Ticket gates came into use at the station in 2012.
Sleaford railway station serves the town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the Peterborough–Lincoln line. The station is 21 miles (34 km) south of Lincoln Central.
Spalding railway station serves the town of Spalding, Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the Peterborough–Lincoln line.
South Lynn railway station was a railway station serving the areas of South Lynn and West Lynn in King's Lynn in Norfolk, England. The station was on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway.
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.
Weston railway station was a station in Weston, Lincolnshire on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, Built by the Norwich and Spalding Railway and opened on 15 November 1858. It was on the main line between the Midlands and the Norfolk Coast, a route commonly used by holidaymakers in the summer months. It closed to passengers on 2 March 1959. The line divided west of here, some trains running in to terminate at Spalding and others carrying on west into the Midlands.
Murrow West railway station was a station on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway in Murrow, Cambridgeshire between Spalding, England, and March. It opened in 1867 and was closed by the British Transport Commission in July 1953 due to low usage. The line itself survived until closure by British Rail in November 1982. The station has mostly been demolished although the signal box still survives, having been converted into a private dwelling after the closure of the line and subsequent removal of the track.
Twenty railway station served the village of Twenty in Lincolnshire, England. It was on the route of the Spalding and Bourne Railway, later part of the Midland and Eastern Railway and then part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway main line between the Midlands and the Norfolk Coast.
Bourne was a railway station serving the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, which opened in 1860 and closed to passengers in 1959.
Counter Drain railway station was a remote station in Lincolnshire serving the village of Tongue End. It was on the route of the Spalding and Bourne Railway, later part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway which ran across East Anglia to the Norfolk Coast. The station opened with the line on 1 August 1866, closed temporarily between 9 October 1880 and 1 February 1881, and closed permanently on 2 March 1959, although the line remained open for goods until 1964. The three intermediate stations between Spalding and Bourne had unusual names, because there were few nearby settlements; "Counter Drain" was the name of a drainage ditch close to the station.
Saxby railway station was a station serving the villages of Saxby and Freeby, Leicestershire. It was located between the two villages.
Stamford East railway station was the Stamford and Essendine Railway station in Water Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire. The line was worked by the Great Northern Railway but retained its independence until 1886, when the GNR took the line on perpetual lease.
The Syston and Peterborough Railway was an early railway in England opened between 1846 and 1848 to form a connection from the Midland Counties Railway near Leicester to Peterborough, giving access to East Anglia over the Eastern Counties Railway. The project was part of the ambition of George Hudson to establish and maintain a monopoly of railway service over a large area of England. The surveying of the line achieved notoriety when Robert Sherard, 6th Earl of Harborough, who was hostile to railways, arranged a battle to obstruct surveys of the proposed line, and later of its construction.
The Bourne and Sleaford Railway was promoted as a branch of the Great Northern Railway to fend off an expected incursion by the rival Great Eastern Railway. It was authorised by Parliament in 1865, but not opened until 1871 and 1872. Although agricultural traffic provided healthy business, the rural character of the line never produced much passenger trade, and it was closed to passengers in 1930. The line was severed and ceased to be a through line in 1956 and closed completely in 1965.
The Eastern and Midlands Railway was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of several small railways in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, England, including the Yarmouth and North Norfolk Railway, the Lynn and Fakenham Railway and the Yarmouth Union Railway. Many of these lines were built by contractors Wilkinson and Jarvis. In 1893 the Eastern and Midlands Railway became part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway.
The Stamford and Essendine Railway was built to connect Stamford, Lincolnshire, in England, to the nearby Great Northern Railway. It was a short line, and it opened in 1856. It was not commercially successful, and the directors sought a means of connecting Stamford directly to Peterborough. This was the Sibson Extension, opened from Stamford to Wansford in 1867, but the junction there did not facilitate through running to Peterborough, and the Sibson Extension was even less successful than the first line. It was closed in 1929.
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 Bourn and Essendine Railway was a seven mile long branch line which connected Bourne in Lincolnshire to the East Coast Main Line in the village of Essendine in Rutland. The line was opened in 1860; it was a single line and served the town of Bourne and the villages of Thurlby, Braceborough and Essendine. Its line ran through the ceremonial counties of Lincolnshire and Rutland in the East Midlands of England.
