East Lincolnshire Railway

East Lincolnshire Railway
Barton line to Barton and Barnetby Grimsby Town Hainton Street Halt Grimsby Docks Weelsby Road Halt Riby Street Platform Waltham New Clee Holton Village Halt Cleethorpes Holton-le-Clay Grainsby Halt North Thoresby   Lincolnshire Wolds Ludborough Railway   Utterby Halt Fotherby Halt Louth Louth to Bardney Line Grimoldby Legbourne Road Saltfleetby Authorpe Theddlethorpe Aby for Claythorpe Mablethorpe Alford Town Sutton-on-Sea Mumby Road Skegness Willoughby Seacroft Burgh-le-Marsh Havenhouse Firsby Wainfleet Thorpe Culvert Halton Holegate Spilsby Little Steeping Midville Line to Lincoln East Ville Old Leake Sibsey to Lincoln Boston Poacher Line to Sleaford to Spalding

The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston, Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in 1848. All intermediate stations, with most of the route, were closed to passengers in 1970.

History

The East Lincolnshire Railway was proposed as one of a group of allied railway bills during 1845 and 1846 as part of plans by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) to gain a link between London and Leeds / York.^[1] The line was built in a perfectly straight line with no heavy cuttings. There were ten bridges, three over the line and seven under the line. The contractors were Messrs. Waring and Sons, of Louth. The architects of the station buildings were John Grey Weightman and Matthew Ellison Hadfield of Sheffield.^[2] Original Plans for the railway had proposed a terminus at Pasture Street in Grimsby but an agreement with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway had allowed the Great Northern Railway to use Grimsby Town instead.^[3]

The section between Louth and Grimsby was opened on 1 March 1848 quickly followed by Louth to Boston on 1 October 1848. The line was leased to the GNR from the beginning.

In 1897, there was an ambitious plan for the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway to join the loop (at that time known as the Sutton and Willoughby Railway) making a junction at Thurlby and running to Sutton on Sea where a new North Sea port and harbour would be built.^[4]

In 1905, a number of halts (Fotherby Halt, Utterby Halt, Grainsby Halt, Holton Village Halt, Weelsby Road Halt and Hainton Street Halt) were opened to support a new railmotor service.

Closure

The line south from Louth to Firsby Junction was closed on 5 October 1970.^[5] The Grimsby to Louth line remained in use for freight to the Associated British Maltsters in Louth, with final closure in 1980. The line north of Waltham was used for the construction of the A16 Peaks Parkway.

Preservation, reopening and future plans

In 1978, a small preservation group called the Grimsby-Louth Rail group was set up with aims to preserve the entire section. However, as the Waltham-Grimsby section has been turned into a bypass road, and could not be preserved as a railway, the group was renamed to Grimsby-Louth Railway preservation society. A new company, the Great Northern and East Lincolnshire Railway plc, was formed to purchase the 11-mile (18 km) trackbed from Louth to New Waltham as BR would not sell to a society. The company now trades under the name Lincolnshire Wolds Railway.

In 1991 a light railway order was granted to the Great Northern and East Lincolnshire Railway plc who then bought 11 miles (18 km) of trackbed between Keddington Road, Louth and Waltham. Since then the section of track between Ludborough and North Thoresby was relaid in 2008, and in August 2009 North Thoresby station reopened nearly 30 years after its complete closure by BR in 1980. A section of track is now currently being relaid south of Ludborough towards Utterby.

There are still plans to eventually extend the LWR itself north to Holton-Le-Clay and south to Louth as part of the 8-mile (13 km) re-instatement project.

References