Timetable for the Alford and Sutton Tramway August 1884

The Alford and Sutton Tramway was a steam

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

street tramway between the seaside town of

Sutton-on-Sea Sutton-on-Sea (originally Sutton in the Marsh or Sutton le Marsh) is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, beside a long sandy beach along the North Sea. The village is part of the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sut ...

and the nearby Great Northern Railway line at Alford in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

History

On 14 December 1882 the work of laying the track began in Alford. The contractor was W.B. Dick and Co of Leadenhall Street, London. Construction proceeded but there were objections from nearly every parish through which the tramway ran. Following an inspection by Major-General

Charles Scrope Hutchinson Major-General Charles Scrope Hutchinson (8 August 1826 – 29 February 1912) was Chief Inspecting Officer for Railways from 1892 to 1895. Family Hutchinson was born in Hythe, Kent, son of Scrope Hutchinson, M.D. He was educated at University C ...

, alterations were ordered which included widening the roadway at Bilsby Church and Markby Turn. At Hannah and Hannah Hill the gradient had to be eased and more safety post fences on the dyke side of the road were required. Two locomotives, three cars for passengers, and ten trucks for merchandise and two trucks for timber were acquired. Services started on 4 April 1884 and the fare was 9d single, or 1s return. There were initially plans to extend the tramway to

Chapel St Leonards Chapel St. Leonards is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated north from the resort of Skegness and just north of Ingoldmells. It also lies right next to the North Sea. The village is ...

and

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, i ...

, but the construction of the

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

Willoughby and Sutton Railway Willoughby ( ) may refer to: Places Antigua * Willoughby Bay (Antigua), on the southeast coast of Antigua Australia *Willoughby, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Willoughby Girls High School *City of Willoughby, a local government area of ...

in 1888 drew traffic from the tramway.

Closure

A downfall of snow on 26 November 1889 brought the service to a stop and on 7 December 1889 the ''Lincoln Gazette'' reported: "The Alford & Sutton Tramway have ceased to run their cars, ostensibly for the winter months, but really for an indefinite period....". The removal of the tramway started on 25 October 1891. The removal of the rails was completed on Saturday 13 August 1892.

References

Sources

* * *

History

Closure

See also

References

Sources

Further reading