The Cranwell branch was a
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
branch line railway 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 ...
, England. It connected the Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) at
Cranwell
Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county town o ...
to the main line at
Sleaford
Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington, Lincolnshire, ...
. It opened in 1917 from
Sleaford railway station
Sleaford railway station serves the town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the Peterborough–Lincoln line. The station is south of Lincoln Central.
The station is now owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway ...
and it joined the
Great Northern Railway. RNAS Cranwell was intended for training pilots and aircrew during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Control soon passed to the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
in 1918, and the location became known as
RAF Cranwell
Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...
.
A public passenger service was operated from the outset, and there were three stations on the branch. The passenger service was loss-making and it closed in November 1926,
[House of Commons Debate 23 March 1927 vol 204 cc403-404] but the goods service on the line continued until closure in 1956.
A new military base
In the early part of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the
British Admiralty
The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
were seeking a location for an airfield to train naval pilots. In 1915 the Aerodrome Selection Committee identified a "large stretch of flat country on top of the heath above
Caythorpe". The location was near
Cranwell
Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county town o ...
, and was quickly selected. The Admiralty took possession of Cranwell Lodge Farm, which was the majority of the land required, on 23 November 1915. The location was to become the Royal Naval Air Service Training Establishment, Cranwell. The naval personnel were held on the books of HMS Daedalus, a hulk moored on the
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...
. Many sources assert that the RNAS was itself named ''HMS Daedalus''.
Construction of the accommodation for servicemen and aircraft soon started: a considerable quantity of materials needed to be brought to the location, and at the time public roads were barely adequate. The winter of 1915-1916 was hard, and transport by road to the site for construction proved very difficult. A temporary railway track was laid by the contractor; it was laid directly on the ground without any attempt at earthworks. The gradients were so severe that two locomotives were needed to pull five loaded wagons, and the line was nicknamed "the switchback".
A proper railway
It was decided to provide a proper railway on a permanent basis using the alignment adopted by the contractor but improving it for full railway usage, for both goods and passenger operation. The Admiralty wrote to the Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
on 6 March 1916 stating that a passenger railway was to be provided to the new establishment, and an inspecting officer, Col Druitt, visited on 20 March 1916.[
Druitt advised that if passenger trains were to be run, a speed limit of 15 mph ought to be enforced. This should be reducing to mph][ over the underbridges, which should, he advised, be inspected every morning in case of malicious damage. Continuous brakes would be required on passenger trains. Having accepted the possibility of opening to passenger trains subject to these conditions, he appears to have had second thoughts later, and in his written report of 22 March he refused to pass the line for passenger operation.][
The Admiralty replied on 16 April 1916, saying that in view of the wartime emergency, it would be inappropriate to insist on peacetime safety measures. "Risks must be taken in wartime and work must not be held up in waiting for obligatory peacetime safeguards to be applied."][Letter from Admiralty to the Board of Trade, 17 April 1916, quoted in Ludlam, page 9] The Board of Trade replied that they had no jurisdiction in the matter, and the Admiralty would have full responsibility for the operation of what amounted to a military railway.[
Construction started, and the Great Northern Railway took responsibility for the engineering of the new line: it was to be a little over five miles in length. They employed the contractor ]Logan and Hemingway
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gove ...
, who had quoted £31,316 for the work. Construction started in the late summer of 1916, and was finished at the end of 1917.[ There were 1 in 50 gradients, rising from the Slea River crossing and both sides of the Leasingham decline.]
Opening
The branch diverged from the existing railway network near Sleaford
Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington, Lincolnshire, ...
, and Sleaford West signalbox was extended to control the new junction. There were exchange sidings at the junction. The new arrangement was operational in March 1918 but the branch line was not completed fully until February 1919. There were various temporary branches off the main line to suit construction requirements. Gradients were mostly rising towards Cranwell, with a ruling gradient 1 in 50, but there was a fall of 1 in 60 in addition.[
Passenger services were run from the opening of the line. In early timetables there were seven passenger trains each way daily, and there was a Sunday service in addition. The Admiralty paid the Great Northern Railway £500 annually for the use of Sleaford station, used by the branch passenger trains.][ There were three passenger stations on the branch: Slea River, not far from the junction with the GNR line, Cranwell, and East Camp.] One of the passenger services from Cranwell terminated at Slea River while the engine performed goods shunting duties, and the next train to Cranwell started from that point.[
]
Closure
In the 1920s competition from bus services locally hit the branch usage hard, and from November 1926 the passenger service on the branch was closed. From that time the branch goods trains did not run beyond the exchange sidings at Sleaford West Junction.[
After the ]Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the requirement for the branch declined further and it was closed in August 1956. The track was removed in October 1957.[
]
Profitability
In regards to finance, the line never broke even: in response to a Parliamentary Question, it was revealed that, even allowing for a credit in respect of the c.15,000 tons of Government stores that were transported along it during 1924, the line still made a loss of £3,570. After coming under repeated pressure to reduce the deficit, the line ceased to carry regular passenger traffic in November 1926,
with a consequent reduction in running costs. Its original use, for the conveyance of materials and provisions to the training establishment at Cranwell continued, however, together with the occasional passenger train (such as the special trains bringing public schoolboys to visit the college in the 1930s, the first Canadian contingent to arrive in the Second World War and the 1953 Flying Training Command Coronation contingent, which was pulled by a British Railways J6 class 0-6-0 tender engine with another of the Class on the rear).
Rolling stock
Five locomotives owned by the contractors Logan and Hemingway
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gove ...
are known to have worked at Cranwell; these were all Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Precursor companies
The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially s ...
0-6-0 Saddle Tanks, with numbers: 3, 4 ''Epworth'', 5, 7 ''Bletcher'' and 8.
A surviving Logan and Hemingway locomotive of the type used on the RAF Cranwell Railway (a 0-6-0 Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Precursor companies
The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially s ...
saddle tank originally known as ''Number 10'', but which now goes by the name of ''Sir Berkeley'') is owned by the Vintage Carriages Trust
The Museum of Rail Travel at Ingrow, England is operated by the Vintage Carriages Trust (VCT), a charity based just north of Ingrow (West) railway station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in West Yorkshire. Founded in 1965, it became a r ...
.
Two diesel locomotives were tried out on the line after the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
but they were unsuccessful in view of the difficult gradients on the line.[
Thirteen four-wheeled and six-wheeled passenger coaches were acquired for the passenger service. They were bought second-hand from the GNR before 1919, having been in use on the GNR Metropolitan Service between New Barnet and Moorgate. Eight coaches were usually sufficient on any train except on Saturdays when all thirteen were often used.][
]
Station building
The former Cranwell station building remains and is now a guardhouse. The station at Slea River has been demolished and East Camp is occupied by residential estates for the soldiers based at RAF Cranwell.
Notes
References
{{reflist
External links
The northern section of the line on a 1947 OS Map
Former RAF Cranwell Railway Station (now the guardroom)
Railway lines opened in 1917
Railway lines closed in 1956
Rail transport in Lincolnshire