Authorisation
The East Lincolnshire Railway was authorised by Act of 26 June 1846, with permitted share capital of £600,000.Ernest F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959, page 128 The authorisation was to build a mile line built from its own terminus at Pasture Street in Great Grimsby to Boston, where it was to join the Loop Lineor "Lincolnshire Loop" or just the "Loop". of the Great Northern Railway, which had been authorised the same day. The potentially much larger Great Northern Railway immediately entered negotiations to lease the East Lincolnshire Railway. The GNR's purpose was to secure territory to itself, and it did so by acquiring, by lease or by purchase, authorised lines in areas it sought to control. The GNR took the East Lincolnshire Railway on a lease at 6% of its paid-up capital, an arrangement described as "somewhat improvident". This lease was made immediately after the authorisation of the two lines, and was renewed later as a lease for 1,000 years. The East Lincolnshire Railway Company was from that time a financial shell, only concerned with distributing the lease charge of £3,600 annually to shareholders. Originally the ELR had intended to provide its own terminus at Pasture Street inOpening
GNR Loop Line
Work had been proceeding on the GNR Loop Line, and the 58 miles from near Peterborough through Boston to Lincoln opened on 17 October 1848. That line was double except for a mile at Boston immediately south of the junction of the East Lincolnshire Line and the Loop Line. This was awkwardly squeezed in between houses at Witham Town and the River Witham, on the north approach to the skew bridge over the Grand Sluice. It was soon realised that this was not proper, and the section was made double track by a deviation (to the other side of the houses) on 11 May 1850; the point of junction of the East Lincolnshire Line was shifted slightly as well. These line openings enabled through journeys to be made to London from Lincolnshire and from Hull (by ferry to New Holland), using the Eastern Counties Railway or the London and North Western Railway from Peterborough southwards.Connecting lines
Spilsby branch
Spilsby was a significant market town, and a branch line from the East Lincolnshire Line at Firsby was promoted locally. It opened in 1868. Although the branch line was busy enough, servicing loans taken out during the construction period was perpetually problematical, and in 1891 the Great Northern Railway purchased the company. The passenger service was suspended in 1939 as a war economy, and never reinstated; the line closed completely in 1958.Paul Anderson, ''Railways of Lincolnshire'', Irwell Press, Oldham, 1992, , page 63Wainfleet and Skegness
The East Lincolnshire Railway followed a direct path to Grimsby, and in doing so passed by the coastal towns. As seaside holidays became popular in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, these towns realised that they suffered from not having a good railway connection, and in some cases set about rectifying the matter. The Wainfleet and Firsby Railway was authorised in 1869 to build from Firsby on the East Lincolnshire Line to Wainfleet, which was a semi-defunct port halfway to Skegness. It opened in 1871, and road transport completed the journey to Skegness. This wasn't satisfactory either, and in 1873 a line from Wainfleet to Skegness completed the branch line. The junction at Firsby faced away from the most important traffic, and a west to south curve was installed in 1881. The Skegness branch carried a very heavy holiday traffic.Stephen Walker, ''Firsby to Wainfleet and Skegness'', KMS Books, Boston, 1987, , page 7 and followingMablethorpe and Sutton on Sea
Like Skegness,Louth to Bardney Line
The Louth to Bardney line was planned to run to Five Mile House, near Lincoln, and provide a through run between Lincoln and Grimsby, also connecting (as yet unproven) ironstone resources. The line was cut back for lack of money, and opened to Bardney in stages between 1874 and 1882. The hoped-for through trunk traffic did not appear, and the ironstone was available in small quantities only. The line remained a penniless local line. It was reluctantly purchased by the Great Northern Railway in 1883.It closed to passengers in 1951, and completely in 1960.A J Ludlam, ''Branch Lines of East Lincolnshire: volume 1: Louth to Bardney'', published by Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Society, 2015,Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway
As holiday traffic to East Coast resorts became dominant, the roundabout route from the Midlands and Northern population centres to Skegness via Boston (reversing direction there) became increasingly an irritation. In 1911 the GNR decided to build the New Line, between junctions east of Kirkstead and west of Little Steeping. The line was 15 miles long, and it opened in 1913. Much of the holiday traffic was diverted over it; its local traffic was modest, and confined to agricultural business.Squires, pages 38 and 39Railmotors
The long and thinly populated tract of the East Lincolnshire Line led the directors to consider how passenger operation might be made cheaper. In the early years of the twentieth century, a number of railway companies experimented with railmotors. These were self-contained passenger coaches which had a small integrated steam locomotive. Central retractable steps enabled passengers to board and alight from simple platforms at ground level. In 1905, such a service was started between Louth and Grimsby, and a number of new halts were opened: (, , , , and ). The railmotors had mixed success; their limited passenger capacity led to problems at busy times; and they were incapable of hauling a tail load of any great weight.Commercial results
The East Lincolnshire Railway company had promoted the construction of the line to connect Grimsby to Boston. It was fortuitous that the Great Northern Railway built an important route through Boston, giving useful connectivity to the East Lincolnshire Line, as it became. Nevertheless, the intervening terrain was largely rural and very thinly populated. Trunk passenger travel from Grimsby to London was not enough to sustain the line. The development of Skegness, Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea brought a huge and unforeseen volume of traffic to the relevant parts of the line, and indeed at the peaks overwhelmed the capacity of terminals to handle the traffic. When passenger and goods transport by road became practicable and convenient in the 1920s and after, the use of the line gradually declined accordingly, and there was a possibility in the early 1960s that the whole network, including the Skegness branch, might close. Protests had an effect, but only a delaying effect in general.Closure
The line was recommended for partial closure in the 1963Restoring Your Railway
In March 2021, two bids were submitted to restore the line from Louth to Firsby and the line from Mablethorpe to Firsby as part of the third round of the Restoring Your Railway fund.Preservation group
TheStation list
* Grimsby; opened 1 March 1848; renamed Grimsby Town 1900; still open; * ''Garden Street Crossing''; * ''Grimsby Goods Junction''; * Hainton Street Halt; opened 11 December 1905; closed 11 September 1961; * Weelsby Road Halt; opened 11 December 1905; closed 1 January 1940; * Waltham; opened 1 March 1848; closed 11 September 1961; * Holton Village Halt; opened 11 December 1905; closed 11 September 1961; * Holton-le-Clay; opened 1 March 1848; closed 4 July 1955; * Grainsby Halt; opened 11 December 1905; closed after October 1939; * North Thoresby; opened 1 March 1848; closed 5 October 1970; * Ludborough; opened 1 March 1848; closed 11 September 1961; * Utterby Halt; opened 11 December 1905; closed 11 September 1961; * Fotherby; opened 11 December 1905; closed 11 September 1961; * Fotherby Gatehouse; opened September 1863; closed October 1872; * Louth; opened 1 March 1848; closed 5 October 1970; * Legbourne; opened 3 September 1848; renamed Legbourne Road 1880; closed 7 December 1953; * Authorpe; opened 3 September 1848; closed 11 September 1961; * Claythorpe; opened 3 September 1848; renamed Aby 1885; closed 11 September 1961; * Alford Town; opened 3 September 1848; renamed Alford Town 1923; closed 5 October 1970; * Willoughby; opened 3 September 1848; relocated 4 October 1886; closed 5 October 1970; * Burgh; opened 3 September 1848; renamed Burgh-le-Marsh 1923; closed 5 October 1970; * Firstby; opened 3 September 1848; soon renamed Firsby; closed 5 October 1970; * Little Steeping; opened 2 October 1848; closed 11 September 1961; * East Ville; opened 2 October 1848; closed 11 September 1961; * Hob Hole, Leake and Wrangle; opened 2 October 1848; renamed Old Leake and Wrangle 1852; closed 17 September 1956; * Sibsey; opened 2 October 1848; closed 11 September 1961; * ''East Lincoln Junction''; or ''Grand Sluice Junction''; * Boston; opened 2 October 1848; still open.Col M H Cobb, ''The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas'', Ian Allan Limited, Shepperton, 2002Michael Quick, ''Railway Passenger Stations in England, Scotland and Wales: A Chronology'', the Railway and Canal Historical Society, Richmond, Surrey, 2002Notes
References
Citations Sources * * * * *External links
* https://lincolnshirewoldsrailway.co.uk/ Lincolnshire Wolds Railway {{Authority control Rail transport in Lincolnshire London and North Eastern Railway constituents Railway companies established in 1846 1846 establishments in England