Little Steeping was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the

East Lincolnshire Railway The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston, Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in 1848. The ELR ''Company'' had leased the line to the Great Northern Railway, and it was the latter which ...

which served the hamlet of

Little Steeping Little Steeping is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, about south-east from the town of Spilsby The parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew, and is a Grade II* listed building. It dates from t ...

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 ...

between 1848 and 1964. It became a junction station in June 1913 when the

Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway The Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway, locally known as the New Line, was a railway line in England built to shorten the route between Lincoln and Firsby in Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), and opened ...

was opened to provide a more direct route to for

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

holidaymakers. Withdrawal of passenger services took place in 1961, followed by goods facilities in 1964. The line through the station remains in use as the

Poacher Line The Grantham–Skegness line, originally promoted as the "Poacher Line", runs for between Grantham and Skegness in Lincolnshire, England. Trains on this route originate from Nottingham via the Nottingham to Grantham Line as an hourly through ser ...

, although the Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway closed throughout on 5 October 1970.

History

The station was opened on 2 October 1848 to serve the hamlet of

. It was constructed by

Peto Peto may refer to: People * Peto (surname), includes a list of people with the surname Peto * Kawu Peto Dukku (1958–2010), Nigerian politician, Senator for the Gombe North constituency of Gombe State, Nigeria Other uses * PETO, a German party * ...

and

Betts Betts is an English Patronymic surname, deriving from the medieval personal name Bett, a short form of Bartholomew, Beatrice, or Elizabeth. It is also the americanized spelling of German Betz. The surname may refer to * Alejandro Jacobo Betts (1947 ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

ing

contractors A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...

who, in January 1848, had taken over the contract to construct the section of the

between and from John Waring and Sons. This section was the last to be completed in September 1848 at an agreed cost of £123,000 (). The station was provided with two platforms: a

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

was built on the up platform and the main station buildings were on the down platform. The signal box was situated near the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

over a minor road linking Little Steeping with Great Steeping to the north. A farm crossing at Ings Lane to the north of the station at was the location of a fatal accident in November 1897 when Tom Odlin was killed whilst crossing the line in foggy weather with a corn wagon drawn by two horses, the wagon being pushed down the line for some distance. The

between to Little Steeping opened to goods traffic on 1 June 1913 and to passengers one month later. This saw four trains each way between

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

and travel through Little Steeping, together with an express service from . This added to the five up and four down services and one Sunday service each way on the East Lincolnshire Line. A new 25-lever Saxby & Farmer signal box was opened at Bellwater Junction to the south of Little Steeping station where what became known as the "New Line" joined the East Lincolnshire Line; this replaced a four-lever

ground frame Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals, track locks and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control. Usually located in the signal box, the ...

next to what had been an occupation crossing with a crossing keeper's cottage. The station was closed to passengers on 11 September 1961 and to goods traffic on 15 June 1964. The last day of operation of the New Line was Saturday 3 October 1970.

Present day

The station building still remains as a house while the line through the station continues to be used by services on the

between and .

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Closed stations Lincolnshire Disused railway stations in Lincolnshire Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Former Great Northern Railway stations