![Sleaford Station geograph-4003342-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Sleaford_Station_geograph-4003342-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
Sleaford railway station serves the town of
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, ...
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
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It lies on the
Peterborough–Lincoln line
The Peterborough–Lincoln line is a railway line linking and , via and . Between Lincoln and Spalding, the line follows the route of the former Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway.
History
The section between Peterborough and Sp ...
. The station is south of
Lincoln Central
Lincoln railway station (previously Lincoln Central) serves the city of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway. East Midlands Railway provides the majority of services from th ...
.
The station is now owned by
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
and managed by
East Midlands Railway
Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
History
In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...
who provide all rail services.
History
Early proposals
The
Sleaford Navigation
The Sleaford Navigation was a 12.5 mile (20.1 km) canalisation of the River Slea in Lincolnshire, England, which opened in 1794. It ran from a junction with the River Witham, near Chapel Hill to the town of Sleaford through seven locks, m ...
, which canalised a 12.5-mile stretch of the
River Slea
The River Slea is a tributary of the River Witham, in Lincolnshire, England. In 1872 the river was described as "a never-ending source of pure water", and was a trout river renowned throughout the East coast of England. But in the late 1960s, t ...
from its junction with the
River Witham
The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversid ...
to
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, ...
, opened in 1794. It facilitated the export of agricultural produce to the
midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
and the import of coal and oil. Mills sprang up along the river's course and the Navigation Company's wharves were built near its office on Carre Street in Sleaford. In 1827, the River Witham Navigation committee investigated the possibility of a railway allowing
Ancaster stone to be transported to the Sleaford Navigation. The cost of doing so and competition from other quarries meant that their plans came to nothing.
An 1836 scheme envisaged a railway between
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
which would have stopped at Sleaford, but the plans never left the drawing board. Another attempt, the
Eastern Counties scheme, unsuccessfully tried to build a railway 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
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, with a branch to Boston via
Heckington
Heckington is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Sleaford and Swineshead Bridge, and south of the A17 road. Heckington, with 1,491 households, is one of the largest villa ...
and an extension to Sleaford. After protests from the Sleaford Navigation company, the necessary
Bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
never passed. In 1845, the
Ambergate Company designed a railway from
Ambergate
Ambergate is a village in Derbyshire, England, situated where the River Amber joins the River Derwent, and where the A610 road from Ripley and Nottingham joins the A6 that runs along the Derwent valley between Derby to the south and Matlock ...
to Nottingham, with branches to Boston,
Spalding,
Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
and Sleaford. A Bill to that effect passed through the
Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...
in 1846, but the railway only reached Grantham. In the meantime, the more ambitious
Great Northern Railway from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
was also endorsed by an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
; it passed through Grantham and a loop line from Boston to Lincoln was operating by 1848, yet its planned extension between Boston and Sleaford was not sanctioned.
The railways arrive
A new plan emerged in 1852 and was presented before Parliament the following year. The Sleaford, Boston and Midland Counties Railway would pass through Boston, Sleaford and Grantham. The proposals met with considerable support from businessmen in Sleaford, including a number of Navigation officials; they envisaged it as a mode of transporting coal and stone. The Bill passed in August 1853. Constructed by Smith, Knight & Co. under the supervision of the engineers W. H. Brydone and Edward Harrison, the line between
Barkston
Barkston is an English village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. The parish population was 497 at the 2001 census and 493 at the 2011 census. The village lies about north of the market town of Grantham, on the A ...
, near Grantham, and Sleaford opened on 15 June 1857. An elaborate set of celebrations were organised for the opening day of the new Sleaford railway station, which saw all of the town's businesses close to allow their employees chance take part in the festivities; over 700 men from the area were invited to a free lunch on the cricket fields.
The Grantham–Sleaford line cost £130,000 to construct, averaging at £11,850 per mile; the extension to Boston opened on 12 April 1859, at a cost of £6,500 per mile, considerably cheaper thanks to the flat terrain (the hillier
Ancaster area, by contrast, required cuttings). From the outset, the
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
was owned by the Great Northern Railway Company (GNR), who took over ownership of the line on 1 July 1864.
New connections
The
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
wanted to build a line from Cambridge to York, which would have passed through Sleaford and
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
, but Parliament would not allow it.
The GNR submitted a proposal for a line between Bourne and Sleaford, which, after amendments to the route, was approved in 1865 and opened in 1872.
[Ellis 1981, p. 86] Next came the
Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway
The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line"''Joint Line Joy'', in the Railway Magazine, June 2015 was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern cou ...
which opened from
Spalding through Sleaford to
Ruskington
Ruskington is a large village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, located approximately 4 miles (7 km) north of Sleaford on the north–south B1188 road and slightly north of the A153 road. The village ...
and from there to
Lincoln Central
Lincoln railway station (previously Lincoln Central) serves the city of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway. East Midlands Railway provides the majority of services from th ...
in 1882. Kirk and Parry, Sleaford-based building contractors, built the line, while the Ruskington-based builders Pattinson's constructed the new stations along the route.
The line was designed to transport freight, which necessitated an avoiding line around Sleaford;
Sleaford station was also extended. The last new line through Sleaford ran
to RAF Cranwell and opened in 1916.
Operations and later history
The Cranwell branch ran at a loss: in response to a
Parliamentary Question
A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...
, it was revealed that, allowing for a credit in respect of the c.15,000 tons of Government stores that were transported along it during 1924, the line made a loss of some £3,570, although it was reported that "any alternative means ... would involve considerably greater expenditure". Having ceased to carry passenger traffic in 1927, it closed completely in 1956.
![Sleaford Trains Illustrated Fenland Rail Tour geograph-2827296-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Sleaford_Trains_Illustrated_Fenland_Rail_Tour_geograph-2827296-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
Passenger services on the Bourne branch ceased on 22 September 1930.
[ The Spalding line closed in 1964.]
The Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
to Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Spalding to 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 ...
Central lines remain open, as does the north to south link line bypassing the station. This has recently been refurbished by Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
and returned to full operation after several years of disuse (as part of the plan to route more freight trains onto the latter and away from the busy East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
).
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, ...
is still one of only a few places still to have signal boxes named 'North', 'South', 'West' and 'East' around the area. With the North and South boxes on the Peterborough–Lincoln line
The Peterborough–Lincoln line is a railway line linking and , via and . Between Lincoln and Spalding, the line follows the route of the former Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway.
History
The section between Peterborough and Sp ...
, and then the West and East boxes are at each end of the station on the Grantham to Boston Line. So if travelling from Lincoln Central to Peterborough on the train you would pass all four boxes. The North and South boxes are however due to be decommissioned as part of the upgrade work mentioned above at the end of 2013.
Station Masters
*Mr. Brittain ca. 1859
*Mr. Lewin ca. 1862
*Edwin Dibben ca. 1876
*James L Rayner 1882 - 1885 (afterwards station master at Spalding)
*Arthur Frederick Borwell 1885 - 1897
*William Durston Bagg 1897 - 1925
*Edward Walter Hammond 1926 - 1936
*E. Mitchell 1936 - 1937
*Ernest Edward Haynes 1937 - 1940
*S.J.W. Pickering 1940 - 1943
*F.M. Wright ca. 1947
*A.J. Marshall ca. 1955
Services
All services at Sleaford are operated by East Midlands Railway
Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
History
In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...
.
On weekdays and Saturdays, the station is generally served by an hourly service northbound to and southbound to . Five trains per day are extended beyond Lincoln to . The station is also served by a single daily service to and from .
The station is also served by an hourly service westbound to via and eastbound to via .
On Sundays, the service is served by a limited service between Nottingham and Skegness, with additional services during the summer months. Enhancements to the Nottingham to Skegness service on Sundays are due to be made during the life of the East Midlands franchise. There are no Sunday services to Peterborough or Lincoln.
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
External links
* ; Sleaford station on 1891 OS map.
{{Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway
Railway stations in Lincolnshire
DfT Category E stations
Former Great Northern Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1857
Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway
1857 establishments in England
Sleaford