The Nottingham–Grantham line is a branch line between the city of

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 the town of

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 ...

in the

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 ...

of England. For most of its length it runs parallel to the A52. The following places are served by the line: *

* Netherfield and Colwick *

Radcliffe-on-Trent Radcliffe-on-Trent is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the Census 2011 was 8,205. Location Radcliffe has a population of about 8,000. It is to the eas ...

* Bingham * Aslockton and Whatton * Elton and

Orston Orston is an English village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, 15 miles (24 km) east of Nottingham. It borders the parishes of Scarrington, Thoroton, Flawborough, Bottesford and Elton on the Hill. The population at t ...

* Bottesford *

Routes to Skegness

At Grantham, the line meets the

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 ...

and also the

Grantham–Skegness 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 se ...

. Not all Skegness-bound trains stop at Grantham, and the express service (limited stop) has its first stop 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, ...

, splitting from the Grantham line near Allington onto the Grantham Avoiding Line at Allington junction. The journey on this route to

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 ...

saves 30 minutes of the 2 hours 20 minutes journey via Grantham.

History

The line was initially operated by the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway from 15 July 1850, taken over by the GNR in 1852. At Bottesford, the line was crossed by a north-south

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...

line from

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

(this northern section was owned by GNR). A western spur of this railway (through

Barnstone Barnstone is an English village in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, forming part of Langar cum Barnstone parish. It lies on the border with Leicestershire. The nearest retail stores, schools and railway station are in Bingham (4.5 mi ...

) joined at

Saxondale ''Saxondale'' is an English television situation comedy programme, starring Steve Coogan and co-written by Coogan and Neil Maclennan. The series is directed by Matt Lipsey and produced by Ted Dowd. Coogan and Henry Normal served as executive pr ...

junction. Services were disrupted in July 2012 when an embankment collapsed near Allington. The line also closed for some six weeks in the summer of 2013, as part of a large-scale improvement to Nottinghamshire's rail network.

councillors were critical of the decision to close the line during the height of the tourist season, but

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 ...

, the rail infrastructure company, stated that the summer was the quietest time on the line.

Cotgrave Colliery branch

The branch to Cotgrave Colliery left the Grantham line at the east end of the viaduct over the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

and headed south for about . It was built in 1960. The major engineering work was the long, high, concrete viaduct,Cotgrave Viaduct photo and article
/ref> formed of 37 spans of about each, where the branch left the main line. Most of the line was on a bank about high, formed of about of fill from a

borrow pit Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock on the surface of Earth. Digging is actuall ...

alongside the main road. Most of the line was on a 1 in 392 gradient, with at 1 in 199. The colliery closed in 1993 and the track was lifted in 2012.

Services

All services on the line are provided 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 ...

. There is an hourly service in each direction between and , calling only at and , and an hourly service in each direction between Nottingham and , via , calling at most stations. Very few trains serve , or . The Liverpool-Norwich service is usually formed of & ''Express Sprinter'' or (DMUs), the Nottingham-Skegness service is usually formed of & ''Super Sprinter'' DMUs, or DMUs. On very busy summer services to Skegness,

will use a Class 180,These are otherwise usually used on services to

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 ...

from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

and

that run express.

References

External links

"Binghams Railways"
Bingham Heritage Trails Association. Retrieved 21 July 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nottingham-Grantham line Rail transport in Lincolnshire Rail transport in Nottinghamshire Railway lines opened in 1850 Railway lines in the East Midlands Standard gauge railways in England