Bygone Railways of East Lincolnshire

Yesterday would have been the second visit to Skegness for the famous locomotive "Royal Scot", hauling an excursion train from King's Cross. Unfortunately, it was cancelled a while ago. We can at least look back to the first visit. The locomotive was withdrawn by British Rail in October 1962 and soon after was purchased by Billy Butlin, who intended to have it displayed as a static exhibit at his Holiday Camp in Ingoldmells.  After some cosmetic work was carried out at Crewe, it was towed to Nottingham by 45038 and, from there to Boston Shed by 61177 on 12th June 1963. It is illustrated during its stay there (rail-online.co.uk). It was subsequently towed to Skegness by a 4MT locomotive on Wednesday 17th July and parked on one of the Coal Merchant's sidings east of the station, the site of the present Coach Park (rail-online.co.uk). Eventually, two Pickford's Low-Loaders moved the locomotive and tender on 18th July 1963, for the ...

Until 5th October 1970, the small village of Firsby in East Lincolnshire, was an important junction station on a main railway line between Peterborough, Boston, and Grimsby. It was the connection point for trains to Skegness and, at one time, Spilsby. Even in the years leading up to closure, it witnessed a lot of activity as is illustrated in my list of trains dealt with at the station, and by the avoiding line between Firsby East and South Junctions, on Saturday 9th July 1966.  The list was compiled using the Passenger and Freight Working Timetables. It gives a fascinating insight into operations at the time. Being a Saturday, there were few freight trains, but several through trains to both Skegness and Mablethorpe.  Rolling stock was used to maximum effect. A good example of this is 2J42, a loco-hauled train which worked from Heeley (ex 0630) to Woodhall Junction (arr. 0847). It would have been well used by Anglers who would have travelled through to Woodhall Ju...

Kirkstead was one of the intermediate stations on the Great Northern Railway Loop Line between Boston and Lincoln. It was opened to both Passengers and Goods on 17th October 1848. At the time this was the main railway route to the North until the opening of the "Towns Line" through Grantham some four years later. Just to the south of the station, a branch line to Horncastle diverged from the main line, opening on 11th August 1855. As the junction faced away from the station, it meant trains would have to reverse a short distance, before accessing the branch.  Further south, the "New Line" from Bellwater Junction was opened to Coningsby Junction on 1st July 1913. From the 10th July 1922, the London & North Eastern Railway renamed the station Woodhall Junction. For one year only, in 1935, it was also one of three locations in Lincolnshire to be allocated a Camping Carriage. Just north of the station, the opposite bank of the River Witham could be reached by a ferr...