Bygone Railways of East Lincolnshire

An early 1980's view sees 31146 passing through Spalding with a British Industrial Sand train from Middleton Towers bound for the Rockware Glass factory at Barnby Dun. At this time it would have been routed via the direct March to Spalding line which was still open. The tracks over which it is passing in Spalding have long since been lifted and the site now occupied by housing. 31146 entered service on 12th November 1959 as D5564, allocated to  March. At the time of the photograph, it was based at Leeds Holbeck. After over 40 years service, it was withdrawn on 24th March 2000 and cut up by C.F. Booth (Rotherham) in July 2004.

Hastings Diesels DEMU 1001 is seen at Spalding on Saturday 5th May 2001 after arriving on a railtour from Hastings. More information about the tour can be  found here.

Tulip Parade Day at Spalding on 5th May 1984, sees the Stourton Saloon stabled at one of the sidings. This Class 100 Gloucester RC&W unit was constructed in 1957/8 and allocated to the Scottish Region to work Edinburgh suburban services. DMBS 51122 and DTCL 56300 were converted to Departmental use in 1977 and renumbered, respectively, 975644 and 975637. They appear in their BR blue livery, and around two years later were repainted into a predominantly light blue livery. They were scrapped by Mayer Newman, Snailwell, in August 1990.

My photos from the early to mid-1980's illustrate the rather unsual layout at Spalding also having sidings at the front of the station.  The first of these shows one of the sidings in use. The station can be seen in the distance on the left. Behind the train can be seen the roof of the large goods shed. The modern day comparison (Google Street View) shows the scene much altered. The main A151 runs in front of the station now, and much of the site occupied by the sidings is now part of a supermarket car park. The goods shed is also no more. An early map shows the position of the former sidings. Another early view with a class 08 shunter at the head of an engineering train. During the Annual Tulip Parade, Spalding was visited by many excursion trains. Space being limited, on this occasion, one of the sidings was used to park a class 114 diesel multiple unit. The area was also used as an impromptu Coach Park, hence the unusual sight of a...

Earlier this week, the long defunct section of the footbridge at Spalding was removed after many years of disuse. Originally it was used to access platforms 5 and 6 until they were lifted in 1984. It reflected an era when Spalding was an important junction with lines to Peterborough, Boston, Sleaford, March, Bourne, and King's Lynn. Latterly, the additional platforms only saw use one day of the year, when numrous special trains visited for the annual Tulip Parade is also a thing if the past. 1985, and the track now lifted, looking towards the section of the recently removed footbridge spanning the trackbed. Housing now occupies the location from where I took these pictures. Looking from the present footbridge, the closed section was at this time fenced off. This entrance was subsequently bricked up. Expecting this part of the bridge to be removed, I ventured beyond the fence, this view from the now removed section, looks East towards the station....