East Lincolnshire Railway

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Legend ( to Barton and Barnetby ) Grimsby Town Hainton Street Halt Grimsby Docks Weelsby Road Halt New Clee Waltham Cleethorpes Holton Village Holton Le Clay Grainsby Halt North Thoresby (LWR) Ludborough (LWR) Utterby Fotherby Louth ( to Bardney ) Grimoldby Legbourne Road Saltfleetby Authorpe Theddlethorpe Aby for Claythorpe Mablethorpe Alford Town Sutton-on-Sea Mumby Road Skegness Willoughby Seacroft Burgh-le-Marsh Havenhouse Firsby Wainfleet Thorpe Culvert Halton Holegate Spilsby Little Steeping ( to Lincoln ) East Ville Old Leake Sibsey ( to Lincoln ) Boston ( to Sleaford ) ( to Spalding )

The East Lincolnshire Railway was a main line railway linking the towns of Boston, Louth and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in 1848 and was closed to passengers in 1970.

History

The East Lincolnshire Railway was proposed as one of a group of allied railway bills during 1845 and 1846 as part of plans by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) to gain a link between London and Leeds / York.^[1] The section between Louth and Grimsby was opened on 1 March 1848 quickly followed by Louth to Boston on 1 October 1848. The line was leased to the GNR from the beginning.

In 1897 there was an ambitious plan for the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway to join the loop (at that time known as the Sutton and Willoughby Railway) near Mumby running to Sutton on Sea where a new North Sea port and harbour would be built.^[2]

In 1905 a number of halts (Fotherby Halt, Utterby Halt, Grainsby Halt, Holton Village Halt, Weelsby Road Halt and Hainton Street Halt) were opened to support a new Railmotor service.

Closure

The line south from Louth to Boston was closed on 5 October 1970.^[3] The Grimsby to Louth line remained in use for freight to the Associated British Maltsters in Louth, with final closure in 1980.

Reopening and Future plans

In 1984 A small section of line and Ludborough railway station was reopened by the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway. In 1991 A light railway order was granted to Great Northern & East Lincolnshire Railway plc who then bought 10 miles of trackbed between Louth and Waltham. Since then the section of track was relaid between Ludborough and North Thoresby and in 2008 North Thoresby station reopened after almost 30 years since 1980. A section of track is currently being relaid beyond the other side of Ludborough to Utterby.

There are plans to eventually extend the LWR to Waltham via Grainsby, Holton Le Clay and Holton Village and Louth via Utterby and Fotherby as part of the 10 mile branch project in the future, it hopes that the 10 mile reinstatement project could be completed by 2010 or 2014 (The 30th anniversary of the lines Re-opening).

References