Lincolnshire Wolds Railway - History

History

The railway began being built in 1846 and was completed in 1848. The line ran from Louth to New Holland and was officially opened on 28 March 1848 and was the first section of the GNR. The line was constructed by the East Lincolnshire Railway co (ELR) who then leased it to the GNR when they couldn't raise enough money to operate it. The GNR had obtained running rights over the MS&L from Grimsby to New Holland Pier and in return allowed the MS&L running rights to Louth. The line south of Louth was extended as far as Boston in October 1848. The GNR ran the line with some of its famous C12 loco's on the local services. For short period of time Stirling single no.1 (preserved at the NRM York) was based a Louth shed (40c) from 1912–1913.

In 1923 the GNR was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and with it the East Lincolnshire Railway. The LNER carried out a variety of improvements on the line. Namely the replacement of the GNR Somersult signals with the more common upper quadrant at some locations on the line. Box name boards were also changed from the black background with white lettering to the usual (and later BR specifications) White background with black lettering. Although Louth South obtained an enamel sign which remained on the box until its closure 0n 5 October 1970.

In 1948, three years after the end of World War II, Great Britain took the railway assets into public ownership through nationalisation under the Transport Act 1947 and gave the assets to British Railways so that the railway would remain open. At that time, the line's passenger services were operated by steam railcar, but these later were replaced by diesel multiple units.

BR ran the line from 1948 until the lines eventual closure. BR had announced as early as 1965 that the line would be closing under the Beeching plan. However the first attempt failed after major local opposition and the minister of transport's refusal to close a major route. BR was successful in 1969 to obtain permission to close the line from the transport minister despite again a massive local opposition. The line from Firsby JN to Grimsby was closed after the last passenger train departed on 5 October 1970. The line from Firsby JN to Louth was quickly lifted and the infrastructure left to suffer the hands of time. The section from Louth to Grimsby was singlled out (the down line lifted) and was retained for a further 10 years for grain traffic three times a week to the ABM building at Louth. In 1978 BR announced that grain traffic would cease and that the line would then be removed and abandoned. In 1978, a group known as the Grimsby-Louth Group was set up to fight the closure of the line. When the end became inevitable, the group was renamed the Grimsby-Louth Railway Preservation Society, with the aim of preserving the line for continued use. Despite their efforts, British Rail announced that the line would completely close on 20 December 1980. The Grimsby-Louth rail group did however manage to run several santa specials over the line. The last one ran on 20 December 1980. BR then closed the line and quickly removed the rails, sleepers and Ballast and thus making it harder for the preservationists to restore the line.