In the latter decades of the nineteenth century seaside leisure pursuits became important, and the line became the trunk route supporting branches to Skegness, Sutton on Sea and Mablethorpe.

As road transport became more convenient, the line lost custom, and in 1970 it closed except for the portion from Boston to Firsby, which supported the Skegness branch, which continued in use.

The GNR's purpose was to secure territory to itself, and it did so by acquiring, by lease or by purchase, authorised lines in areas it sought to control.

The East Lincolnshire Railway Company was from that time a financial shell, only concerned with distributing the lease charge of £3,600 annually to shareholders.

authorised the ELR to build a branch half a mile in length to make the connection to the GG&SJR.

[7] Later that year, the East Lincolnshire Line was further extended southward, from Louth to Firsby (at that time spelt Firstby).

[7] Work had been proceeding on the GNR Loop Line, and the 58 miles from near Peterborough through Boston to Lincoln opened on 17 October 1848.

It was soon realised that this was not proper, and the section was made double track by a deviation (to the other side of the houses) on 11 May 1850; the point of junction of the East Lincolnshire Line was shifted slightly as well.

Its straight course led it to by-pass several important towns, and the development of seaside holidays and excursions from the 1860s generated a demand for easier transport links.

Although the branch line was busy enough, servicing loans taken out during the construction period was perpetually problematical, and in 1891 the Great Northern Railway purchased the company.

As seaside holidays became popular in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, these towns realised that they suffered from not having a good railway connection, and in some cases set about rectifying the matter.

The distance between Sutton and Mablethorpe was not great and the company decided to build a railway to fill the gap; that opened in 1888.

[13] As holiday traffic to East Coast resorts became dominant, the roundabout route from the Midlands and Northern population centres to Skegness via Boston (reversing direction there) became increasingly an irritation.

[14] The long and thinly populated tract of the East Lincolnshire Line led the directors to consider how passenger operation might be made cheaper.

The railmotors had mixed success; their limited passenger capacity led to problems at busy times; and they were incapable of hauling a tail load of any great weight.

It was fortuitous that the Great Northern Railway built an important route through Boston, giving useful connectivity to the East Lincolnshire Line, as it became.

When passenger and goods transport by road became practicable and convenient in the 1920s and after, the use of the line gradually declined accordingly, and there was a possibility in the early 1960s that the whole network, including the Skegness branch, might close.

The line was offered to the Grimsby to Louth Preservation Society to run as a heritage railway, but they could not afford the £400,000 required.

It owns the five miles of trackbed from its present terminus at Ludborough to the Fairfield Industrial Estate at Louth, where a substantial site for a new station has been set aside.