Firsby to Skegness railway branch line

It was built by an independent company to connect Wainfleet, at first, and then the seaside town of Skegness, with the main line network at Firsby.

With the development of Skegness as a seaside holiday and excursion destination, the line increased in usage in the latter decades of the nineteenth century, and retained its popularity in most of the twentieth.

Although British seaside holidays have declined in popularity, Skegness as a resort, and the branch line remain in heavy use.

The East Lincolnshire Line had been opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1848; it ran from Boston to Grimsby by way of Firsby and Louth.

[1] A public meeting held on 7 August 1868 agreed that a railway branch line from Firsby to Skegness was desirable.

[2] As a small local branch line connected to the Great Northern Railway (at Firsby) the concern was likely to be dependent on the GNR.

However the GNR had had bad experiences in the past in similar situations, and it declined to offer any financial help to the Wainfleet line, although it did carry ballast for it free of charge during the construction stages.

Goods traffic began on 11 September 1871; on 18 October Col Hutchinson of the Board of Trade visited the line and approved it for passenger train operation.

[6][7][8] Skegness proved a very popular seaside resort, and the branch generated a considerable revenue from excursion traffic.

Doubling was in hand by May 1899; it reached Thorpe Culvert on 9 July, Wainfleet soon afterwards, and it was completed in June 1900 in time for the summer traffic.

In an attempt to change that, the GNR ran a series of day excursions in the summer of 1905, coupling them with heavy publicity.

Even today "the Jolly Fisherman" is still proudly used by the resort in its advertising and the original painting hangs in the Town Hall at Skegness.

[note 2][18] Later there was a painting of a scene from Charley's Aunt (from the well-known play), on the sands at Skegness, announcing that excursions were "still running".

[19] Skegness Council approached the GNR in November 1910 to ask for a better holiday train service Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds, suggesting a new line to shorten the distance.

[22][23] Up to forty holiday trains arrived from Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham and London on summer Saturdays in 1955, so the 24 carriage sidings were well used.

[27] To limit expenditure on signallers' and crossing keepers' wages, Skegness train operation was restricted to a single ten-hour shift from October 1977; buses provided early morning and late evening connections with Boston.

However, British Rail and Lincolnshire County Council embarked on a jointly funded venture to provide automatic barriers at level crossings.