Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway

The route became a trunk artery for freight traffic, especially coal, and a large marshalling complex developed at Whitemoor, near March, for the sorting of wagons.

His dubious methods were later exposed and he was disgraced, but in the meantime he sought to extend the ECR northwards, to get access to the huge flows of coal from South Yorkshire and elsewhere to London, and of merchandise.

[2][3] The Great Eastern decided to build on the mood of constructive cooperation, and in 1864 suggested to the GNR a new and direct joint line from Spalding to Lincoln through Sleaford.

The GNR saw that this would shorten the route of its loop line through Boston, and agreed, and a bill was prepared for the 1867 session of Parliament for the scheme.

This time it made more friendly advances to the GER in suggesting that the Huntingdon to Ely line should be included in the proposed joint system.

The GNR was obliged by the Act to give the GER the running powers it desired; the two companies were to return to Parliament in the next session with a joint scheme.

[11] The section from Ruskington to Sincil Bank Junction, near Lincoln, was opened for goods traffic on 1 July 1882, and for passengers on 1 August 1882.

The Lincoln avoiding line was a goods-only route at first but on 20 March 1883 the Board of Trade sanctioned its use for passenger trains if required.

The station opened on 1 May 1883, and the GNR started an experimental passenger service from there to March, but it did not attract much business, and was withdrawn from 1 November 1883.

[11][2] The Joint Line proved a huge advantage to the GER, which gained direct and indirect access to a large area of colliery working at a time when the demand for domestic, industrial and export coal was very considerable.

[18][19] In October 1895 the GN and GE decided to make the branch part of the Joint Line; the GER was to work it for 30% of receipts, the balance being divided between the two owners.

The track layout at St Ives included three long sidings from the point of junction stretching towards Fenstanton.

It was to run from both Manchester and Warrington, through Buxton and Chesterfield, crossing (and connecting to) the GNR main line at Tuxford, and continuing to Lincoln and the east coast at Sutton-on-Sea (near Mablethorpe).

In fact the LD&ECR was unable to get the huge amount of investment capital it needed, and only built the section between Chesterfield and Lincoln; nevertheless this gave the GER the access it wanted to some important colliery areas.

[2] The truncated LD&ECR reached Pyewipe Junction, Lincoln, from Barlborough Colliery on the Beighton line, on 16 November 1896.

[2][23] On the opening throughout of the Joint Line, the Great Eastern Railway ran special racegoers' trains to Doncaster for the St Leger, including one from London Liverpool Street.

"[24] In 1885 the GER started a through service from Harwich, Parkeston Quay, to Doncaster, by way of Ely, and March "in connection with their Hook of Holland route to the continent.

[10] "This train, splendidly equipped with restaurant cars, and carrying its own conductor-interpreter, runs in conjunction with the Great Eastern steamers which sail to and from the Hook of Holland.

The Midland Railway ran trains from Kettering to Cambridge over the Huntingdon to St Ives section, by virtue of running powers arranged with the GER prior to the formation of the Joint Line.

The dominant goods traffic was naturally mineral trains, chiefly coal, from South Yorkshire, and later Lancashire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

The GER introduced its first fitted fast freight trains[note 6] in 1906; they ran twice daily over the joint line, and were limited to 25 wagons.

[5] The intermediate and local traffic had always been very limited, because of the low population density and comparative lack of industrialisation in the area served, particularly south of Lincoln.

[29] Following World War II, demand for domestic and industrial coal in the London area declined, and was accelerated by the Clean Air Act 1956.

The part of the Joint Line south of Lincoln declined steeply, never having had much passenger traffic other than seasonal holiday trains connecting northern cities to the Norfolk and Suffolk resorts.

Northern operates an all-stations service between Lincoln and Sheffield, which calls at Saxilby and Gainsborough Lea Road, diverging from the Joint Line there.

The Joint Line originally ran from Huntingdon to Black Carr Junction, Doncaster, and the Ramsey branch was soon added.

When the section from March to Spalding was closed, the southern end of the route was altered to be that joining the East Coast Main Line at Werrington Junction, north of Peterborough, so that colloquially the term "The Joint Line" now refers to the rote from Peterborough to Doncaster through Spalding, Sleaford, Lincoln and Gainsborough.

When the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway closed on 2 March 1959, a south to west spur was installed to maintain goods train access to brickworks at Eye Green and Dogsthorpe, nearer Peterborough, and to Wisbech Harbour.

[39] During the First World War, six former Railway Operating Division (built for military use in wartime overseas) 2-8-0 locomotives were allocated to Pyewipe Junction engine shed for work on the Joint Line and a further nine at Doncaster.

[40] Locomotives from the GNR sheds at Boston, Retford, New England (Peterborough) and Grantham would have all been seen on the line in the Spalding and Sleaford areas with some reaching March.