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EAST LINCOLNSHIRE RAILWAYS IN THE NEWSPAPERS

(Part One : Trains)

The following feature contains photographs copied from old issues of the Skegness News and Skegness Standard currently stored in the Skegness library. More images will be added in time and the aim is to preserve these historic records for the future and to make them available to a wider audience.

A Technical Note : Because of the fragile nature of the newspapers, the items contained have to be photographed and scans are then taken from the photographs. Unfortunately, the quality of the paper used for the newspapers is rather poor and, in some instances, very worn and thin. Quality of reproductions will therefore sometimes reflect this. However, the subject matter is often so rare that (as in the case of the GWR railcar at Boston) that this alone merits the inclusion of such items.

15.10.1952 : A very rare photograph illustrating a GWR diesel railcar crossing the Grand Sluice railway bridge at Boston. It was temporarily based at Boston shed and tested on various branch lines in the region as a means of evaluating the benefits of dieselisation. It was also seen as a possible means of saving branch lines from closure as the accompanying article illustrates: Just the type of railcar which several Council members have suggested would be ideal for the Horncastle - Woodhall branch line, which is in danger of being closed, here photographed passing over Boston's Grand Sluice bridge homeward-bound after another day's trial run. is the first diesel driven railcar seen in the area. The railcar has been shedded at Boston for the past fortnight and has been on daily trips to Louth, Lincoln, Skegness, Grimsby, and elsewhere to determine what type and horsepower of diesel would be required to cope with average traffic in the County. However, it is not anticipated that this type of railcar (it can accommodate 40 passengers and has been brought in from the Western Region) will be in general use in Lincolnshire for several years to come.

28.06.1939 : An interesting view of LNER 4403 with Billy Butlin and various officials stood on platform 7 at Skegness. The non-stop run from London Ling's Cross to Skegness took 2½hours - impressive even by todays standards !

11.06.1958 : Billy butlin on another visit to Skegness. The accompanying article describes the event: "Thanls for the ride ! Very mooth indeed ! Holiday Camp king Billy Butlin congratulates the driver of the first Butlin Express which travelled from King's Cross to Skegness with hundreds of campers on Saturday. Butlin's Holiday Camp, Skegness opened for the season on Saturday with an intake of 2,000 campers. Several hundred of them came from the London area on a special Butlin Express. Important executives of British Railways accompanied Mr. Billy Butlin and several of his high ranking executives on a tour of the Camp in the afternoon".

02.02.1955 : The arrival of the diesels attracted much interest from the local press and they were particularly keen to describe the good views to be gained through the cabs (now lost with the Second Generation dmu's). A Derby Lightweight appeared in 1955 undergoing trials and for driver familiarisation and is seen whist stood at platform 4 in Skegness station.

02.09.59: The diesel locomotives were next to arrive and, with this photograph came the accompanying article : Seen here in Skegness recently, pulling holiday excursion trains,. have been a number of new diesel locomotives such as the one illustrated here, photographed in the seaside resort's railway station. Now you skilled trainspostters - what model is it ?" The photo was taken in the carriage sidings outside Skegness station and shows a brand new 1,110hp Baby Deltic D5909 which was built by the English Electric Co. in 1959 and was later to be the only one to wear BR blue livery. It was withdrawn in 1971 and subsequently broken up.

24.07.63 : With the steam era drawing to a close, Billy Butlin acquired two steam locomotives for static exhibition at his holiday camps at Pwllheli ("Princess Margaret Rose") and Skegness ("Royal Scot"). The accompanying article describes the arrival of the Royal Scot at Skegness: "The Royal Scot was laid to rest on Thursday. Restored to its pre-nationalisation livery of maroon and gold, the last journey was made at a funeral pace of 3mph through the streets of Skegness to Butlin's Holiday Camp. From Boston sheds, where she underwent a minor refit involving mainly her coupling rods, the Royal Scot was hauled to Skegness last Wednesday (June 17th, 1963). Her gleaming paintwork stood out in marked contrast to the soot-blackened Boston pilot engine that brought her. All day Wednesday the Royal Scot was being prepared for transportation. Two huge Pickfords trailers arrived in the coal yard on the east side of the station and aftyer their rear wheels were removed, the railway track was extended onto them and engine and tender were winched onto their respective vehicles. The following morning, precisely at 9.30, the trailers rumbled into Richmond Drive for the three mile journey to the Camp." The locomotive was subseuqently removed from the Camp and now resides at the Bressingham Steam Museum.

22.03.61 : Goods traffic was rarely mentioned in the newspapers. One exception was a consignment of Caravans which was transported by rail from of 33 caravans in March 1961 conveyed by rail from Lancashire for the Seaways site at Ingoldmells. On arrival at Skegness, the train, hauled by LMS 2-6-0 43092, was split into two and occupied platforms 1 & 2 (which made removing the caravans off the wagons easier than using one of the sidings and having to lower them to rail level). Each individual caravan was then attached to a Land Rover, hauled down a ramp, then towed along the platform and through the concourse to the caravan site four miles away. Hardly surprisingly it took two days to complete this. The two photographs show the train after arrival at Skegness.

16.08.67 : A later aerial view taken above the station shows the goods yard immediately below which had closed a year earlier. Track has been lifted along with that alongside platform 1 of the railway station. The goods shed was to last another ten years before being demolished. The site is now occupied by a DSS Building and Car Park and a car Park for a Safeways supermarket.

02.12.53 : Leaving Skegness, the next station down the line was Seacroft, an isolated location which has is detailed in a special feature in this website. The announcement that the station was to close to passengers would not have come as a surprise as this was an isolated location which saw very little passenger traffic. A B1 is seen heading south the smoke from its chimney partially obscuring the building on the "down" platform.

16.06.65 : The next station along the line is Havenhouse and here we see signalman Syd Booth looking out of his box at the mangled mess of broken wood that was once a crossing gate which was demolished by the 0915 Skegness to Lincoln trains earlier that day. According to the accompanying article, Mr. Booth had started on the station as a Lad Porter in 1925 and had received a caution in 1945 for a similar incident.