skloco

A very apt illustration of the variety of motive power which could at one time be seen at Skegness in this c.1985 view with clases 45, 37, 47 and 20. Sadly, this is well and truly a "lost era". Hopefully, this article, featuring photographs mainly from the 1980's, will bring back some memories, not only of the Skegness branch, but of long withdrawn types of motive power.

A nice 1978 view shows three sets of "20's" and, on platform 7, a class 47. A small fragment of the points which gave access to the south sidings (lifted in 1966) can be seen in the right foreground.

(Slide scanned by P. Wright)

This earlier view taken on a summer Sunday in 1976 sees two sets of class 20's on "Jolly Fisherman" trips from Leicester and Derby and a class 37 on the Sundays only Cambridge run.

In terms of locomotives, the Skegness branch was famed for the use of normally freight only class 20's hauling the "Jolly Fisherman" specials from Leicester, Burton on Trent and Derby. Normally in pairs, here we see 20001.

20's 226 and 227 seen after arrival on platform 6.

With 20113 leading, a "Jolly Fisherman" excursion returns home in the evening.

It was not unusual for two (or more) pairs of 20's to be seen at the station at any one time. Here we see the leading locomotives 20198 and 20216.

A pair of 20's make a spirited departure from Skegness.

On the whole, the 20's performed very well but failures did occasionally occur and sometimes resulted in the offending locomotive being removed from the formation and left behind as illustrated here by 20028 in platform 7. It could also result in the train being hauled by a single locomotive, triple headed and, on one rare occasion, quadruple headed 20's!

Mechanical failure occasionally resulted in the rare instances of one, three and, as illustrated here, four members of the class gauling a train.

Although 1993 was to be the end of the class 20's on passenger duties on the branch, they did appear after on weedkilling trains. One such occasion was on May 26th, 1994, when 20903 "Alison" (with 20902 "Lorna" at the other end) stood in platform 3 overnight. In a further article, All Aboard the Jolly Fisherman on this site we feature the class 20's on a trip from Derby.

Like the class 20's, class 25's would usually work in pairs and occasionally appeared on the "Jolly Fisherman" trains. Here 25173 is seen on what is believed to be a relief train to Derby. Obviously one member of the class was considered sufficient to haul four carriages !

As mentioned above, 25's were more often seen working in pairs as illustrated here when two worked a "Jolly Fisherman" excursion from Derby.

A 1978 view of two class 25's arriving on platform 4.

(Slide scanned by P. Wright)

31108 at the head of a ballast train on platform 6.

Although the carriage sidings were frequently used to run round locomotives at the Skegness terminus there were some exceptions. In summer 1984 1A38 the 0946 to King's Cross on summer Saturdays used the crossover between platforms 4 and 5 and then ran up the main line. 31409 has just undertaken such a manoeuvre. The disc signal has just given "right of way" and the driver leans out of the cab window backing the locomotive onto the train which can be seen in the left distance.

There was at one time a Monday to Friday excursion from Sheffield (via Lincoln) to Skegness. 31277 is seen on this working and is stabled on platfom 6 prior to its return in the evening. Platform 7 looks rather overgrown beside it and, indeed, has been designated disused for some years.

31569 arrives on platform 5 with a ballast train in 1993.

Snow is a relatively rare in Skegness, but January 1987 was to prove an exception. The 1756 train arrival at Skegness on January 12th was stranded at the terminus until January 19th. The snow plough made two attempts on 16th and 17th. The latter occasion is featured here as the two class 31s sandwiched between two tenders converted into snow ploughs depart from the terminus. Note the mass of snow caused by clearing drifts.

Double headed 31's again, this time on passenger duties, (154 & 392) backing into the sidings.

31's hauling an engineering train out of the station.

A member of the class hauls a rake of Mark one carriages on to the main line and out of Skegness on a Saturday through holiday train. Pure nostalgia !

Looking rather smart in Railfreight liver is 31159 stood on platform 5.

37057 stands at the head of the Gismo Weed Spray train with 37042 at the tail end on August 21st, 1999.

During February 1998, EWS ran several "light" locomotives to Skegness for route learning purposes. On February 9th, 37114 "is seen on such a duty. This locomotive also features on our East Lincs Virtual Railtour at the head of a Cleethorpes to King's Cross train in 1966 !

A very rare appearance of double-headed class 37s took place when 37166 and 37233 operated an excursion from Taunton. They are seen in this view departing from Skegness.

Another instance of double-headed 37's, this time with 37291 and 37278 departing in the evening.

37259 stands on platform 5 summer Saturdays only run to Sheffield. 45's (and later 47's) were normally diagrammed for this run but 37's occasionally appeared on this and the Manchester runs and, more regularly, on the Sunday only excursions from Cambridge.