Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway

The Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway is a 15 in (381 mm) minimum-gauge railway that primarily serves holidaymakers in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England.^[3] It operates from near the Cleethorpes Leisure Centre, running to the mouth of the Buck Beck.

Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway

SR&RL 2-6-2 No. 24 departing Kingsway Station
Overview
Headquarters	Cleethorpes
Locale	Lincolnshire, England
Dates of operation	1948–
Technical
Track gauge	15 in (381 mm)
Previous gauge	14+1⁄4 in (362 mm)
Length	2,130 yards (1.95 km)[1][2]

v t e Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway
Legend
Cleethorpes Kingsway Viaduct over boating lake Discovery (former station) Sheds & Workshop Lakeside Central Humberston

v t e Passenger lines of North East Lincolnshire
Legend
Hull Corporation Pier Barton- on-Humber Humber Ferry Barrow Haven New Holland Pier New Holland engine shed New Holland Town New Holland Goxhill East Halton Killingholme Admiralty Platform Thornton Abbey Killingholme Thornton Curtis Immingham West Jn Humber Road Jn Immingham Western Jetty Ulceby Aerodrome Platform Eastfield Road Ulceby North Jn Immingham Dock Ulceby Dock Entrance Immingham engine shed Immingham Eastern Jetty Immingham Queens Road Immingham Dock Immingham Town Eastern Entrance to Immingham Dock Sheffield– Lincoln line & South Humberside Main Line Immingham Halt Habrough Kiln Lane Stallingborough Marsh Road LC Healing No.5 Passing Place Great Coates Great Coates LC Pyewipe Depot Halt Pyewipe car sheds Cleveland Bridge Grimsby Pyewipe Road West Marsh Jn East Marsh Jn Cleveland Street Stortford Street Grimsby Town Boulevard Recreation Ground East Lincolnshire Rlwy to Boston Jackson Street Grimsby engine shed Yarborough Street Grimsby Docks Corporation Bridge Grimsby Pier Riby Street Platform New Clee Cleethorpes Kingsway (CCLR) Discovery Lakeside Central North Sea Lane Humberston North Sea Lane Beach South Sea Lane Lincolnshire Coast Lt Rly 1960–1985

History

Main article: Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway timeline

The CCLR began as the Cleethorpes Miniature Railway in 1948, and ran for a distance of 300 yards (270 m) near the sea front in Cleethorpes.^[4] The line was relocated and extended the following year, and between 1949 and 1971 ran southwards for 760 yards (690 m) from Cleethorpes Town to Thrunscoe (near the current Discovery Halt).^[5] The line was extended at both ends in 1972: the northern terminus was relocated slightly closer to the town centre, while at its southern end it now ran as far as the Zoo.^[6]

It became the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway when it was privatised in 1991,^[7] and the new company renamed the termini Kingsway and Witts End. Witts End (located at zoo, which by this time had closed to visitors) was abandoned in 1994, and a new southern terminus was built at Meridian (now Lakeside). A new extension from Lakeside to Humberston North Sea Lane was opened in 2007, lengthening the railway from 1,150 yards (1,050 m) to 2,130 yards (1,950 m).^[1]

In the 1960s, the line used battery locomotives. On being regauged in the 1970s, two Rio Grande steam outline locomotives built by Severn Lamb were used. Since being taken into private ownership, a variety of steam and diesel locomotives have been used, followed by petrol-driven engines with a steam outline, though genuine steam locomotives are now in operation. A National Lottery grant enabled the railways supporter association to acquire stock from the long-dismantled Sutton Miniature Railway in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, including Bassett-Lowke Class 10 Little Giant 'Mighty Atom.'^[8][9]

The railway held the Olympic Torch on Day 39 of the 2012 Olympic Torch relay with BMR locomotive 'Mountaineer' hauling the Alan Keef 'Council Rake' carriages from Kingsway station to Lakeside station.^[10]

The railway was sold to Cleethorpes Light Railway Limited in May 2014 ^[11][12][13] and celebrated its 70th anniversary in July 2018. The railway also had its 75th Anniversary in July 2023

Present operations

Trains run from Cleethorpes Kingsway station, next to Cleethorpes Leisure Centre, over a 40 yards (37 m) viaduct and along the sea wall, turning SSW to run past the sheds to the intermediate main station named Lakeside. The track will continue 900 yards (823 m) south-east to a station named Humberston, close to the Meridian Line car park, and the mouth of the Buck Beck.

The Humberston section of the line has been closed to the public since the 2019 running season due to level crossings in need of upgrades.

Stations

• Cleethorpes Kingsway: Original station dismantled in 1998 and the current station built and opened in 1999 with a viaduct over the boating lake on way into the station. Station building houses a gift shop.
• Discovery Halt: No longer in use, but platform exists, accessed by means of footpath alongside.
• Lakeside: The main terminus with engine sheds and workshops, passing loop and on the platforms a cafe, multi-function space and the Signal Box Inn 'The Smallest Pub on the Planet'.
• Humberston: Opened in 2007, features a signal box.^[14] (currently closed to the public)

Operations

There are two operational timetable for the 2023 season. The first train departs Lakeside Station at 10:30 and runs every thirty minutes between Lakeside and Kingsway Station. For steam services, the first train departs Lakeside Station at 10:40 and runs every forty minutes. Special timetables are put in place on special event days and busy periods throughout the season.

Engine reversing at the terminus to pick up the front of the train

Steam Locomotives

Locomotives which have worked on the railway but have since left are listed in Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway timeline.

Name	No	Wheel Arrangement	Built	In Service
SRRL no.24[15]	24	2-6-2+T	Fairbourne 1990	Overhaul
Bonnie Dundee[16]	11	0-4-2+T	Kerr Stuart KS720/1901[17]	In Service
Flower of the Forest[18]		2w-2 VBT	R&ER 1985	Awaiting long-term restoration
Effie		0-4-0	Great Northern Steam 1999	Overhaul

Diesel Locomotives

Locomotives which have worked on the railway but have since left are listed in Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway timeline.

Name	No	Wheel Arrangement	Built	In Service
Rusty	7	0-4-0 DM	R A Lister & Company Limited 1944	Long term rebuild
Rachel	15	0-6-0 DM	Trevor Guest Engineering 1959	In Service
DA1	6	0-4-0 DM	BMR 1986	In Service
Königswinter	5	0-8-2 DH	Severn-Lamb Limited 1973	In Service
Big Blue	TBA	0-6-0 DH	RVM Engineering 2021	Awaiting trial run period

References

1. Scott 2015, p. 99.
2. Yonge 2016, Map 27D.
3. Scott 2017, p. 20.
4. Bates & Bairstow 2005, pp. 109–110.
5. Scott 2015, Chapters Three to Five.
6. Scott 2015, p. 62.
7. Scott 2015, Chapter Six.
8. "SMR in its heyday". Old newspapers in Sutton Coldfield.
9. Tidmarsh 1990.
10. "Olympic Torch on CCLR". BBC.
11. Ludlam 2014, pp. 47–8.
12. "Sale of railway in 2014". Grimsby Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
13. "Sale of railway in 2014". Angus Mearns.
14. Scott 2015b, Alpha order: Cleethorpes.
15. "SRRL 24 under overhaul". CCLR Website.
16. "Bonnie Dundee comes to Clethorpes". CCLR. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
17. Thomas 2017, p. 83.
18. "SRRL 24 in service". CCLR Website.

Sources

• Bates, Chris; Bairstow, Martin (2005). Railways in North Lincolnshire. Leeds: Martin Bairstow. ISBN 978-1-871944-30-3.
• Dow, George (1985) [1959]. Great Central, Volume One: The Progenitors, 1813-1863. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-1468-8. OCLC 60021205.
• Ludlam, A.J. (2014). Trains to the Lincolnshire Seaside: Cleethorpes Volume 3. Ludborough: Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Society. ISBN 978-0-9926762-4-7.
• Price, J. H. (1991). The Tramways of Grimsby, Immingham & Cleethorpes. Light Rail Transit Association. ISBN 978-0-948106-10-1.
• Scott, Peter (2015). A History of the Cleethorpes Miniature Railway: The Story of the Seaside Miniature Railway, from Opening in 1948 to the Present Day Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, Including the Railways at Wonderland & Pleasure Island. Reading, Berkshire: P Scott. ISBN 978-1-902368-41-2. Minor Railway Histories No.7.
• Scott, Peter (2017). Minor Railways (29th ed.). Reading, Berkshire: P Scott. ISBN 978-1-902368-45-0.
• Scott, Peter (2015b). Track Plans of Minor Railways in the British Isles. Reading, Berkshire: P Scott. ISBN 978-1-902368-43-6. Vol.3 - Northern England.
• Thomas, Cliff (2017). Milner, Chris (ed.). "Narrow Gauge Track Record". The Railway Magazine. 163 (1393). Horncastle: Mortons Media Group Ltd. ISSN 0033-8923.
• Tidmarsh, John G. (1990). The Sutton Coldfield Fifteen Gauge Railway. Brighton: Plateway Press. ISBN 978-1-871980-05-9.
• Yonge, John (2016). Martyn Brailsford (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams - Book 2: Eastern (Quail Track Plans) (4th ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps (formerly Quail Map Co). ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1. OCLC 964924377.

Further reading

• Holroyde, Dave; Little, Lawson (2010). The Locomotives of Severn-Lamb Ltd. Peterborough: Narrow Gauge Railway Society. ISBN 978-0-9554326-2-0.

External links

• Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway Official Website
• The railway in Miniature Railway World
• The railway and its predecessors in Miniature Railway World Blog
• The railway in Geoffs Pages
• Images of the railway past and present in flickr
• Images of the railway from 2001 to the present in Dave's Rail Pics
• One-time resident loco Haigh Hall in Narrow Gauge Heaven

53°32′47″N 0°00′51″W