Cleethorpes railway station

Cleethorpes Add→{{rail-interchange}}
General information
Location	North East Lincolnshire
Managed by	First TransPennine Express
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	CLE
Key dates
1863	opened

Cleethorpes railway station is a terminal railway station serving the seaside town of Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire, England. The station is operated by First TransPennine Express, and is also served by Northern Rail and East Midlands Trains.

The station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving, it is in the same area as Grimsby Docks, New Clee and Grimsby stations.

History

Cleethorpes station was opened in 1863 by what later became the Great Central Railway and linked the coastal resort to Sheffield and Manchester. The station layout was remodelled in 1889 to give six platforms and two carriage sidings extending in the direction of Grimsby. By 1891 the carriage sidings had been increased to six and extended to a new signal box at Suggitt's Lane. This layout also included a turntable to the rear of the signal box. A 1910 report into work carried out the previous year refers to new crossovers to enable trains to arrive and depart from any platform. The signal box by this time had 100 levers and was jointly the third largest on the Great Central system with Marylebone. The original GCR station buildings on platform one were replaced by the current single storey BR-era structures in 1961-2, but they still stand and are now used as train crew accommodation.

Until 1985 the station and surrounding area was still controlled by a mechanical signal box with full semaphore signalling, including double track throughout to Grimsby and beyond. However, a resignalling scheme for the entire area saw the line to Grimsby singled & the number of platforms reduced to four (numbers 1–3 and 5). Platform 5 was renumbered 4 and the Diesel Fuelling Road is what used to be platform 6. The signal box was closed & demolished and new colour light signals installed which were operated from a panel in the signal box at Pasture Street in Grimsby. In later works the platform surfaces have been rebuilt to modern specifications.

In the 1970s Cleethorpes had a twice daily return service to London Kings Cross, typically hauled by a Class 55 Deltic.

Even after resignalling until the withdrawal of locomotive hauled cross-Pennine services and the through Kings Cross service, evening time at Cleethorpes was a very busy time with most arrivals requiring cleaning through the carriage washer, fuelling on the small fuel point and shunting into the various departure positions for the following morning. Locomotives returned to the diesel depot at Immingham for overnight servicing, and the High Speed Train from Kings Cross was fuelled at the fuelling point at the rear of what used to be called Hawkeys Cafe via a siding that went round the back of the Wash Plant control building and joined up with the old Platform 6 road.

As of 2004 only platforms 2 and 3 remained in use, but as of 2007, Platform 1 has reopened and all platforms have recently been fitted with new information displays. Other platforms at the station remain unused are in a state of neglect as sand has blown from the nearby beach onto the lines and formed drifts. Platform 1 is used by only First TransPennine Express Services to Manchester, platform 2 for Northern Rail services to Barton on Humber, and platform 3 for peak hour services to/from Sheffield (including the Saturdays-only service via Brigg & Retford).

About half a mile north are the station's cleaning facilities, which are used in the evenings by the units off the TPX Manchester trains. These first arrive on no.3 platform then go out to the washer and then on to the fuelling point. This happens every night with all four units that are stabled there.

First TransPennine Express have built a small depot, to provide stabling, light maintenance and re-fuelling at Cleethorpes for their DMU fleet. The Class 153 units used by other operators do not berth here overnight but work in and out either in service or empty from Doncaster (Northern)/Lincoln (EMT).

Services

• First TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express operate an hourly service to Manchester Airport via Sheffield and Doncaster along their South TransPennine route. A number of services to/from Sheffield also start or end here.

• Northern Rail

Northern Rail operate a two-hourly weekdays & Saturday service to Barton-on-Humber (with bus connections to Hull). On Saturdays Northern Rail operate three services to Sheffield via Brigg. A limited Sunday service runs to Barton in the summer.

• East Midlands Trains

East Midlands Trains operate a very limited timetable at Cleethorpes with just one morning from Cleethorpes to Newark North Gate and one evening return to Cleethorpes on Monday to Friday. They operate three services each way on Sundays to/from the station in the summer months.

Future services

Great North Eastern Railway wants to create a rail link between Cleethopres and London Kings Cross, calling Grimsby Town, Habrough, Scunthorpe and Doncaster, arriving at a new modern Kings Cross station. This service is set to come in place by December 2017 and will create a link to London since 1986.

References

Bibliography

• "Signal Box Diagrams No.14 – Cleethorpes" by Roger Milnes and John Bennett, Forward, the journal of the Great Central Railway Society, No. 83, August 1991. ISSN 0141 4488
• Body, G. (1986), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region, Volume 1, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 0-85059-712-9

External links

• Train times and station information for Cleethorpes railway station from National Rail
• Photos of Cleethorpes Station & Approaches in the 1980s

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Grimsby Town		First TransPennine Express South TransPennine		Terminus
		Northern Rail Sheffield-Cleethorpes
New Clee		Northern Rail Barton Line
Grimsby Town		East Midlands Trains Newark-Cleethorpes Limited Service