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Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway timeline

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What is now the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway was founded in 1948 as the Cleethorpes Miniature Railway.

The railway has operated every Summer since 1948, but it has undergone complex changes of ownership, management, motive power, locomotives, rolling stock gauge, length, route and stations.

This article seeks to plot a timeline of the changes to length, route and stations. Changes of ownership, management, motive power, locomotives, rolling stock and gauge are addressed in the railway's main article. Current operations are also addressed there.

Timeline

CCLR History
Legend
 Key
Open
Closed
01: 1948 Original
300 yd (270 m)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
02: 1949-71 New line
760 yd (690 m)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Cleethorpes
Town
Thrunscoe
03: 1972-81 Extended
1,422 yd (1.30 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Bathing Pool
Cleethorpes
Town
Thrunscoe (2)
Zoo
("Leisure Park"
from 1978)
04: 1982-90 Shortened
1,382 yd (1.26 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Bathing Pool
Bathing Pool (2)
Cleethorpes
Town
Thrunscoe (2)
Leisure Park
05: 1991 Renamings
1,382 yd (1.26 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Bathing Pool
Kingsway
Cleethorpes
Town
Thrunscoe
Witts End
06: 1992-99 Truncated
1,132 yd (1.04 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Bathing Pool
Kingsway
Cleethorpes
Town
Lakeside Halt
("Discovery"
from 1994)
 Thrunscoe
Meridian
("Lakeside"
from 1994)
 Witts End
07: Spring 2000 Temp work
1,100 yd (1.01 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Bathing Pool
Kingsway
Cleethorpes
Town
 Kingsway Halt
Discovery Halt
Thrunscoe
Lakeside
Witts End
08: 11 July 2000 North End
1,150 yd (1.05 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Kings Road
Interchange
Bathing Pool
Kingsway
Cleethorpes
Town
 Kingsway Halt
Discovery Halt
Thrunscoe
Lakeside
Witts End
09: 26 May 2007 - 2013
2,130 yd (1.95 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Kings Road
Bathing Pool
Kingsway
Cleethorpes
Town
 Kingsway Halt
Discovery Halt
Thrunscoe
Lakeside
Witts End
Humberston
Nth Sea Lane
10: 2013- Current
2,130 yd (1.95 km)
CMR
Stations
unnamed
Kingsway
Bathing Pool
Kingsway (1)
Cleethorpes
Town
 Kingsway Halt
Discovery Halt
Thrunscoe
Lakeside
Witts End
Humberston
Nth Sea Lane

The route diagram to the right of this text portrays the evolution of the line and its stations. Each new section starts with the opening or closure of one or more stations. The names used in each section seek to use the clearest description or name at the time. Most changes took place in the Winter "Close Seasons", though some late-running works resulted in delayed Spring reopenings. A service was provided every Summer.

The route diagram is not a scale map. The layouts resemble the routes on the ground, but do not purport to be to scale.  

01: The Cleethorpes Miniature Railway (CMR) began in 1948. It ran on a curved 300 yards (270 m) route round part of the then bathing pool, straightening out to head south along the coast to the paddling pool.[1] It had a single 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) track along which a steam train shuttled forwards and backwards. Neither terminus was named.[2]

 

02: The railway opened on a new route on 28 May 1949. It had twin 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) tracks and ran from Cleethorpes Town near the paddling pool 760 yards (690 m) south along the seashore to Thrunscoe.[3] The route was steam-hauled until 1953, changing to battery power from the 1954 season.[4]

 

 

 

 

 

03: In 1972 Cleethorpes Borough Council (CBC) invested in significant changes to the railway. The line was extended northwards on a new alignment to a new terminus near to and named Bathing Pool and Cleethorpes Town was abandoned. To the south the line was realigned at Thrunscoe (where a new, through station was built partly on the site of the former terminus) and extended to a new terminus at and named Zoo, which had not long opened.[5] The aim was to supplement pleasure rides with public transport functions. The gauge was changed to the unique 14+1⁄4 in (362 mm) gauge carrying new locomotives powered by Propane Gas. The line's overall length became 1,422 yards (1,300 m).

An intermediate station at the paddling pool was proposed but never built.[6]

The line's southern terminus was renamed Leisure Park in 1978 after the zoo closed.[7]  

 

 

04: In 1982 the line was shortened by 40 yards (37 m) at its northern end. The replacement station was also called Bathing Pool. The line's overall length became 1,382 yards (1,264 m).[8]

In 1986 the southern section approaching Leisure Park terminus was realigned to accommodate building a new road next to the tracks. The line was bowed a few yards to seaward. This meant the terminus had to be rebuilt on the same site but at a different angle.[9] No attempt is made to represent this on the route diagram.  

 

 

 

 

05: The railway was privatised in 1991.[6] The track, locomotives and rolling stock were given remedial attention and the two stations were spruced up and renamed - from Bathing Pool to Kingsway and from Leisure Park to Witts End.[10]

Thrunscoe station was noted as having closed by March 1991. Information on its closure is sought.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

06: In 1992 the railway's length was changed for the first time in twenty years. The southern end was cut back by 250 yards (230 m) to a new terminus named Meridian. Witts End was closed and demolished. A new station was opened north of the site of Thrunscoe, named Lakeside Halt. It was renamed Discovery Halt in 1994 and remains in occasional use. This station is not to be confused with the railway's current Lakeside headquarters which is several hundred yards away.

The line's overall length became 1,132 yards (1,035 m).

Meridian was renamed Lakeside in 1994. It forms the terminating platforms of the present day Lakeside station.

The strategically important change of gauge to 15 in (381 mm) also took place in 1994.[11]

 

 

 

 

07: The northern end of the line was completely remodelled in 2000. This work started in the Winter of 1999-2000 but was not complete when the 2000 Season started, so a temporary terminus was used to enable services to start.[12] The terminus had no nameboards and is said to have constituted "little more than a stretch of gravel."

The line's overall length became 1,100 yards (1,000 m).

 

 

 

 

 

 

08: With the remodelling complete the temporary northern terminus closed and its permanent replacement opened on 11 July 2000. The new line was longer than the old and included a viaduct over the boating lake. This remains the northern layout today.

The new northern terminus was named Kings Road Interchange.[13]

The line's overall length became 1,150 yards (1,050 m).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

09: By 2007 the word Interchange had disappeared from the northern terminus's name, leaving it as plain Kings Road.

On 26 May 2007 a significant change to the line took place with the opening of the 980 yards (900 m) southern extension through wholly new territory to the northern bank of the Buck Beck, where a terminus was opened named Humberston North Sea Lane.

The line's overall length became 2,130 yards (1,950 m).[14]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10: Between 2007 and 2013 the northern terminus building was rebuilt into an impressive presence, visible and attractive from the road, it was also given its third name of Kingsway, which remains today.[11][15]

Relative quiet on the track and stations front belie considerable positive development with rolling stock, locomotives, finances, ownership and status in the miniature railway world.[16][17]

 

 

 

To return to the main article on the railway click here.

 

 

 


References

  1. ^ Scott 2015, p. 16.
  2. ^ Scott 2015, Chapter Two.
  3. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 28 & 46.
  4. ^ Scott 2015, Chapters Three to Five.
  5. ^ Scott 2015, p. 62.
  6. ^ a b Scott 2015, Chapter Six.
  7. ^ Scott 2015, p. 80.
  8. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 78-79 & 173.
  9. ^ Scott 2015, pp. 80, 81 & 98.
  10. ^ Scott 2015, p. 90.
  11. ^ a b Scott 2015, Chapter Eight.
  12. ^ Scott 2015, p. 93.
  13. ^ Scott 2015, p. 94.
  14. ^ Scott 2015, p. 99.
  15. ^ Scott 2015b, Alpha order under Cleethorpes.
  16. ^ Ludlam 2014, p. 47.
  17. ^ Scott 2015, Chapter Nine.

Sources

  • Ludlam, A.J. (2014). Trains to the Lincolnshire Seaside: Cleethorpes Volume 3. Ludborough, Lincolnshire: Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Society. ISBN 9780992676247. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • 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 190236841X. Minor Railway Histories No.7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Scott, Peter (2015b). Track Plans of Minor Railways in the British Isles. Reading, Berkshire: P Scott. ISBN 1 902368 43 6. Vol.3 - Northern England. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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