Cleethorpes railway station

Cleethorpes
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 rail terminus serving the seaside town of Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire. 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.

Until 1985 the station and surrounding area was still controlled by a mechanical signalbox with full semaphore signalling, including double track throughout to Grimsby and beyond. However, a resignalling scheme saw the line to Grimsby singled, the amount 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 signalbox was closed and all signalling controlled from Pasture Street in Grimsby. In later works the platform surfaces have been rebuilt to modern specifications.

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

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 Immingham TMD for overnight servicing, and the HST from Kings Cross was fuelled at the fuelling point at the rear of what used to be called Hawkeys Cafe via a back line that went round the back of the Wash Plant control building and joined up with the old Platform 6 line.

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 Sheffield.

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.

Services

• First TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express operate an hourly service to Manchester Airport via Sheffield and Doncaster along their South TransPennine route.

• Northern Rail

Northern Rail operate a two hourly service to Barton-on-Humber. On Saturdays Northern Rail operate three services to Sheffield via Brigg.

• 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.

References

"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

External links

• Train times and station information for Cleethorpes railway station from National Rail

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