Never-before-seen pictures of preservation pioneer

AFTER HALF a century or more, a new collection of previously unseen colour photos of the world’s first heritage railway to be built on a greenfield site by enthusiasts, the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway, has been discovered. The line was originally opened on August 27, 1960 at North Sea Lane in Humberston, south of Cleethorpes, and was built to take holidaymakers to the nearby beach and Fitties holiday camp.

In 1966, to allow its landlords, Grimsby Rural District Council, to use the site for the burgeoning caravan trade, the LCLR was relocated 50 yards to the south and extended, with the formation of a new Beach station and a new terminus at South Sea Lane in the Fitties camp. Changing holiday patterns and the after-effect of the 1984 miners’ strike caused the line to close in 1985. The collection went into store at Burgh le Marsh from whence it relocated 42 miles south of Humberston to the Skegness Water Leisure Park, Ingoldmells. A revived railway was then built, which opened in 2009.

Under lowering skies – a reminder of why so many holidaymakers deserted British resorts for Spanish sunshine – Peckett 0-6-0ST Jurassic heads towards the stations at Beach and Fitties camp in 1970. (Trevor Dodgson)

A solitary main line steam run in Lockdown 3.0. LNER K1 62005 runs round at Battersby as it heads from National Railway Museum, York, to Grosmont, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, on the evening of February 1. (Tony Winward)