Grimsby District Light Railway

The Grimsby District Light Railway (GDLR) was one of three standard gauge railways, all part of the Great Central Railway, promoted by the latter to connect the wider world to Immingham Dock which it built in the early Twentieth Century on an almost uninhabited, greenfield site on the south bank of the Humber, England.

The GDLR's immediate purpose was to convey men and materials to the dock workings, with the primary permanent aim of enabling workers to travel between Grimsby and the dock to work. The secondary permanent aim was to enable materials and especially locomotives to transfer between the new engine shed at Immingham and the intensively railway served port of Grimsby and the railway promoted seaside resort of Cleethorpes. The GDLR became a railway with two lines a conventional light railway used by ordinary trains and an electric tramway which ran parallel to the conventional line for a significant part of its route. This tramway was publicised by the Great Central as the Grimsby District Electric Railway and later by the LNER as the Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway, by which name it became widely recognised, but legally, all three were one, as set out in a Light Railway Order of 15 January 1906. The two lines were not physically connected.

Electric cables running from the power station at Immingham Dock to feeders along the tramway were carried on distinctive masts along the seaward side of the GDLR's conventional line, lending it an unusual appearance. The masts vaguely resembled commonplace lineside telegraph masts, but their narrow A shaped structure and heavier wire bearing crosspieces were sufficiently different to catch the eye. The conventional GDLR line was doubled in 1914, only to be singled in 1917, the lifted tracks being sent abroad as a contribution to the war effort. The Great Central's final estimates in 1922 included provision for reinstating the second track, but the LNER never did so. Towards the end of the Second World War Grimsby Corporation bought substantial tracts of land between the GDLR and the Humber Bank for post war industrial development. The Humber Bank Estate was fully allocated by 1948 and other sites were also taken up, such as Fisons at Immingham. To match this development British Railways started to redouble the conventional GDLR line in November 1948, completing the task on 17 September 1951. Several of the wholly new, greenfield site industries, like Immingham Dock years before, obtained rail connections, changing the character of the GDLR's conventional line from a plain, rural, inter urban connection to one with sidings and varied goods trains. Over time five sidings were laid, three heading towards the Humber Bank and two inland. In 2015 all could still be traced online using aerial and satellite images, though all had closed to traffic. In 1984 one track towards the southern end of the line was lifted and the remainder followed towards the end of the 20th Century, meaning the GDLR's conventional track has twice been doubled and twice been singled. This industrial development had consequences for the GDLR's conventional line besides the upturn in rail traffic. The huge growth in road traffic from near zero by lorries and employees put pressure on the level crossings. This, together with the specific example of an accident on 7 April 1954 when a light engine collided with a van at Kiln Lane level crossing, resulted in the crossings adjacent to Kiln Lane and Great Coates tramcar halts having signalling and lifting barriers installed and the lineside electricity cables being buried. The signalling introduced on both the electric and the conventional line was two aspect red and white. Speed limits a blanket 25 mph by virtue of its status as a light railway have often been reduced to 10 mph near crossings or because of poor track conditions. The 1953 East Coast floods disrupted the electric tramway, with the GDLR's conventional line proving invaluable to ferry men and materials to effect repairs. The line today has found occasional use for passenger diversions and enthusiasts' specials, as well as continuing to see occasional freight to and from Immingham, light movements for driver training, and engineering trains.

On 1 July 1961 the electric tramway closed, thereby depriving the GDLR's conventional line of an occasional traffic transporting major items, notably tramcars, to and from the tramway's Pyewipe car sheds for heavy maintenance or repair. This was always a challenge, as there never was any physical connection between the tramway and any other line, but a track at the shed was adjacent to the GDLR conventional line, so cars and other large items were craned over from one to the other. After the Second World War, when the expansion of industry on the Humber Bank was bringing unprecedented usage to both the conventional and electric lines, surplus tramcars were bought first from Newcastle Corporation then from Gateshead Tramways. The Newcastle cars were transshipped without mishap, but when the Gateshead cars were being lifted over in 1951 a crane toppled onto one, damaging it beyond repair before it turned a wheel in Lincolnshire. The death throes of the electric line led to two recorded, public, suggestions being made that passenger services be run along the GDLR's conventional line. On 16 March 1955 The BTC Chairman, Sir Brian Robertson, visited and in a speech said that the Commission would consider running DMUs or, astonishingly, EMUs along the line if the tramway closed, but that this would only be feasible if a direct road between Grimsby and Immingham was not going to happen. The politicking reappeared on 29 December 1960 when British Railways announced that if their application to withdraw the tramway was refused they would run a DMU service on the GDLR conventional line, competing with Grimsby Council's bus service. The council subsequently withdrew its objection to closing the tramway.

Neighbouring lines were resignalled over Christmas 2015 with the "Immingham Light Railway" shown on a map and in text as a live line with current signalboxes at Pyewipe Road and Great Coates No.1. Part 2 of the article confirms the line remains open, primarily as a diversionary route, so Immingham can remain accessible if the main Humber Commercial Railway route through Ulceby is closed or overloaded. This is both corroborated and confused by the authoritative "Trackwatch", which confirms the arrangements but refers to the line as "Grimsby Light Single".