Cleethorpes
National Rail
All three TOCs at Cleethorpes in January 2023.
General information
LocationCleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire
England
Coordinates53°33′45″N 0°01′44″W / 53.5626°N 0.029°W / 53.5626; -0.029
Grid referenceTA306090
Managed byTransPennine Express
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeCLE
ClassificationDfT category D
History
Original companyManchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Central Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
6 April 1863opened
Passengers
2018/19Increase 0.296 million
2019/20Decrease 0.274 million
2020/21Decrease 68,322
2021/22Increase 0.228 million
2022/23Decrease 0.195 million
Listed Building – Grade II
FeatureFormer Cleethorpes Railway Station Buildings (1884)
Designated17 September 1980
Reference no.1161596[1]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Cleethorpes railway station is a railway station serving the seaside town of Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, England. The station is managed by TransPennine Express, with East Midlands Railway and Northern Services also using the station. The station is the terminus and start of multiple services.

History

The station opened on Easter Monday, 6 April 1863[2] when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway extended the line from Grimsby into the town.

The station buildings were constructed in 1884[1] with refreshment rooms and a clocktower by John Mann Lockerbie and Arthur Wilkinson of Birmingham. Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale used the station on 2 July 1885 when he visited Cleethorpes to open the promenade and gardens facing the sea constructed by H.B James CE of Westminster for the railway company.[3]

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 structure on 14 July 1961,[4][5] but they still stand and are now used as train crew accommodation.

Until 1985 the station and surrounding area were 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 were 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. Since January 2016, all signalling here is supervised by the Rail Operating Centre at York. Platform 4 was out of service for several years, but since the summer of 2023 it has been returned to use following refurbishment works.

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

Even after resignalling until the withdrawal of locomotive hauled cross-Pennine services and the through London King's 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 King's 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.

The station building on Platform 1 was deemed unsafe and closed in 2001,[6] leaving only Platforms 2 and 3 in use. Platform 1 had reopened by 2007, and all platforms were fitted with new information displays. Other platforms at the station remain unused and are in a state of neglect as sand has blown from the nearby beach onto the lines and formed drifts. Platform 1 is normally used by TransPennine Express services to Liverpool Lime Street, platform 2 for EMR services to Barton-on-Humber, whilst platform 3 is usually used only for early morning and late evening TransPennine Express services, and the Northern weekday service to Sheffield via Brigg and Retford. Platform 4 sees only occasional use, usually in times of late running or other disruption.

First TransPennine Express built a small depot, to provide stabling, light maintenance, and re-fuelling at Cleethorpes for its DMU fleet. The Class 156 units used by East Midlands Railway do not berth here overnight but work in and out either in service or empty from Lincoln.

Facilities

The station is fully staffed, with the ticket office open from 06:45-19:30 Mondays to Saturdays and 09:00-19:30 on Sundays. A self-service ticket machine is provided on the concourse for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. There are toilets, a waiting room, and refreshment facilities (a public house) also located on the concourse. Customer help points, timetable posters, and CIS displays are located on both the concourse and each platform. All platforms have step-free access.[7]

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

Services

Services at Cleethorpes are operated by TransPennine Express, East Midlands Railway and Northern Trains.

Typical off-peak services are as follows:[8][9]

  • TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express operate an hourly service to Liverpool Lime Street via Doncaster, Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly along their South TransPennine route via the South Humberside Main Line, the Hope Valley Line and Liverpool South Parkway. On Sundays, the service is also hourly, though starting later in the morning.

  • East Midlands Railway

East Midlands Railway operates a two-hourly stopping service to Barton-on-Humber via the Barton Line as well as a limited service to Leicester via Nottingham and Lincoln. On Sundays, there are three trains per day to Nottingham all year and four to Barton-on-Humber during the summer months only.

  • Northern Trains

Northern Trains operate a limited service of one train per day to Sheffield via Brigg which operates on Mondays to Fridays only.

Proposed changes

In January 2021, the Department for Transport opened a consultation on proposals to improve services around Manchester and improve reliability with the options proposed by the Manchester Recovery Taskforce. Options B and C proposed the Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes service be diverted to Liverpool Lime Street via Manchester Piccadilly instead of running to the airport, providing a direct link to Liverpool and Warrington. If either of these options wass chosen, the changes would come into force in May 2022.[10] In October 2021, a preferred option, Option B+ was announced and it involved the new Liverpool to Cleethorpes service replacing the Manchester Airport service if proposals were agreed; they duly came into operation from December 2022.[11]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
East Midlands RailwayTerminus
East Midlands Railway
Northern Trains
Sheffield–Lincoln line
Very limited service
TransPennine Express

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Historic England. "Former Cleethorpes Railway Station Buildings (1884) (1161596)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "On Easter Monday". Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser. England. 11 April 1863. Retrieved 3 March 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ↑ "The Royal Visit to Grimsby and Cleethorpes". Louth and North Lincolnshire Chronicle. England. 3 July 1885. Retrieved 3 March 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ Body, p. 46
  5. ↑ "Reconstruction of Cleethorpes Station" Railway Gazette 18 August 1961 pages 192, 194
  6. ↑ "Regional News" Rail issue 421 31 October 2001 page 22
  7. ↑ Cleethorpes station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 23 January 2017
  8. ↑ Table 21, 25, 26, 57 National Rail timetable, December 2023
  9. ↑ "May 2021 Timetable Changes - Cleethorpes". East Midlands Railway. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  10. ↑ Manchester Recovery Task Force Public Consultation pp. 14–17 Gov.UK 14 January 2021
  11. ↑ Major changes to trains from Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Manchester Airport Grimsby Telegraph, 12 October 2021

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
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