Same railway – different location

Cliff Thomas tells the story of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway. An unusual Lazarus Line… it has been rebuilt in a completely new location!

Same railway – different location
How things are now: Rebuilt Motor Rail Wilton with ex-Ashover carriage No. 2, repainted into deep red livery, stands at the recently extended and disabled-adapted Walls Lane station, now complete with Ashover-style building, on April 2, 2016. Note the jet aircraft on the grass just to the left of the people at the end of the platform. DAVID ENEFER/LCLR
THE Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway (LCLR) is a small line with a big history.

It is probably unique in being a full-size (as opposed to miniature) heritage line, which has operated at two different locations (three if a realignment is added to a relocation!) under the same title – and is the only preservation project known that offers discounted travel to passengers arriving by aeroplane, much of its running line being parallel to a nearby airfield!

When the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society ran its first public service on May 14, 1951, the 2ft 3in-gauge TR became the first railway in the world to be taken over and run by a preservation society – effectively founding today’s railway preservation movement.

Read more in July’s edition of The RM