A unique event has marked an equally unique moment in railway history at Skegness, as the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway celebrated its 65th anniversary as the world’s first heritage railway to be built on a greenfield site by enthusiasts..
The line opened on 27th August 1960 linking the bus terminus in Humberston with the local beach and the Fitties Holiday Camp, using former World War One rails and equipment recovered from the Nocton Estates Railway, a 23 mile system linking fenland farms between Bardney and Nocton & Dunston station, south of Lincoln. It ran from a station in North Sea Lane to Beach station, closing in 1985 and after some years in storage at Burgh-le-Marsh, moved to the Skegness Water Leisure park in Walls Lane, Ingoldmells in 1992, reopening there in 2009.
The celebration offered a unique opportunity for photographers to take part in a charter with two steam locomotives, resident Jurassic and visitor Peter Pan. The next day the two operated passenger services with nearly all seats taken in three historic carriages, each more than a century old, from the LCLR’s Walls Lane headquarters to Britain’s newest railway station, Seathorne Bank.
(Jurassic is a 1903-vintage 0-6-0ST, built by the Bristol firm of Peckett & Sons Ltd for Kaye & Company’s quarries at Southam in Warwickshire. The diminutive Peter Pan, is owned by Graham Morris, of Daventry. It is one of the “Wren” type steam locos built by Kerr Stuart & Co. Ltd in Staffordshire in 1922, mainly used by contractors on lightly-laid tracks on construction sites).
It was the first time Jurassic and Peter Pan had operated together since 1986. When the original LCLR at Humberston had already closed, Jurassic made a trip to the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway and appeared there with Peter Pan at a gala, before going into storage for many years.
Proceeds from the event will go towards the £25,000 appeal launched to pay for Jurassic’s statutory 10-year overhaul due at the end of next year’s operating season.
Richard Shepherd, Chairman of the LCLR’s Historic Vehicles Trust which owns Jurassic said: “We’ve been hoping to stage this event for 40 years and it didn’t disappoint – photographers braved the rain on the Friday to get atmospheric shots of the two locomotives working a variety of goods wagons on demonstration trains. On the Saturday the two engines double-headed passenger services and so many people turned up to enjoy the spectacle – from Skegness and district, as well as far away as South and North Wales, London, the Midlands and the North — that we filled three carriages on most services.
“ITV’s Calendar programme covered the event in their Friday evening programme, with the studio presenters praising our low £2 fare and many passengers told us that was what prompted them to take part in our celebration.
“We kept fares to our normal £2 return and a fiver for family tickets, so everyone could enjoy participate. Now we’re looking forward to our World War One weekend on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st September and our final day of the 2025 season, Saturday 23rd October”.
