Britain’s newest railway station, Seathorne Bank, has been opened in Skegness on the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway in the Skegness Water Leisure Park.
The opening ceremony on Saturday 28th June 2025, was carried out by the Mayor of Skegness, Cllr. Jimmy Brookes, in front of guests who included volunteers and others who had made the project possible. Music was provided by Swineshead Silver Band and Alford Morris danced to celebrate the site’s Lincolnshire heritage – it incorporates the 1887-vintage Great Northern Railway coal office, once part of Skegness railway station, which from 1947 until recently was the office of Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd., owners of the Park and keen supporters of the LCLR.
Guests included the World War One re-enactment group, the Hull Rifles, in uniform, who participate in the railway’s September commemorations of World War One, in which much of its equipment was used to transport troops and equipment to the trenches of the battlefields in France and Belgium and help recover the wounded for treatment and repatriation to Britain.
The whole new station project has been made possible by a grant from the UK Prosperity Fund, made jointly by East Lindsey District Council, South Holland District Council and Boston Borough Council, who administer it (and Rural Prosperity Funding) in this area on behalf of the UK Government.
The grant of £24,250 to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway has been made to boost the economy of Skegness and encourage more people to explore the coast’s heritage. “Match funding” by the railway’s hosts and owners of the Skegness Water Leisure Park, Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd., of £8,000, provided £32,250 for the project, with labour provided by LCLR volunteers, contractors, Ellis Bros’ employees and the running-in board (station name board) painted by traditional signwriter, Tim Fry, from Martin Dales, Woodhall Spa. Wainfleet joiner
Mark Eldin, who has previously helped convert the line’s award-winning World War One trench railway wagon into a disabled access carriage, completed the woodwork on the rescued building, part of which had been cut away to enable it to be attached to a brick building. Some of the volunteers have been making round trips of nearly a hundred miles to work on the project for more than a year.
The repurposing of the building as part of the scheme has already won the Small Renovation Project Award from the Federation of Master Builders Yorkshire & Trent Region, which means it qualifies for entry into the organisation’s national awards. It will create a destination, only accessible by rail, at the end of the LCLR’s line from Walls Lane station, with picnic tables and other facilities adjacent to Skegness Airfield, with views across open countryside.
Guests travelled to the ceremony in three railway carriages, each more than a hundred years old, restored from dereliction by the LCLR’s volunteers, with the 1903-vintage steam locomotive Jurassic (built in Bristol for Peckett & Sons Ltd for Kaye and Co’s cement works at Southam in Warwickshire) and the heritage “Simplex” diesel locomotive, Major J.A. Robins R.E., which was built in Bedford, for the War Department, in 1944.
Richard Shepherd, Chairman of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway Historic Vehicles Trust, welcomed guests and said the project was first devised after the line had reopened in the Park in 2009 and that the name had been agreed then with the late founder of the Park, Mr Fred Ellis and LCLR Historic Vehicles Trust’s Paul Walkinshaw, who similarly had died before the idea became reality, though there was at that date no idea of how it could be financed.
LCLR Company Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd, John Chappell, said: “This new station is a remarkable tribute to the foresight, ingenuity, hard work and skill of so many people, organisations and volunteers who have come together to make it possible. The railways made possible Skegness as one of Britain’s most popular seaside resorts and Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd., built much of the post-war town. This new development will help to attract more visitors and so boost the economy of the whole area”.
He added:”We have come a long way since Kenneth Sr., Brian, Ron and Doug set the company up in 1947, eventually growing to build much of modern Skegness and expand into holiday parks and to create a business which now employs 80 people. This building at our new station demonstrates that it was the railways which built Skegness – no railways, no Skegness”.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the grant giving bodies which had financed the project as a means to attract more visitors to Skegness and thus benefit its economy. The purpose of the UK Prosperity Fund was explained by the Deputy Leader of East Lindsey District council, Cllr. Graham Marsh; the Chairman of ELDC, Cllr. Terry Taylor and the Mayor of Skegness, Cllr. Jimmy Brookes, who all applauded the co-operation between the grant giving bodies, the railway’s volunteers, Ellis Bros (Contractors) Ltd, their workforce and contractors, as did the Skegness North Lincolnshire County Councillor, Cllr. Adrian Findley.
The Mayor said, in cutting the ribbon, to declare open what is the newest station on Britain’s railways on the world’s first heritage railway to have been built by enthusiasts: “This shows what cooperation between so many can achieve. Everyone has worked together to repurpose this building, which is part of the heritage of Skegness and to give it a new life here as the new destination of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway.
“It gives me great pleasure to declare open Seathorne Bank railway station”.
After further musical interludes from Swineshead Silver Band and Alford Morris, guests were returned to Walls Lane station for refreshments and the volunteers began preparations for the first public services to the new station, which will run on Wednesday 9th July 2025.
