For the first time in the 65 years since the opening of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway as the world’s first heritage railway to be built by enthusiasts, two steam locomotives will run together on the line (which is now situated in the Skegness Water Leisure Park in Walls Lane, Ingoldmells) to celebrate the anniversary..
The line’s 1903-vintage 0-6-0ST Jurassic, built by the Bristol firm of Peckett & Sons Ltd for Kaye & Company’s quarries at Southam in Warwickshire, will be joined by the diminutive and well-travelled Peter Pan, 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..
The visit of Peter Pan, after its a tour of other railways in the UK and Belgium, will take place on Friday 29th August 2025, when a photo charter will be operated for fee-paying enthusiasts and on regular service trains on Saturday 30th August, when normal fares of £2 return and £5 for families (two adults and three children) will be charged. Details of how to participate in the photo charter will be released once arrangements have been completed.
The event will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the opening of the LCLR on 27th August 1960 at its original site at Humberston, south of Cleethorpes, when 1926-vintage Simplex diesel Paul left North Sea Lane station with the first service to Beach station, making it the first heritage railway in the world to be built by enthusiasts on a greenfield site. (In 1963 the Ocean Beach Railway in Dunedin, New Zealand, followed suit and then the Rass Railway in Japan was built and opened in 1973).
Richard Shepherd, Chairman of the LCLR’s Historic Vehicles Trust, said: “It’s a momentous occasion in our history – indeed in the history of heritage railways in the year that Britain also celebrates the 200th anniversary of the opening of the world’s first public passenger service on the Stockton & Darlington Railway – but it’s not the first time that Jurassic and Peter Pan have operated together.
“That happened in 1986, on the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway in Bedfordshire, a year after our original site at Humberton had closed. Jurassic’s boiler was still ‘in ticket’ enabling her to run, so Peter Pan’s owner, Graham Morris, arranged to take her there for their steam gala and I was among the people who drove her at Leighton Buzzard, sharing the footplate with him, for what I feared would be her last outing.
“Happily, of course, that proved not to be the case; the LCLR reopening in 2009 on its current location in the Skegness Water Leisure Park where Jurassic has been delighting visitors since her overhaul and return to service in 2017”.
Another nearly identical ‘Wren’ type of locomotive to Peter Pan was also present at Leighton Buzzard: Pixie. There are photos of the diminutive Pixie alongside Jurassic at Pages Park station in Leighton Buzzard – but none of Jurassic and Peter Pan together have ever been found – the LCLR would be particularly pleased to see any which were taken.
Peter Pan’s owner Graham Morris was reunited with Jurassic a couple of years ago when visiting the LCLR and that was when the idea of Peter Pan visiting Skegness was first mooted. He and Richard Shepherd had driven and fired Jurassic together on that visit in 1986 and they were able to repeat the experience at Skegness two years ago. It was agreed then that any visit of Peter Pan to Skegness would have to wait until the LCLR’s new station at Seathorne Bank had been opened (it’s due to open on Saturday 28th June 2025).
Graham said: “It was an unforgettable occasion to see Jurassic and Peter Pan together back in 1986, so I’m absolutely delighted that the two locomotives can meet again and run on the tracks of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway to celebrate its 65th anniversary as the world’s first heritage railway built by enthusiasts. I’ve taken Peter Pan to some 80 railways around the UK, and also to Belgium, a record for any steam locomotive”.
Details of the photo charter with Peter Pan and Jurassic, together with updates will be posted on the LCLR’s website www.lclr.co.uk and on Facebook and Instagram as soon as they are available.
An appeal to raise £25,000 to pay for Jurassic’s statutory 10 year overhaul has been launched by the LCLR’s charitable trust, Donations can be made to a specially created account of the LCLR HVT: 16-20-28, a/c # 11154239; by cheque sent to the LCLR HVT, Skegness Water Leisure Park, Walls Lane, Ingoldmells, Skegness PE25 1JF or in person at the railway when it is operating, or during volunteers’ working parties on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
* in the early days of the LCLR’s original site in Humberston, two other steam locomotives were based there at separate times: Peter, a Bagnall 0-4-0ST, originally used by the Canadian Forestry Corps in World War One, was moved to the fledgling LCLR when it opened; its then owners, the Narrow Gauge Railway Society were unable to start restoration and it left in 1963 and is now part of the operating collection at the Amberley Museum and Heritage Trust in West Sussex. Elin, a “Quarry Hunslet” built in 1899, was bought and moved to the LCLR by one of its directors, the late John Burdett of Louth. It now operates on the Richmond Light Railway.
