REGISTER OF CLOSED RAILWAYS

RCH RJD 54 1913

OCD - Mon 07/12/1953 - PNM 1980 p64. ACD - Mon 10/09/1951 - withdrawal of RTS and closure of intermediate station. Subsequently, the Leicester (Belgrave Rd.) - Grantham service became a SDS and ran SO 05/07 - 13/09/1952 and 04/07 - 12/09/1953. The OCD coincided with the closure of Welham Jct. - Marefield North Jct., Leicester (Belgrave Road) - John o' Gaunt, John o' Gaunt (excl.) - Saxondale Jct. to RTS.

See Rail Chronology - GN & LNWR Joint Lines for an excellent detailed account of the closure of these lines.

SDS ran from Leicester (Belgrave Rd.) - Skegness/Mablethorpe until LTR - Sun 09/09/1962.

BR (LM) 12 Jun - 10 Sep 61 index shows Table 205 against Leicester - Mablethorpe & Skegness, but no Table 205 is printed. Table 205 does appear in the 1962 LM Summer timetable.

An article in Trains Illustrated July 1961 p409 'Leicester's Belgrave Road branch lives another year' sheds light on the matter. It states "This spring it seemed that the tradition was to end with the closure of the branch, but the threat was withdrawn as abruptly as it was uttered". The article goes on to say "It is the state of this section (Marefield Jct. - Belgrave Rd.) which provoked the decision to end the operation........ and to run them instead from Leicester Central. However, the decision was abruptly rescinded before Whitsun this year - largely, it is believed, because of sudden fears that the local T.U.C.C. had not been adequately consulted..."

Clearly the decision came too late to amend the timetables, resulting in both the LM and ER editions for Summer 1961 showing the Leicester - Mablethorpe and Skegness trains as running to/from Leicester (Central). Having said that, it appears some effort was made to amend the LM timetable, hence the reference to Table 205 which, nonetheless, failed to appear!

Page updated: 19/05/2022