3. A bit more background

Apologies for the poor resolution of the picture, but the original was quite large.

Looking at my source book - The Railways of Boston by Neil R Wright, published as part of the History of Boston project back in 1971, I can give some details of the various proposals I cultivated for my little line. This is a 53 page pamphlet giving a lot of detail on the reasons for railway development in the Lincolnshire, and particularly Boston, area; as well as the political shenanigans involved. Chapter 6 is the important one as far as I'm concerned, titled Lines to Grantham - and Freiston Shore. This chapter is some 7 pages long, with photos and diagrams, and covers the various railway or tramway proposals from the Great Northern main line to Freiston Shore on the Wash coast.

I don't intend to go into detail, but there were some 8 different propositions between 1862 and 1880, by which time the necessity had disappeared, as the Corporation had built the new Docks on the edge of town. This removed the requirement for improvement of the old quayside facilities, and the need to build any kind of cargo handling equipment out of town.

The particular plan I have at the moment is of the 1871 version, going from various branches in town, (the main railway station, High Street and South End, through the Market Place and town centre out via Spilsby Road to Haltoft End, where the line turned south heading for Freiston, finishing in a mile long pier over the mud flats.

I haven't gone into the where's and wherefors of the proposal, but in all honesty I can't see that ir would have been built in real terms. Objections would surely have been raised to the line going through the town's historic centre, and the streets  exiting from there are extremely narrow (most of them these days are one-way traffic) which would have caused much congestion (I have photos showing the entry to South End having only enough width for a single lorry. Apart from that, it would have run only yards from the Historic Parish Church.

For this reason I have changed the layout to ignore the town, and have mated a number of the proposals to allow my own route. In doing so I have taken liberties with the history and geography of Boston to my own advantage.

More next time.

2. Inspiration

These are just a small selection of books from my library of reference material I've always had an interest in the history of my home town of Boston, Lincolnshire even though I left there in 1969 I still have a couple of relatives in town. I've also had a fondness for looking at pictorial volumes of railway lines, stations et.al.

You will notice, on the left hand side, a small booklet entitled "The Railways of Boston", by one Neil Wright. This was published a long time ago as part of the "History of Boston" project, which involved local authors and historians writing small books on differing aspects of the town. In this title the author covered the railway infrastructure, and one chapter considered the various options considered for a line to Frieston* Shore, to the east of town at the mouth of the River Witham.

 

 

Map from "The Railways of Boston"

 

The story behind the proposals is that the original port facilities of the town were alongside a number of small riverside quays near the town centre, and as ships became larger and the river became more unnavigable the Council looked for an alternative means of keeping the port going. The Great Northern Railway was a force in town and were approached about building a new docks at the end of the river, with a railway link to their main line (the Lincolnshire Loop) and from there to the midlands and London. They were already heavily involved in the new docks at Grimsby, so declined. The local council, over a number of years, then looked at these various proposals for a line joining facilities at Frieston Shore the main line.  More about these lines next time.                                                                                

 

*I have seen it spelt in various ways in different publications.