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.