Skegness railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Skegness
code = SKG


manager = East Midlands Trains
locale = Skegness
borough = East Lindsey
lowusage0405 = 453,456
lowusage0506 = 415,385
lowusage0607 = 395,516
platforms = 6
start = 1873

Skegness railway station serves the seaside resort of Skegness in Lincolnshire, England.

Services are operated by East Midlands Trains which run to and from Nottingham, where services originate or terminate.

History

The line to Wainfleet was opened in August 1873 by the Wainfleet and Skegness Railway Company.

Skegness was dubbed "the Blackpool of the East Coast" or "Nottingham by the Sea", and has a mascot, the [http://www.skegness.gov.uk/pages/jollyfisherman.htm Jolly Fisherman] (designed by John Hassall in 1908 for the Great Northern Railway), and a slogan - Skegness is so bracing - a reference to the chilly prevailing north-easterly winds that can and frequently do blow off the North Sea.

Up until 1966 the station used to have a goods yard with sheds, however this area along with platform one was demolished between 1980 and 1983. This area is now used as a car park belonging to nearby offices. There was a Seacroft railway station located just outside Skegness but this has also now closed. The next station on the line is Havenhouse.

Connections

Customers travelling to and from London have to catch connections from Grantham for trains to Kings Cross along the East Coast Main Line, and Nottingham for trains to St Pancras along the Midland Main Line.

Customers can catch onward trains from Grantham station to and from Peterborough, Norwich, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Local connections to Lincoln, Newark, Doncaster and Spalding can be caught at Sleaford railway station.

Nottingham is an interchange for journeys to Leicester, Derby and Birmingham.

Recent History

In 2006, all loco hauled services to Skegness were halted due to the weight of the locos buckling the rails frequently. Now only class 153,156 and 158 trains run all the way to Skegness.

Some trains run to Sleaford and Boston.It was recentley announced that East Midlands trains have decided to introduce loco hauled services from Nottingham to skegness to ease overcrowding on the services.

Present Day

The current station has only basic toilet facilities, with no specialist services for the disabled, and a small refreshment/newsagent stall. There is no CCTV in operation at this station and there are no staff patrolling the concourses area except when trains are due to arrive or depart, as the only member of staff at the station doubles up in the ticket office.

Departures to Nottingham are at varied intervals, with gaps of 30 minutes and then 1 hour and 20 minutes (approximately) accordingly. The reason for the odd frequency is that certain services bypass Grantham and need to depart a long while after the previous slow train (which calls at Grantham) in order to arrive in Nottingham at hourly intervals.

During the winter months, train services are reduced because of lower passenger demand. On Winter Sundays there are generally departures in the afternoon only. Summer Sundays have departures from early morning until approximately 8.30pm.

Future

The station is to be rebuilt within the next two years because of safety concerns about the present structure which has lacked any real maintenance over the last 35 years. At the rear of the station is the old buffet restaurant and baggage halls which are both completely derelict, there is also a campaign to save the stationmaster's cottage which has also been derelict for a number of years, a decision has been made at the end of March 2008.

Local Transport Connections

Skegness Railway Station has basic links to local public transport with a taxi rank nearby the station.

Adjacent to the railway station is the town's bus station (follow the signs on the main concourse) which has services up the coast.

Picture Gallery

External links

Former Services