Skegness railway station

History

The line to Wainfleet was opened in August 1873 by the Wainfleet and Firsby Railway. This line was then extended to Skegness; the station opened on 28 July 1873.

Skegness was dubbed "the Blackpool of the East Coast" or "Nottingham by the Sea", and has a mascot, the 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 railway 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. In 2006, all loco hauled services to Skegness were halted due to the weight of the locos buckling the rails frequently. However this ban has since been lifted after Network Rail began a track renewal scheme which is now entering the final phase.

Services

As of December 2010 there is an approximately hourly service to and from Nottingham via Boston and Grantham.

There are connections to and from London at Grantham for trains to Kings Cross along the East Coast Main Line, and Nottingham for trains to St Pancras along the Midland Main Line.

Passengers can catch onward trains from Grantham station to and from Peterborough, Norwich, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster, York, Leeds, Hull, 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.

East Midlands Trains run a High Speed Train return service from Derby to Skegness on summer Saturdays.

Present day

The current station has toilet facilities with a baby change and a specialist service for the disabled, and a small refreshment/newsagent stall. There is 24-hour CCTV in operation at this station and there are staff patrolling the concourse area to give information when trains are due to arrive or depart. There is also a ticket office, staffed for part of the traffic day, and a self-service ticket vending machine (TVM) has been installed; this also enables customers who have booked their tickets online to collect them outside office hours.

Six platforms remain in place (numbered 2 to 7), however platforms 2 and 7 are now out of use and in practice only two platforms (3 and 4) are used regularly.

Trivia

A statue of the Skegness mascot, The Jolly Fisherman, greets passengers as they arrive at the station when entering through the main entrance.

Remodelling 2011

Network Rail and Lincolnshire County Council announced a major renovation programme costing £290,000, which has seen the derelict buildings demolished, the customer toilets being modernised and the gents relocated. There was much debate in Skegness about the old stationmaster's house being part of Skegness' heritage and should have been refurbished rather than demolished.

Local transport connections

Skegness railway station has good links to local public transport with a taxi rank nearby the station.

Adjacent to the railway station is the town's bus station which has services in all directions, including frequent buses up the coast as far as Mablethorpe, Louth and Alford all year round.