The Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway is doing its bit to alleviate the cost of living pressures on its customers by keeping its fares for the 2023 operating season the same as last year.
The railway hopes that the gesture will help families enjoying traditional seaside holidays on the Lincolnshire coast, as well as encourage the increasing numbers of people from around the UK who are taking “staycations” to explore the county for the first time.
As per last year, fares are £2 return for adults and children, or £5 for a family group of two adults and up to three children. Children under three and dogs and pilots of aircraft flying into the adjacent Skegness Airfield travel free.
This year's operating dates have been revised from those previously published to take account of the likelihood of altered holiday patterns due to the Coronation of HM King Charles III. Trains depart from Walls Lane Station in the Skegness Water Leisure Park in Walls Lane at Ingoldmells, and operate from 10.30 a.m. to around 3.30 pm on the following dates:
Steam-hauled trains:
- Sundays 7th May and 28th May;
- Saturdays 22nd and 29th July;
- Saturdays 5th, 12th 19th and 26th August;
- Saturday 2nd September;
- Saturday 28th October.
Diesel-hauled trains:
- Wednesday 26th July;
- Monday 31st July;
- Wednesdays 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th August;
- Mondays 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th August.
Trains run from 10.30 until 15.40.
On steam days, the first trains will be hauled by diesel locomotives with the steam loco taking over around 12.00.
Chairman of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway's Historic Vehicles Trust, Richard Shepherd – whose volunteers operate the trains and look after its unique collection of narrow-gauge railway equipment – said: “The most important thing for us is that our customers enjoy their ride on our trains and leave with a smile. Some take extra journeys or leave a donation because of our low fares – we want everyone to feel welcome, whatever their circumstances”.
Richard Shepherd added: “Jurassic has operated through the reigns of five monarchs and in the 120th year since it was built, it will help people celebrate the Coronation of the sixth – His Majesty King Charles III, 63 years since the LCLR became the first heritage railway in the world to be built by enthusiasts on a greenfield site”.
One of the steam locomotives will be the 0-6-0 saddle tank Jurassic, which was built in 1903 by Peckett & Sons Ltd of Bristol for Kaye and Company's quarries, at Southam in Warwickshire. It was sold in 1961 to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway for use on its original line at North Sea Lane at Humberston, south of Cleethorpes where it hauled train holidaymakers from the local bus terminus to the nearby beach, holiday camps, and later, to a popular Sunday Market.
When the line at Humberston closed in 1985, Jurassic moved to the Skegness Water Leisure Park, where the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway reopened in 2009. With the help of a £43,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, It was overhauled and returned to service in 2017.
Further information about Jurassic and its siblings can be found on the website of the Southam Heritage Centre at https://www.southamheritage.org/2016/07/12/jurassic-the-last-surviving-quarry-engine/
