Lincolnshire Light Coast Railway has announced that Seathorne Bank Station, the new terminus of the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway in Skegness, has been named runner-up in the prestigious Station of the Year category at the Heritage Railway Association Awards, often dubbed the Railway Oscars.

Opened in June 2025 by Jimmy Brooks, Mayor of Skegness, Seathorne Bank station sits within the Skegness Water Leisure Park. A standout feature of the site is the carefully relocated Victorian-era Great Northern Railway coal office from Skegness station.

The building later served as offices for the contracting firm Ellis Bros Ltd. from 1947 until just a few years ago, before being given a new life as part of the heritage railway’s latest development.

Seathorne Bank station received the accolade at the ceremony held on 7 March 2026. The award was ultimately won by Oswestry railway station on the Cambrian Heritage Railways. Fellow runners-up included Blue Anchor railway station on the West Somerset Railway and Sheringham railway station on the North Norfolk Railway.

The recognition continues a strong run of national awards for the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway. In 2023, the railway won the Morgan Award for Rolling Stock Preservation for restoring the historic “Queen Mary” carriage from the Nocton Estates Railway, once used to carry potatoes and sugar beet across the Lincolnshire Fens between Nocton and Bardney.

Earlier honours include a runner-up placing in 2021 for the restoration of the Simplex diesel locomotive “Fred,” a survivor of the North Sea Flood of 1953 that later worked on sea defences and at brickworks in Mablethorpe and Skegness. The railway also shared a national award in 2009 for reopening its line alongside the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway.

Further recognition came when the railway’s rare First World War ambulance van was restored and displayed at the Museum of Army Transport, earning both a grant and an award from the Transport Trust.

Together, the honours highlight the railway’s ongoing efforts to preserve and celebrate Lincolnshire’s rich railway heritage.

 “This is an extraordinary accolade for everyone who made Seathorne Bank station possible. We were up against strong competition from the other stations short-listed for the award and from the other many excellent entries.

“It’s the second accolade for Seathorne Bank. The construction of the station, incorporating the historic building, with a platform, access ramps, traditional lamps, benches and views across the fields to the Lincolnshire Wolds, was the winner of the Federation of Master Builders’ Small Renovation Project award in their Yorkshire & Trent Region”.

John Chappell, LCLR’s spokesman.