The Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway was founded in 1948 as the Cleethorpes Miniature Railway.

The railway has operated every summer since 1948. It has never been longer than 2 km, but it has undergone complex changes of ownership, management, motive power, locomotives, rolling stock, gauge, length, route and stations.

This article covers the line's history up to 2015. The current railway is described in Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway.

Cleethorpes' passenger lines Six forms of passenger-carrying rail transport have served Cleethorpes: A standard gauge line opened in 1863. It still terminates at . A standard gauge street tramway ran from 1887 until 1937 when it was converted to trolleybuses At least two miniature railways ran within the Wonderland entertainment park, the final one closed in 1970. The "Annabel Train" still runs within the Pleasure Island Family Theme Park. The Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway ran in Cleethorpes from 1960 to 1985. It now runs in Skegness. and The Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, which has evolved from the Cleethorpes Miniature Railway, founded in 1948

Overview Like their full scale counterparts, miniature railways are subject to external forces as well as local events. Cleethorpes is primarily a seaside resort. Sometimes known as "Sheffield by Sea", Cleethorpes was promoted and served by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR), the Great Central Railway (GCR) and the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in turn. The LNER then British Railways (BR) rebuilt their provision after the Second World War, with copious day and evening excursions as well as regular traffic. Up to the early 1960s it was routine on a summer Saturday evening to see every platform at station filled with long trains waiting to depart and a train in every siding waiting to take their places to return to towns in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and southern Yorkshire.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s people were glad to be able to get back to having fun after the rigours of war. Cleethorpes had record numbers of visitors in the early 1950s, often with more disposable money in their pockets. Railways were an established part of life and miniature railways were seen as a familiar, wholesome, sure-fire attraction. Financially the Cleethorpes Miniature Railway (CMR) was viable and generally profitable until the second half of the 1950s.

The market then underwent a rapid evolution in the face of three tidal changes: rising incomes, rising opportunities and rising expectations. The first two went hand in glove. When going to Cleethorpes was all which could be afforded and one of the few shows in town people took it as an opportunity. When rising incomes led to cars, coaches and air travel for more people, a wider range of existing places became more accessible and new opportunities were created. This fuelled rising expectations, so Cleethorpes all too often turned from the choice to a choice to a poor choice.

For those who still went to Cleethorpes the miniature railway turned from a high spot to one of many things to being seen as pretty ordinary. Cleethorpes Borough Council (CBC) made significant investment in the line, seeking to augment purely pleasure riding with public transport functions, such as transporting people to and from the Zoo. This was doomed when the Zoo itself failed.

Patronage of town and railway declined further into the 1980s when the restructuring of traditional industries in their core market accelerated, notably the run down of the coal industry and the 1984 strike. The CMR hit rock bottom in that decade, with CBC considering closing it for good.

Instead of simple closure the council put the line up for sale and found a buyer, meaning the line was privatised in 1991, being renamed the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway (CCLR).

Like the standard gauge railway, the CCLR's profile and ridership has grown since privatisation. Whether this is cause and effect or coincidence is outside this article's scope. The new owners brought vim, verve and vision, but that has not always carried the day in such ventures. One change the new owners made stands out as having the biggest strategic impact - converting the line to gauge in 1994. From that point on a whole world of high-profile events became open to the CCLR, collectively known as Gala Events. On such occasions locomotives would visit Cleethorpes from 15" lines of repute and haul trains, Cleethorpes locos could also visit others' galas. These have been financially beneficial in their own right and have transformed the railway's profile, enabling it to attract significant grants and backing for extensions, buildings and upgrades. The traditional market remains, but the enthusiast market has been hugely enhanced, enabling much higher fares to be charged and generating ancillary income from features such as the "Smallest Pub on the Planet" at Lakeside station.

Timeline of name, gauge, motive power and management From 1948 to 2015 the railway underwent multi-layered evolution. Changes in four such layers are summarised in the table below, where Cleethorpes Borough Council and its successors are shown as "CBC".

Years Name Gauge Motive power Managers Notes 1948 CMR Steam W Botterill, concession from CBC One season on original route 1949-53 CMR Steam W Botterill, concession from CBC New longer route, profitable 1954-58 CMR Battery A Clethro, concession from CBC Completely new rolling stock, steady state 1959-71 CMR Battery CBC, in-house General decline as the market changed 1972-90 CMR Propane CBC, in-house Line invested in and extended, then declined 1991-93 CCLR Propane Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway Line privatised 1994-99 CCLR Mixed Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway Line regauged, significant investment 2000-13 CCLR Mixed Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway Line extended in 2000 and 2007 2014–Present CCLR Mixed Cleethorpes Light Railway Ltd Line bought by P Bryant and J Kerr

1972 regauging Changes of ownership and management, rebuilding and fluctuating financial fortunes are common among miniature railways, but the 1972 rebuilding to gauge is remarkable, not least as a railway built to this gauge is believed to be unique. Two theories have been advanced how this came about, one is that the track suppliers measured between rail centres rather than their inner faces. The suppliers were an established and experienced company of repute, which would make such a procedure highly unusual. The competing theory is that the suppliers read their order from Cleethorpes Council for a "quarter gauge railway" and acted accordingly, to a tolerance of inch.

This was no esoteric matter. The immediate consequence was that locomotives and rolling stock were delivered to 15 inch gauge and had to be re-engineered to fit, incurring cost, delay and reputational damage. Over time costs accumulated with having non-standard equipment and opportunities were lost for any form of locomotive sharing; Gala Days of various forms with visiting locomotives have become big business in the miniature railway world. Finally, the railway would, in effect, have to add a surcharge on any second hand stock they might seek to buy, as it would need re-gauging to be usable.

Timeline of route, length and stations

The route diagram to the right of this text portrays the evolution of the line and its stations. Each new section starts with the opening or closure of one or more stations. The names used in each section seek to use the clearest description or name at the time. Most changes took place in the winter "Close Seasons", though some late-running works resulted in delayed spring reopenings. A service was provided every summer.

The route diagram is not a scale map. The layouts resemble the routes on the ground, but do not purport to be to scale.

01: The Cleethorpes Miniature Railway (CMR) began in 1948. It ran on a curved route round part of the then bathing pool, straightening out to head south along the coast to the paddling pool. It had a single track along which a steam train shuttled forwards and backwards. Neither terminus was named.

02: The railway opened on a new route on 28 May 1949. It had twin tracks and ran from Cleethorpes Town near the paddling pool south along the seashore to Thrunscoe. The route was steam-hauled until 1953, changing to battery power from the 1954 season.

Although the stations were named, and had nameboards, tickets in the early years at least were more prosaic, bearing the words "Pumping Station to Paddling Pool", and vice versa. Space presumably prevented the full description of the Thrunscoe terminus as the Sewage Outfall Pumping Station.

03: In 1972 Cleethorpes Borough Council (CBC) invested in significant changes to the railway. The line was extended northwards on a new alignment to a new terminus near to and named Bathing Pool and Cleethorpes Town was abandoned. To the south the line was realigned at Thrunscoe (where a new, through station was built partly on the site of the former terminus) and extended to a new terminus at and named Zoo, which had not long opened. The aim was to supplement pleasure rides with public transport functions. The gauge was changed to the unique gauge carrying new locomotives powered by Propane Gas. The line's overall length became .

An intermediate station at the paddling pool was proposed but never built.

The line's southern terminus was renamed Leisure Park in 1978 after the zoo closed.

In the 1980-81 close season the line's western (landward) track was taken out of use. Thereafter the railway ran as a single track route.

04: In 1982 the line was shortened by at its northern end to allow for building the Sea Defence Bank. The replacement station was also called Bathing Pool. The line's overall length became .

In 1986 the southern section approaching Leisure Park terminus was realigned to accommodate building a new road next to the tracks. The line was bowed a few yards to seaward. This meant the terminus had to be rebuilt on the same site but at a different angle. No attempt is made to represent this on the route diagram.

05: The railway was privatised in 1991. The track, locomotives and rolling stock were given remedial attention and the two stations were spruced up and renamed - from Bathing Pool to Kingsway and from Leisure Park to Witts End.

Thrunscoe station was noted as having closed by March 1991. Information on its closure is sought.

06: In 1992 the railway's length was changed for the first time in twenty years. The southern end was cut back by to a new terminus named Meridian. Witts End was closed and demolished. A new station was opened north of the site of Thrunscoe, named Lakeside Halt. It was renamed Discovery Halt in 1994 and remains in occasional use. This station is not to be confused with the railway's current Lakeside headquarters which is several hundred yards away.

The line's overall length became .

Meridian was renamed Lakeside in 1994. It forms the terminating platforms of the present day Lakeside station.

The strategically important change of gauge to also took place in 1994.

07: The northern end of the line was completely remodelled in 2000. This work started in the winter of 1999-2000 but was not complete when the 2000 Season started, so a temporary terminus - Kingsway Halt - was used to enable services to start. The terminus had no nameboard, just a stretch of gravel and a handwritten notice on a chalkboard.

The line's overall length became .

08: With the remodelling complete the temporary northern terminus closed and its permanent replacement opened on 11 July 2000. The new line was longer than the old and included a viaduct over the boating lake. This remains the northern layout today.

The new northern terminus was named Kings Road Interchange.

The line's overall length became .

09: By 2007 the word Interchange had disappeared from the northern terminus's name, leaving it as plain Kings Road.