Cleethorpes Coast Light
Railway, Lincolnshire, England The railway runs on 15" gauge
using live steam and diesel locomotives. Although the railway
is less than a mile in length, it has a impressive range of steam
locomotives hauling trains through the dunes.This 15" gauge
railway runs for nearly 1 mile through the coastal front at Cleethorpes
with stations at Lakeside and Kingsway.
The railway was taken over from Cleethorpes Council
by Chris Shaw. When Chris took over the railway, the first operation
was to re-guage the trackwork. The Cleethorpes miniature railway
was set at a unique 14.5" guage and had run so for many years.
Once the rails were re-gauged, the service began
running once again using live steam which had been absent on the
line for most of the years that the council had run it. During
the counsil years, a pair of Rio-Grande locomotives ran the line
on LPG.
These locomotives were well passed their best
and were scrapped making way for true live steam locomotives "Katie"
and "Sian", a pair of sister locomotives built as 2-4-2
Tender locomotives. The live steam service made the railway more
popular with holiday makers and tourist alike. The railway also
started to attract a new volunteer work force and visitors coming
to specially to see the steam locomotives.
|