Cleethorpes

There is something very welcoming about a terminus station that sits next to a promenade overlooking a sandy beach. Even more so, when the holiday season is in full swing and every arriving morning train brings more young families determined to enjoy all the typical attractions of a seaside resort.

Cleethorpes station was opened by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1863, the station buildings and a distinctive clock tower being completed in the following year. The original station buildings on platform one were closed in 1961 and replaced with a modern structure facing the platform ends. The old GCR buildings have since been used for crew accommodation and as a pub.

Today the station is run by Trans Pennine Express, who provide hourly trains to Liverpool. East Midlands Railway run services to Barton-on-Humber and Northern Trains provide a daily train to Sheffield. Some of the 1960s buildings are presently unoccupied and the entrance is cramped and looks rather shabby, compared to the relative grandeur of the buildings that preceded them, none of which will put off the holiday makers as they round the corner onto that bustling promenade. As if to make the point, the sun came out the moment I stepped off the train.