About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website
About Bardney Station
Bardney & Wragby station opened with the loop line on 17th October 1848 with two platforms with the main station building which incorporated an 'Italianate' station house on the up platform.
The station was substantially rebuilt when the Louth and Lincoln Railway was under construction with a new island platform with a waiting room being provided for the loop line, a short platform was provided for Louth trains with the station building incorporating the original stationmaster's house. A second signalbox was built on the up side of the line on the other side of the level crossing this was known as Bardney North, the earlier box adjacent to the goods yard being Bardney South. The Louth line opened as far as South Willingham on 9th November 1874. The station was renamed Bardney in May 1881.
A 48ft turntable was constructed to turn the engines working the Louth branch but, in the event, this was largely unnecessary as tank engines were used which could easily operate tender first. A problem acquiring land at Bardney meant the junction with the Louth branch faced the wrong way and trains working through from Louth to Lincoln would have to reverse at Bardney. The south signal box closed in 1924.
Goods traffic was significant with a large brick goods shed and dock being provided when the station opened. A particularly important source of freight traffic was the nearby British Sugar factory which was opened in 1927. As well as sugar beet itself being conveyed to the factory, coal and limestone were also required and this continued up to the closure of the
line. There was an extensive network of sidings in the factory complex and BSC had their own locomotives. Originally they used a Hudswell Clark 0-6-0ST locomotive which was superseded in the late 1970's replaced by an 0-4-0 diesel shunter built by Ruston's of Lincoln.
Bardney lost its general goods service on 3rd May 1965 but freight continued to British Sugar and to the Morrell's canning factory to the north of the station which had a siding off the Louth branch.
The waiting room on the island platform was demolished in 1967 and Bardney station was unstaffed from 7th October 1968. The station closed to passengers on 5th October 1970 but remained open for freight traffic to Br irish Sugar until January 1981. The last passenger train to call at Bardney was a DMU railtour on 21st January 1981. 30 acres of the station site was sold to British Sugar in 1982 and all the track was lifted within a year although the island platform survived into the early 1990s.
The Louth platform, main station buildings and goods shed were not part of the land sold to British Sugar. The Louth platform and buildings were demolished c. mid 1990s and the goods shed was eventually restored and converted into a private residence. A replica of the station booking office was built alongside and opened as the Bardney Heritage Centre in June 2008. The Heritage Centre has a large selection of railway pictures and memorabilia of Bardney station and the surrounding area.