REALLY SideTracked – Tumby Woodside
Flanders and Swann Slow Train event No 17.
The Slow Train series continues with a geocaching meet-up between 9.30 and 10am on Sunday 8th October near the site of the old station at Tumby Woodside.
This is the next in a series of SideTracked events based on the song Slow Train by Flanders and Swann. Written in 1963, the song laments the closure of many stations and railway lines under the Beeching cuts of that era.
"On the main line and the goods siding
The grass grows high,
At Dogdyke, Tumby Woodside and Trouble House Halt..."
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 Tumby Woodside Station
Tumby Woodside up platform in June 1970.
Tumby Woodside was a station on the Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway, a railway line in England built to shorten the route between Lincoln and Firsby in Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), and opened as a double track line in 1913. It was authorised under a Light Railway Order, which simplified the legal process. Long distance holiday and excursion passenger trains to the east coast resorts were routed over the line, which also carried an ordinary rural passenger and goods service. In 1915 the line was closed and the materials from one track were lifted and sent to France for tactical use there. The track was reinstated and normal operation was resumed in 1923. When the direct line from Lincoln to Boston was closed east of Coningsby Junction in 1960, some Lincoln stopping trains ran to Coningsby to terminate their journeys. The line itself was closed on 5 October 1970.
The station served an isolated community, little more than a handful of houses and farms. The station had two brick faced platforms each with a brick built waiting room with a canopy. A single-storey red brick booking office stood adjacent to the level crossing on the up side of the line. It was similar in design to the others on the New Line and much larger that required for a station serving such a small community. A typical GNR signalbox stood on the opposite side of the track, this controlled access to the level crossing and goods yard. A weigh office stood behind the booking office at the entrance to the yard; a single long single siding ran behind the down platform. The main products handled were cattle, potatoes and sugar beet.
As of 2010, both platforms remain but were very heavily overgrown as was the trackbed between them. The up platform still had two supports for the station sign and some railway fencing at the back of the platform. The brick building on the down platform was still standing although roofless and in a very dilapidated and dangerous condition. The waiting room still had its bench seat and the gents toilet still had a urinal, sink and 3 cubicles with wooden doors and a water tank above. The trackbed at the west end of the station has been infilled up to platform level. The stationmaster's house also still stands as does the booking office alongside the level crossing; this is now a private residence.
Source: Wikipedia and disused-stations.org.uk
The event
We will meet for a chat and to see the site of the level crossing near the old station. Access permitting, there may be the opportunity to explore the old station buildings. There will be the usual opportunities to chat with other cachers and discover and swap trackables. On road parking should be possible nearby, but please show consideration to residents and watch out for kids and geodogs.
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