The Horncastle and Kirkstead Junction Railway Company

Before 1848 the only town in Lincolnshire served by a railway was Lincoln, and this was only as the terminus of a spur from Nottingham. In 1848 a line was opened that ran from Peterborough, via Spalding to Boston. From Boston two lines were opened. One skirted the west side of the Wolds via Lincoln and the other the east side. Grantham had no railway connection until 1850 when it, too, was connected to Nottingham. It was not until 1852 that a line was built which connected Peterborough to Doncaster and York via Grantham but this only touched the extreme south-east of the county. Lincolnshire is a big county and in 1852 many places remained far removed from a railway. (see map) But things were about to change.

In the early 1850's Horncastle was an important regional centre which serviced a highly productive agricultural area that supplied corn, cattle, wool, and other produce to the heavily populated industrial areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It also held an important annual Horse Fair and other large Stock Markets. The only problem was that its communication links were running behind the times.
  The main line of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), the line which linked Boston to Lincoln, ran along the bank of the River Whitham. There was a canal that joined Horncastle to the river near Dogdyke where there was a station. In 1851, in order to facilitate the transfer of coal and other heavy goods the GNR built a coal wharf and wharehouse at Horncastle. From there coal was delivered to the surrounding villages.

It became clear that the area would be better served by a railway link from Horncastle to the main line. Without that it was feared the town would decline as competition increased from the fairs and markets of other towns served by a railway. So in 1853, three far-sighted local men, Sir Henry Dymoke, J.Banks-Stanhope, MP, and MR S Sketchley, were instrumental in forming the Horncastle Railway Company. The objective was to construct a single line, under eight miles in length, from the GNR's loop at Kirkstead to Horncastle via the tiny village of Woodhall.

Negotiations were opened with the GNR and it was agreed that if the line were to be built the GNR would work it and that the revenues would be divided equally between the two companies. As a result a Bill to permit the construction of the line, to be called the Horncastle and Kirkstead Junction Railway Company, was presented to parliament. This met strong opposition until it was revealed that the majority of the protesters had interests in the canal comapny. So, in July 1884, the Bill was passed.

Construction began in March 1885 and was completed by the beginning of August. The opening of the line was celebrated with great enthusiasm in Horncastle. There was a grand procession through the town led by banners, musicians, company officials, directors, shareholders and school children, with local peole following behind.

The railway was a single track line just over 7 miles long. It left the GNR line at the small hamlet of Kirkstead where there was a ferry over the river Witham. From there the line ran north-east through the village of Woodhall Spa where a station with a sigle platform was built. It carried on for another 3 miles, through a small cutting in a low spur of the Wolds, until it encountered the canal.It then ran northwards, alongside the canal, to Horncastle.