A companion volume to “Louth – a Lincolnshire Railway Centre”, produced by Alf Ludlam and Phil Eldridge and published by the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Society.
This new book tells the story of Grimsby’s rise from “a miserable collection of mean brick-built houses and ill-painted streets” (Railway Chronicle, 4th March, 1848), to the biggest fishing port in the World.
All made possible by the arrival of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, later to become the Great Central Railway.
The companies built docks in the area and developed Cleethorpes as a seaside resort.
The book deals with the engine shed and pilot duties, women workers during the two World Wars, the GCR steamers that worked out of Grimsby to the Continent, the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway and the British Transport Police.
A nice inclusion is Pete Clark’s memories as a trainspotter at Town station in the 1960s – the centre of operations was the “Hole-in-the-Wall” cafe in Brighowgate.
