The end of the railway age

PHOTO FEATURE

The closure of the M & G N line to passenger traffic in 1959 did not pass without notice. The final steam locomotive to travel was the 9.20 p m train from Spalding on 28th February with 94 passengers on board, although the average for each journey in the previous months had been only four. It was a nostalgic occasion with railway enthusiasts joining townspeople for the last journey on the line that had served the town for the past century.

Everyone, public and railway staff, joined in the spirit of the occasion and the front of the engine carried a farewell headboard bearing a cartoon of the last train and the message: "That's yer lot!" The Lincolnshire Free Press sent along a reporter to make the trip and he wrote afterwards:

The railway line met its death bravely and defiantly, with epitaphs and slogans on its passenger train engine and amid a challenging din of deafening fog detonators, sirens and whistles. Up and down the line throughout the day, drivers, firemen and guards made their final journey on the old, friendly, familiar route. Hundreds of passengers of all ages accompanied them, carefully preserving the last souvenir tickets. The final curtain came late at night when crowds gathered at Bourne, Spalding and at intermediate stations and crossings, as the last train, whistle blowing, slowly puffed out into the darkness like old friends gone forever. The locomotive carried a wreath and the epitaph, 'Goodbye all, for we may not pass this way again.' One woman was weeping.