Fotherby Halt railway station

Fotherby Halt
Station site in 2007.
Location
Place	Fotherby
Area	East Lindsey
Operations
Original company	East Lincolnshire Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway Eastern Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
February 1853	Opened as Fotherby Gate House
28 June 1872	Closed
11 December 1905	Reopened and renamed
11 September 1961	Closed
December 1980	Closure of line
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Fotherby Halt was a railway halt on the East Lincolnshire Railway which served the village of Fotherby in Lincolnshire between 1905 and 1961. The station was opened on the site of a previous station named Fotherby Gate House which had closed in 1872. The second station closed in 1961, but the line through it remained open for freight until December 1980. The line through the station could be reopened by the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway as part of its extension south from Ludborough to Louth.

The station was opened in February 1853 as Fotherby Gate House, some five years after the East Lincolnshire Railway between Grimsby and Louth had opened on 1 March 1848. The origins of the station's name lay in the gatehouse constructed in 1847 by contractor John Waring and Sons of Rotherham to control the crossing over Peppin Lane near Fotherby, to the south of which the station lay. It was served by a twice-weekly passenger service restricted to market days. This reduced its patronage to such an extent that it was closed on 28 June 1872, but remained in public timetables until October 1872.

The station was reopened on 11 December 1905 as Fotherby Halt to coincide with the introduction of a motor train service by the Great Northern Railway. It consisted of two low parallel halt platforms to the south of the level crossing; a crossing box (the block section being Ludborough-Louth North) was sited at the northern end of the up platform next to the crossing and opposite Fotherby gatehouse which served as the crossing keeper's cottage. Passenger services called at the station upon request only. The station closed on 11 September 1961, the same day as Utterby Halt to the north which had opened on the same day as part of the rail motor service.