Utterby Halt railway station

Utterby Halt
Station site in 2007.
Location
Place	Utterby
Area	East Lindsey
Operations
Original company	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway Eastern Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
11 December 1905	Opened
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

Utterby Halt was a railway halt on the East Lincolnshire Railway which served the village of Utterby in Lincolnshire between 1905 and 1961. The station, which opened as part of a new motor train service between Grimsby and Louth, is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a ganger killed on the level crossing in 1953. The line through Utterby remained open for freight until December 1980.

The station was opened on 11 December 1905 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 over Pear Tree Lane; lamps were provided on both platforms, but only the down platform had a waiting shelter for passengers: a small wooden hut equipped with a heating stove. A crossing keeper's cottage lay to the north of the crossing on the down side which was of standard East Lincolnshire Railway design similar to that seen at Fotherby Halt, Grainsby Halt, Holton Village Halt and Weelsby Road Halt, all of which pre-dated the opening of the respective halts. Passenger services called at the station upon request only. The station closed on 11 September 1961, the same day as Fotherby Halt to the south which had also opened on the same day as part of the rail motor service.

The station is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of John Edward Lancaster, a length ganger, who was hit on the level crossing in dense fog by a Grimsby-Louth freight working in January 1953.

The halt was demolished by British Rail long before final closure of the line in December 1980 and little remains of it today. The crossing keeper's cottage survives in good condition as a private residence. Ludborough's old down distant signal post stands over the trackbed to the south towards Louth.