Looking north past the old part of Gainsborough Central station

Image: © Marathon Taken: 21 Apr 2023

Gainsborough Central station was opened by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) on 2nd April 1849. The station buildings were demolished in 1975, leaving just the two platforms and a footbridge over the two railway lines. Weekday passenger services (which had been thrice-daily each way between Sheffield and Cleethorpes since the early 1980s) were withdrawn by British Rail in October 1993 leaving only three trains in each direction running on Saturdays. In the 2002/3 financial year, only five fare-paying passengers (excluding season ticket holders) boarded trains at Gainsborough Central station, and three disembarked, making it the least busy station in Great Britain, alongside Barry Links. The 2004/05 figures suggested 21 passengers used the station that year, putting it slightly above Watford West, a station which closed in 1996. The line through the station was upgraded and refurbished in 2008 to allow it to carry increased levels of freight traffic from the port complex at Immingham to South Yorkshire and the East Midlands. In May 2019 Northern Rail introduced an hourly service between Gainsborough Central and Sheffield on weekdays and Saturdays, which was the most regular service the station had received since 1849. However, it is now back to the skeleton service of no trains Monday to Friday and Sunday and just three trains on Saturday, four hours apart. This can be seen on the timetable - www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7476340

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