1980s Peterborough - Spalding electrification plans

[pete_mcfarlane]

Was there a plan to electrify from Peterborough to Spalding as part of the 1980s ECML scheme?

 

I saw this Great Northern EMU blind on eBay that includes Spalding as a destination (and I'm sure I saw a 313 at Kings Cross about 25 years ago scroll through a similar blind). Presumably this was future proofing for a plan that never happened. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Class-317-WAGN-Great-Northern-EMU-Destination-Blind/274694521894?hash=item3ff511c426:g:UZcAAOSwBCFgKtCg

[Ravenser]

I'm not aware of it, and it seems wildly unlikely to me. As I was living in Lincolnshire at the time and actively interested in the ECML electrification as a traveller to/from university I would have expected to be aware of it

 

Remember this line was actually closed along with the rest of the East Lincolnshire line in October 1970, and reluctantly reinstated in November 1971 with a  limited DMU shuttle

 

I suspect the last time anyone looked at electrification of it was around 1930 when the LNER commissioned a study of electrification of the entire GN Section including all the lines in Lincolnshire. The numbers didn't add up . (I suspect this study may have been - in part - an exercise for Sir Ralph Wedgewood to see if complete network electrification, on the Swiss model would actually stack up in real British LNER conditions . Needless to say, it didn't. The exercise assumed 1500V dc electrification of - amongst other things - the Horncastle branch and the Mablethorpe loop...)

 

Adding an extra name to the destination blinds costs nowt, especially if you have a standard length and a slot going begging. Possibly someone may have wondered if electrification of the Joint Line via Lincoln - as the recognised ECML diversionary and freight route - might happen at some point, at which stage the Spalding shuttle could be covered by extending the EMUs arriving at Peterborough thus freeing up a platform from turnback use . The Azuma's hybrid capacity has made this permanently irrelevant now

 

The ECML electrification was done on an economy basis to get the investment case through - I think the Treasury hiked the rate of return required after BR managed to get Royston/Cambridge through on the previous rate of return (Royston/Cambridge seemed to be the Treasury's "they shall not pass!" red line at the time - BR effectively fiddled the numbers by sending concreting pile driving trains from the Anglia West scheme down the Royston branch to use up the concrete. Obviously the wires must extend beyond a junction to provide against an electric being sent down the wrong route - but on the Royston line the wires seemed to extend an awful long way, well over a mile I think)  In that environment, electrification to Spalding was literally unimaginable

 

KX - Spalding in a 313 without toilets would have been a nightmare

Edited March 2, 2021 by Ravenser

[russ p]

When Spalding - Peterbrough closed was it just passengers or all traffic. 

I didnt know about the plan to electrify the entire GN section , would that have included the Nottingham branch or was it just the  Lincolnshire lines?  Very interesting 

[The Stationmaster]

It might well have been included in the late 1950s plan to electrify the ECML?  (the one that was dropped after a lot of money had been spent altering overbridges in various areas especially between Selby and York).

[2251]

11 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

It might well have been included in the late 1950s plan to electrify the ECML?  (the one that was dropped after a lot of money had been spent altering overbridges in various areas especially between Selby and York).

I do not think it was. It was not in the Modernisation Plan proposal:

 

 

 

Nor is it mentioned in the 1960 Electrification Conference papers:

 

[chris45lsw]

Peterborough to Spalding wasn't included in the 1980s plan.  But there was a later proposal to electrify Peterborough to Spalding, I think in the 1990s (I'm writing from memory).  From memory I think the main motivation was to have the EMU carriage sidings at Spalding therefore freeing up the, more valuable land occupied by the carriage sidings at Peterborough for other (commercial?) purposes.

 

Chris KT

 

[Dagworth]

Amazing to see the Felixstowe branch planned for electrification even then, are there any plans to put wires down there now? 
 

Andi 

[Johann Marsbar]

I took this photo at Liverpool St in 1978.......

 

 

It was a few years after that  before they actually announced the electrification between Colchester and Norwich...

[caradoc]

Perhaps each Region or Division had a standardised destination blind which was fitted whether or not the unit was actually likely, or even able, to reach every location ? 

 

[russ p]

There have been so many electrification maps over the years from various BR sources,  I've seen a map with Cromer and Hunstanton wired 

[ess1uk]

Is there much demand for Spalding services?

it is only a 153 from memory so guess not

[Fat Controller]

On 02/03/2021 at 14:26, Dagworth said:

Amazing to see the Felixstowe branch planned for electrification even then, are there any plans to put wires down there now? 
 

Andi 

The only problem being that container terminals are not amenable to over-head wiring, so either shunter-release or last-minute diesel is required.

[great central]

4 hours ago, ess1uk said:

Is there much demand for Spalding services?

it is only a 153 from memory so guess not

 

The early Spalding-Peterborough services carry a fair number, well they did before you know what, everything is 2 car now as 153s are not compliant with disability access regulations now.

Going to be a Sunday service on the joint line from May as well as later services so the Spalding-Peterborough shuttles will be no more.