Spurn Head Railway

Starting Point - Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Spurn Discovery Centre. Round Trip to Spurn Point. Distance - 7.5 Miles. Facilities at Discovery Centre

During the First World War it was soon realised that defences around the Humber Estury needed considerable improvement to protect the vital shipping route into Hull, Grimsby, Immingham and Goole and inland waterway connections in to Yorkshire. A millitary presence had existed on the Spurn Penninsular back to the time of the Napoleonic wars, though Spurn Point could only be reached by boat or by a walk along the sand dunes from Kilnsea. To strengthen the coastal defences a railway was built. This would allow materials off loaded at a pier at Spurn Point to be moved along the peninsular up to the Godwin Fort at the Kilnsea end.

More information about the Spurn Head railway can be found in this Article about the Spurn Railway and the Wikipedia article.

Of the five contractor's locomotives used in the construction of the line one was left behind (Vulcan Foundry built "Kenyon") to operate the railway. Another of the contractor's engines, Hudswell Clarke built "Lord Mayor" went on to several other construction sites before being preserved at the Vintage Carriages Trust site at Ingrow on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. The military also obtained petrol powered railcars to move personnel around the penninsular. These became the only motive power when Kenyon finally expired in 1929. Other ingineous vehicles were developed by occupants of the penninsular including a converted Itala racecar and sail powered bogies.

In the Second World War the penninsular again saw an increase in military presence and a Y8 steam locomotive was brought in from the London & North Eastern Railway. This was sent to Patrington station on the Hull to Withernsea line and moved using a trailer dragged by a Scammel and a Fordson tractor. During the war the infastructure was further improved with the construction of a concrete roadway, this would use the railway to move construction materials but ultimately make the railway obsolete. It closed in 1951, though traces of the line can still be seen today where it and the concrete road crossed as the rails were set into the concrete.

For this trip I cycled to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Spurn Discovery Centre, combining this trip with a bike ride on the former Hull to Withernsea railway. The peninsular is not suitable for cycling as a breach a few years back has left a stretch of the peninsular as a pebble beach. Occasional tours are operated using a former Military Unimog vehicle. The Discovery Centre contains a cafe and shop where I was able to get food and drink and a copy of the book Sailing The Rails (look for this book on Amazon) about the line.

Current Map

The line is shown on four old map sheets, north to south...

1928 Map (1) 1928 Map (2) 1928 Map (3) 1928 Map (4)

Coastal errosion has seen the loss of much of the Godwin Fort site with little more than lumps of concrete on the gradually westward moving beach. A sound mirror Zeppelin Listening Post survives at Kilnsea, though being a bit pushed for time following bike problems I didn't get to see this. From the Discovery Centre I headed along the concrete road along the penninsular.

Below - A dog leg in the concrete road along the penninsular and the first of the crossings the railway made can still be seen.

Below - The railway crosses the concrete road at an angle.

Just north of the lighthouse was the two road engine shed for the railway's fleet. The main road would have housed Kenyon, and in later years the Y8. A side road with limited head room would have housed the railcars the line used. As the rails were set into the concrete base around the shed they can still be seen. The Unimog that does tours of the penninsular uses this hard standing as a drop off point.

Below - Another section of track set in to concrete at Spurn Point. The lighthouse and off shore Explosives Tower can be seen. Around this area are a number of former millitary buildings since put to use by the Wildlife Trust and the adjacent Lifeboat Staion.

Beyond here the line continued onto a pier on the River Humber side of the peninsular from which materials could be brought in by ship. The pier was gradually dismantalled, the surviving pier nearby being a more modern 1974 built pier for the use of the RNLI and the Humber Pilots. 

Below - The Spurn Lightship that once protected shipping from the shifting sand banks around the Spurn peninsular. This is now preserved in the Hull Marina in what was once Humber Dock.