Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway

The Grimsby and Immingham Electric Railway linked Grimsby with the port of Immingham where a new large port complex had been built. The line was built by the Great Central Railway and opened in stages from 1912 with the full line open the following year [1]. The line operated hybrid tramcars incorporating tram car and railway technology running mainly on reserved railway track [2], as such this was an early tramtrain to use the current term.

Preserved number 14 at Crich

Information for GCR built cars
Number built:	4
Built:	1915
Builder:	Great Central Railway / Brush Traction
Motor:	2 DK9 electric motors (500v DC OHLE)
Power:	100 hp (75 kW)

The first batch of twelve tram cars was built by Brush and Dick Kerr, some were short bodied for use on street sections of the line in Grimsby. A second batch was built at the GCR's Dukinfield Works in 1915. Later on some more traditional ex-street tram cars were added to the fleet which after 1923 became part of the London North Eastern Railway and finally British Railways.

The line began to be run down in the 1950s with the street running section closed first and the final closure in 1961, three vehicles have been preserved. Although the line did carry a lot of passengers even to the end it was never a great money spinner for it's owners.

Original cars in GCR days [3]

Interior of GCR car [3]

Another view of 14

[1] Colin J Marsden, Light Rail (Key Publishing, 2018) p. 108
[2] E. Jackson-Stevens, British Electric Tramways (David & Charles, 1971) p. 37
[3] "Great Central's Electric Line at Immingham", The Railway Times (April 6, 1912) p. 357