100 British Bus Routes: Route 57
Spalding to Skegness
1 April 2023
ABOVE: Stagecoach East Midlands 24164 (PO59 MWX), a 12metre ADL Enviro300, is seen on the Butterwick Road,
between Butterwick and Benington, heading for Spalding. All photos in this article were taken on Monday 27th March 2023.
between Butterwick and Benington, heading for Spalding. All photos in this article were taken on Monday 27th March 2023.
Operator: Stagecoach East Midlands
Runs: Mondays to Saturdays (no evening service)
Weekday frequency: Broadly hourly
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: Four buses
Off-peak journey time: 105 minutes
Estimated route length: 37-40 miles
Runs: Mondays to Saturdays (no evening service)
Weekday frequency: Broadly hourly
Estimated Vehicle Requirement: Four buses
Off-peak journey time: 105 minutes
Estimated route length: 37-40 miles
This is the Sessions House in Spalding, a Grade II-listed building. The former court house is now available for events and private hire.
Spalding in Lincolnshire has an interesting story to tell, as is evidenced by its Wikipedia entry. Apparently there is archaeological evidence of people living in the Spalding area as long ago as 750 BC, and it had 91 households by the year 1086, when the Domesday Book was compiled.
Known as The Heart of the Fens, Spalding has long been famous as a centre of the tulip bulb industry. An annual tulip parade was held in the town from 1959, until funding ceased after the 2013 event.
A famous transport person, Frank Pick, who became the CEO of the London Passenger Transport Board, was born here in 1878. And the first barcode ever to be used at a supermarket till in the UK was scanned here in 1979.
Nowadays, there are over 30,000 people living here (source: 2011 Census). But only about three of them seem to want a bus today.
And that includes me. I have a couple of nights in Skegness, and I'm catching the Stagecoach East Midlands route 57, which will wind through the Lincolnshire countryside for the best part of 40 miles to take me there.
Next to the bus station in Spalding is the Chatterton Water Tower, which can hold 3.4M litres of water, and can pump it out at 60 litres per second!
In my travels, I often end up at a bus station, mid-evening, awaiting my last ride of the day. At these times, there are few people around, any kiosks or cafes have closed, toilets have been locked, and most of the buses that are in evidence have been abandoned for the night.
This is what I’m reflecting on as I arrive at Spalding bus station. There are only two buses in sight, and barely enough intending passengers to make a mark on either. There's a real sense of the evening close-down.
Spalding Bus Station is pretty quiet at 3pm. On the left is local operator Fowler's no. 3 (PL51 LDV), a Volvo B7TL Plaxton President that was new to London Central (part of the Go-Ahead Group) in 2002, as their PVL 255. A school working beckons... On the right is Stagecoach East Midlands 15618 (OU10 BGX), a Scania N230 ADL Enviro400. It will attempt to form a service on route 505 to King's Lynn but, as is recounted below, will be unsuccessful.
Except that it’s not evening; it’s three o'clock on a weekday afternoon! A thriving local bus network is not what is being implied here.
There are signs of neglect, or at least a lack of attention. A notice records that the toilets are to be closed from "Tuesday 24th March", which is odd as it's Monday 27th March and they're open (and 24th was Friday). Turns out that the sign relates to COVID-19 measures from March 2020.
To get to the bus station, one has to cross a service road that leads to a retail park; this includes a major supermarket, so there is a steady succession of vehicles using the access road. There's no official crossing of the access road, so one just has to hope for the best.
Bus information is scarce. There's what looks like an information board but it's not giving anything away:
There are few timetables in individual stops, with the noble exceptions of the stops that are served by Delaine Buses (of whom more in a future article) and Black Cat. It gives the impression that operators are responsible for the timetable information, and that Stagecoach can't be bothered.
Alternative uses have been found for the timetable cases, though:
Full timetable display for the Delaine Bus service (left), but most other timetable cases are empty (bar cigarette butts)!
As my 57 is not a Delaine Bus or a Black Cat service, and given that online Stagecoach timetables do not show the stop numbers, I have to resort to Traveline to find out which stop I need to wait at (stop B).
Things do start to liven up a little. Another Stagecoach service, the 505 service to King’s Lynn is loading up. But there’s bad news coming for the dozen or so passengers who arrive to board it... the engine won’t start. There’s just a telling click and a groan from the back as the driver tries – and fails – to kick a bit of life into it! A half-hour’s wait is in prospect for these people by the look of it.
I find myself wondering if any spare vehicles are kept in strategic positions, but at this time on a school day, everything is probably in use. Indeed, even normally regular services have extra-long gaps at this time, including the 57 which is basically hourly for most of the day, but has no departure between 1345 and 1520. Presumably the buses are in use on school services?
As my 57 pulls out of Spalding bus station, two more Stagecoach East Midlands vehicles have crept in. 15620 (OU10 BGZ, left), another Scania-chassis Enviro400, will form the 1535 departure on route 505 to King's Lynn; its passengers including those who found the 1505 service unable to perform. Behind it is 19595 (AE10 BXH) on the two-hourly route 37 (Spalding to Peterborough). This is an all-ADL Enviro400. I'm pretty sure that the 'citi' branding is intended for more local routes in Peterborough than this one right out here.
The good news is that a double-decker turns up for this run. The ticket is of course only two pounds for the whole two-hour journey to Skegness (a bargain)! The very-friendly driver issues a ticket to Boston (less than half way). It makes no difference to me, or to the fare, but it might make reclaiming the balance of the fare a bit trickier for the operator.
This is a Scania Enviro400, from the same batch as the stricken 505 in front. Fortunately, our bus starts, and we’re on our way on time, at 1520. There are only a handful of passengers on board at this point.
Saint Paul's Church, Spalding
The only significant point on the first section of route is an out-of-town shopping and leisure outlet called Springfields.
Bus stop at Springfields Outlet
Otherwise, the first section is very rural. We’re steaming down a single-carriageway main road through Surfleet and Kirton.
An unidentified vehicle (looks like an Optare Tempo) from the Brylaine Travel fleet, running out of service down the A16, somewhere around Wykeham / Surfleet
There’s a new housing development on the outskirts of Boston, where we wait time for a couple of minutes at an unmarked bus stop. There’s traffic on the approach to Boston, but it flows better than it looks like it's going to and we're not delayed.
On the approach to Boston Bus Station is Swan House, with its distinctive swan on the roof of the building. My first thoughts were that this might have been an old match factory, but no, it's where goose feathers were packed to fill pillows. The building is over 140 years old, but looking in pretty good shape:
We reach Boston's bus station, with its fine view of the tower of St Botolph's Church, a 14th-century Gothic church. It is also known as the "Boston Stump" (the church, not the bus station).
Boston bus station, with a quartet of Brylaine Travel vehicles in evidence. Nearest the camera is 58 (SN08 BWM), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini, formerly with Lothian and still in Lothian colours. Two similar vehicles, in Brylaine colours, are also loading up. Parked up on the right is 157 (LX03 BTZ), a Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400 new to Stagecoach London as its 17755.
We’re scheduled to stand here for five minutes, and the service livens up with college students. It's nice to listen to the ones who park themselves in the seats adjacent to mine. It sounds like they live in Skegness (or "Skeg" as everyone round here seems to refer to it) and have to travel to Boston for college.
They’re talking about part-time evening work, and it sounds as though the Butlin’s camp at Skegness – over an hour’s travel each way from Boston, after a day studying - might be the best bet for them (sounds like one of them is already working there this evening).
Our departure from Boston is at 1610, and the route of the 57 gives us a chance to have a closer look at the Stump, and at Boston Market Place.
Town Bridge, Boston, over the River Witham
Market Place, Boston
We also get a look at the Maud Foster Windmill, which is a seven-storey, five-sail windmill - one of the largest operating windmills in England at 80 feet high. The tower mill and adjoining granary are Grade-I listed.
The rest of the journey comprises of us weaving on and off the A52, the main road between Boston and Skegness. I discover afterwards that, of the 12 daily journeys on the route, six skip a lot of the smaller villages, so it’s quite a treat to be calling into all of them. I know that makes me weird, but for me, the joy of these trips is being taken off the main road to discover these places that most drivers travelling up and down the A52 will never even think about!
And what lovely villages they are. I love to photograph pretty village scenes, and these often feature pubs or churches:
The Kings Head, Freiston, about two miles east of Boston
Just down the road from the Kings Head is the Bull & Dog, adjacent to the Freiston Parish Church of St James
St Mary's Church, Old Leake, about eight miles from Boston
The Church of St Mary & St Nicholas in Wrangle. If you could fly from here, it's only 16 miles across The Wash to Hunstanton in Norfolk - the setting of my route 36 choice in the 100 British Bus Routes series.
A couple more 57s meet us during the journey – one double-decker and one single-decker. As I am going to find out, allocation of Stagecoach vehicles in this region is quite random, with any route likely to end up with a mixture of doubles and singles. It's two of each on this route today, so it was quite a challenge deciding which to put on the article header.
Stagecoach East Midlands 19195 (NK57 DVY) is an all-ADL Enviro400. Working a short on route 57 from Skegness to Boston, it is seen on Low Road, Friskney, which is just over half-way from Boston to Skegness.
I've only visited this region once in the past, and that was almost 30 years ago. It's much as I remember it, with open fields and lots of farm vehicles out and about, going about their business. It's a pretty flat landscape too. We're never far from the sea on this route, but we never see it.
Typical farm vehicles, and typical Lincolnshire scenery, on the main road between Boston and Skegness
As we get closer to Skegness, the youngsters are starting to think about their connections – yes, one of them has to get another bus after this one!
For those not in the know, the Butlin’s camp at Skegness (it was the very first Butlin's, incidentally), isn’t in Skegness itself. It’s about three miles north in a place called Ingoldmells. So walking to the site isn't really an option, although one of the students reckons it could be run "in about an hour".
In more practical terms, they don't seem to know what time the 57 is due in (actually at 1722), and start to bemoan the time it is taking for our bus to get through. One lad has his eye firmly set on the route 3 (Skegness to Ingoldmells) departure at 1720. But, if our bus sticks to time as well as it has so far, he's not going to make it.
Crossing the Steeping River and heading into Wainfleet to pass the Salem Bridge Brewery. We're only five miles from Skegness now.
Most of those who joined in Boston have sat tight for most of the journey, and are only starting to drift away as we approach the environs of Skegness.
My students note that several people are getting off the bus, which will "make it lighter, and therefore faster", so that they can get to Skegness in time for their connecting service 3.
Unfortunately, the bus sticks rigidly to time, and comes into view of the town centre just on twenty past. There's a one-way system to negotiate, and the number 3 passes in front of us, having just departed the Interchange, just before we get into the one-way system.
Rounding Roman Bank, one side of the one-way system adjacent to Skegness railway station and bus interchange. The bus on route 3 that is referenced in the text can just be seen exiting into Lumley Road. The bus interchange is adjacent to the Lidl supermarket, for which the sign is just visible in the background, centre right. The railway station canopy is also visible to the right of that.
We pull into Skegness Interchange (a row of covered bus stands next to the railway station), bang on at 1722. This bus station isn't any more inspiring than the one at Spalding, but there is at least some activity here!
The students who missed the number 3 will have to wait until 1735 for the next service north (route 1, Skegness to Ingoldmells). My bus will form the 1730 service back to Boston - the last 57 of the day (the last one all the way back to Spalding left at 1530)! For me, just a 10-minute walk to my hotel on the seafront, albeit it's pretty chilly and breezy!
Journey's End: Stagecoach 15811 (FX12 BBV), and its driver, take a few minutes at Skegness Interchange, at the end of the long run from Spalding.
Route 57 is a lovely drive through the Lincolnshire countryside. If you can get one of the journeys that serves all the villages, so much the better. If you can find a double-decker as well, and can secure one of the front seats, you might just have hit the jackpot! I did!