Seven on John's walk today with two guests from Newark Ramblers. Great walking weather with temperatures not too warm and a cooling breeze. The route took us along Car Dyke to Nocton in an area known for its potatoes.
After the First World War surplus army narrow gauge railway equipment was bought by farmers in Lincolnshire and the Fens for use in their fields to bring the crops, particularly potatoes, to a depot or a standard gauge railhead for onward transhipment. One such system was the Nocton Estates Light Railway. It eventually had almost 23 miles of single track, with five new Simplex locos hauling ex-army wagons and vans. By 1960 it had virtually closed but fortunately railway enthusiasts in North Lincolnshire managed to aquire a quantity of rail and stock from the system and built the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway .
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Water tower in Potterhanworth, now a private residence |
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Lincolnshire skyline |
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Coffe stop at the edge of Potterhanworth Wood and Car Dyke. The Car Dyke is/was an 85-mile long ditch and is generally accepted as being of Roman age and marks the western edge of the Fens
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This hamlet on Car Dyke sits 10m above sea level in the centre of the Nocton Esrate where the limestone ridge of the Lincoln Edge meets fenland and lies just to the east of the River Witham. |