TF0645 : Sleaford Station from the east
taken 9 years ago, near to Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England
The first railway in Sleaford was the Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway which opened from Barkston Junction, north of Grantham on the Great Northern Railway main line on 16 June 1857 and on to Boston on 13 April 1859. This railway became part of the GNR in 1864.
This was followed by the GNR line from Bourne which opened on 2 January 1872.
Next came the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway which opened from Spalding through Sleaford to Ruskington on 6 March 1882, and from there to Lincoln on 1 August of the same year.
Finally the branch line to RAF Cranwell, then known as HMS Daedalus, opened in 1917.
Passenger services on the Bourne branch ceased on 22 September 1930, although the line remained open between Billingborough and Bourne for goods until 1964. The Cranwell branch closed in 1956.
The Grantham to Boston and Spalding to Lincoln lines remain open.
It is still one of the only places left to have signal boxes named 'North','South','West' & 'East' around the area. With the North and South boxes on the Peterborough to Lincoln line, and then the West and East boxes are at each end of the station on the Grantham to Boston line. So if travelling from Lincoln to Peterborough on the train you would pass all 4 boxes.
From Wikipedia Link
* Update 2014 - Due to engineering works over the course of 2014, the north and south boxes have been decommissioned.
Listed buildings and structures are officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance. There are over half a million listed structures in the United Kingdom, covered by around 375,000 listings.
Listed status is more commonly associated with buildings or groups of buildings, however it can cover many other structures, including bridges, headstones, steps, ponds, monuments, walls, phone boxes, wrecks, parks, and heritage sites, and in more recent times a road crossing (Abbey Road) and graffiti art (Banksy 'Spy-booth') have been included.
In England and Wales there are three main listing designations;
Grade I (2.5%) - exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important.
Grade II* (5.5%) - particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
Grade II (92%) - nationally important and of special interest.
There are also locally listed structures (at the discretion of local authorities) using A, B and C designations.
In Scotland three classifications are also used but the criteria are different. There are around 47,500 Listed buildings.
Category A (8%)- generally equivalent to Grade I and II* in England and Wales
Category B (51%)- this appears generally to cover the ground of Grade II, recognising national importance.
Category C (41%)- buildings of local importance, probably with some overlap with English Grade II.
In Northern Ireland the criteria are similar to Scotland, but the classifications are:
Grade A (2.3%)
Grade B+ (4.7%)
Grade B (93%)
Read more at Wikipedia Link