from Cranwell terminated at Slea River while the engine performed goods shunting duties, and the next train to Cranwell started from that point. Closure In the 1920s competition from bus services locally hit the branch usage hard, and from November 1926 the passenger service on the branch was closed. From that time the branch goods trains did not run beyond the exchange sidings at Sleaford West Junction. After the Second World War the requirement for the branch declined further and it was closed in August 1956. The track was removed in October 1957. Profitability In regards to finance, the line never broke even: in response to a Parliamentary Question, it was revealed that, even allowing for a credit in respect of the c.15,000 tons of Government stores that were transported along it during 1924, the line still made a loss of £3,570. After coming under repeated pressure to reduce the deficit, the line ceased to carry regular passenger traffic in November 1926, with a consequent reduction in running costs. Its original use, for the conveyance of materials and provisions to the training establishment at Cranwell continued, however, together with the occasional passenger train (such as the special trains bringing public schoolboys to visit the college in the 1930s, the first Canadian contingent to arrive in the Second World War and the 1953 Flying Training Command Coronation contingent, which was pulled by a British Railways J6 class 0-6-0 tender engine with another of the Class on the rear). Rolling stock Five locomotives owned by the contractors Logan and Hemingway are known to have worked at Cranwell; these were all Manning Wardle 0-6-0 Saddle Tanks, with numbers: 3, 4 Epworth, 5, 7 Bletcher and 8. A surviving Logan and Hemingway locomotive of the type used on the RAF Cranwell Railway (a 0-6-0 Manning Wardle saddle tank originally known as Number 10, but which now goes by the name of Sir Berkeley) is owned by the Vintage Carriages Trust. Two diesel locomotives were tried out on the line after the Second World War but they were unsuccessful in view of the difficult gradients on the line. Thirteen four-wheeled and six-wheeled passenger coaches were acquired for the passenger service. They were bought second-hand from the GNR before 1919, having been in use on the GNR Metropolitan Service between New Barnet and Moorgate. Eight coaches were usually sufficient on any train except on Saturdays when