The Horncastle and Kirkstead Junction Railway was a seven mile long single track branch railway line in Lincolnshire, England, that ran from Horncastle to (opened as Kirkstead) on the Great Northern Railway (GNR) line between Boston and Lincoln. There was one intermediate station, . The line opened in 1855 and was worked by the GNR, but the H&KJR company remained as an independent entity until 1923. The short line suffered from road competition after that time, and the passenger service was withdrawn in 1954, although a goods service was retained until 1971. There is now no railway activity on the former line. Origins In the first decades of the nineteenth century Horncastle had become an important centre for the buying and selling of horses, and it was a centre for agriculture in the district; its population in 1851 was 25,089. At the same time Woodhall Spa had developed as a location where people went to enjoy the curative properties of the spring water which contained iodine and bromine. A local businessman named Thomas Hotchkiss had promoted the waters' curative properties, especially for gout. Local people believed a railway connection was a means to developing Horncastle; between 1845 and 1847 there were six unsuccessful attempts to promote a railway connection to the town. The Great Northern Railway operated the nearby main line at Kirkstead, opened in 1848. In 1851 the GNR built a canal wharf at Dogdyke, enabling to serve Horncastle using the canal as a branch. On 27 September 1853 a meeting was held at the Bull Inn, Horncastle, "for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of establishing a line of railway between Horncastle and Kirkstead station on the Great Northern loop line." The meeting resolved that "the formation of a branch railway from the Kirkstead station to Horncastle would greatly promote the commercial and agricultural interests of the town and neighbourhood." A sub-committee was appointed "to confer with the Great Northern Company as to working of the proposed branch railway that company." This resulted in the GNR agreeing to work the line for 50% of receipts. The Stamford Mercury reported that "the meeting passed off vary amicably, with the slight exception of some very irrelevant observations made by Mr. Brailsford, of Toft Grange, respecting compensation to the Navigation Company. The Horncastle Canal evidently saw the promotion of a railway as inimical to its interests, and the canal