 The station opened as "Kirkstead" ("Kirkstead and Horncastle" according to the notice in "The Times") on 17 October 1848 as part of the "Lincolnshire Loop Line" between Lincoln and Boston which largely followed the course of the River Witham.A branch line was opened from Kirkstead to Horncastle via Woodhall Spa by the Horncastle Railway on 11 August 1855 by which time the station was known as Kirkstead.The Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway, known locally as the "New Line", opened in 1913 leaving the Loop Line just south of Woodhall Junction and cut across the fens to Midville allowing faster journey times to Skegness.