the electric railway was built primarily to carry workers between grimsby and immingham dock which the great central railway had built on a greenfield site in a sparsely populated area. the line was built by the great central and remained in railway ownership up to closure in 1961. it therefore appeared in railway timetables and it was possible to buy through tickets between any of the stops on the line and anywhere on the national railway network, though there never was any physical connection with any conventional track, nor with the tramways in grimsby and cleethorpes.