Pipeline spans may occur due to natural seabed irregularities or local scour of bed sediment. The pure in-line (IL) vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) analysis of the free spans is an important subject for design of pipeline in uneven seabed. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of pure IL VIV of a free spanning pipeline under general boundary conditions. An IL wake oscillator model which can describe the coupling of pipeline structure and fluctuating drag is introduced and employed. The coupled partial differential equations of structure and wake are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations using two-mode Galerkin method. Some case studies are presented and thoroughly discussed in order to investigate the effects of internal fluid, axial force and boundary conditions on the pure IL VIV.