The Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway (also known as the Gowdall and Braithwell Railway) was a joint line which ran from Aire Junction, on the main line of the

Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in af ...

, near Gowdall to the

Great Central and Midland Joint Railway The Great Central and Midland Joint Railway, formerly, before 1897, Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee, was a collection of joint railways, mainly in the Manchester and South Yorkshire areas. Description of route In the South ...

at Braithwell Junction.

Description

The railway consisted of a double track main line ( in length) which branched from the Hull and Barnsley railway at Aire junction near Gowdall.Railway Memories No.12 : The Hull and Barnsley Railway, Compiler: Stephen Chapman, Bellcode books, pp. 6–7, 66–71. The line crossed the Knottingley and Goole Canal (part of the

Aire and Calder Navigation The Aire and Calder Navigation is the canalised section of the Rivers Aire and Calder in West Yorkshire, England. The first improvements to the rivers above Knottingley were completed in 1704 when the Aire was made navigable to Leeds and the ...

) via a rolling bascule lifting bridge.The bridge was never operable – it could be made working if the Canal began to carry ships The River Don was also crossed by a girder truss bridge with approach spans on either side. York Road Branch Line - geograph

In addition to the main length of the line there were five branches: *From Bullcroft junction at south of Aire junction. ** To Bullcroft Colliery, ** Bentley New Colliery, * To Doncaster (York Road) railway station, * To Sprotborough Junctions with GC (

Doncaster Avoiding Line The Doncaster Avoiding Line is a railway line, which as its title suggests, avoids the town of Doncaster and routes goods traffic, principally coal and steel, away from the main line station where it would have to cross from the Sheffield line ...

), * To Yorkshire Main Colliery, The line had five passenger stations although never a passenger service. The stations were situated on the edge or between the villages in their titles, even Doncaster (York Road) was well north of the town, beyond the Avoiding Line.

Laughton to Ravenfield joint line

Former bridge abutments on Newhall Lane - geograph

:''Known as the Great Central, Hull & Barnsley and Midland Joint Railway Committee '' At the time of the construction of the

South Yorkshire Joint Railway The South Yorkshire Joint Railway was a committee formed in 1903, between the Great Central Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway to oversee the constructio ...

a joint line was authorised for the Great Central, Midland and

s to operate. This line ran from Laughton (where it connected to the end of the Shireoaks, Laughton and Maltby Railway) to Ravenfield where it connected at Laughton West junction to the Great Central and Midland Railway's joint branch serving

Silverwood Colliery Silverwood Colliery was a colliery situated between Thrybergh and Ravenfield in Yorkshire, England. Originally called Dalton Main, it was renamed after a local woodland. It was owned by Dalton Main Collieries Ltd. History Dalton Main Colli ...

. It connected to the Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint at Braithwell junction and opened in 1909.The Hull and Barnsley Railway, G.D. Parkes, Oakwood Press, p. 11.

History

The line originally was to be worked by the Hull and Barnsley Railway and the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

; later in the planning stage the North Eastern Railway was offered running powers which resulted in the opposition of the Great Central. Eventually an act of parliament was passed in 1909 with the line as a joint H&BR and GC operation. The line opened on 1 May 1916.The Hull and Barnsley Railway, G.D. Parkes, The Oakwood Press, pp. 11–12. The first closure came in 1939 with the south curve at York Road but the first main line closure, that from Bullcroft Junction to Aire Junction, took place in October 1958, however about one mile of this track was reopened in December 1961 and extended to

Thorpe Marsh Power Station Thorpe Marsh Power Station was a 1 GW coal-fired power station near Barnby Dun in South Yorkshire, England. The station was commissioned in 1963 and closed in 1994. In 2011, permission was given for the construction of a gas-fired power ...

. This arrangement lasted until September 1970 when a new connection was put in from the WR&GR. Also in September 1970 the lines from Bullcroft Colliery to Skellow and Bullcroft Junction to Doncaster Junction closed. Warmsworth to Sprotborough closed in February 1969 and Warmsworth to Braithwell in March 1969 although this line had not seen through traffic for over 20 years. In later years the line was used for wagon storage. First in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the southern section was used for the storage of 'cripples' – wagons repairable but with no time and no facilities to do the work in the war. It continued after the war with the line south of Warmsworth Junction being unavailable for traffic. The development of the coalfield north of Doncaster did not, at that time, materialise and traffic was always 'light'. It was not until the line had been closed that the

Selby Coalfield Selby coalfield (also known as the Selby complex, or Selby 'superpit') was a large-scale deep underground mine complex based around Selby, North Yorkshire, England, with pitheads at ''Wistow Mine'', ''Stillingfleet Mine'', ''Riccall Mine'', ''No ...

came on stream.

Notes

References

Literature

*"Great Central" (Vol 3) (Fay sets the pace, 1900–1922), Ian Allan / Locomotive Pub. Co.,1965 *"Railways of the South Yorkshire Coalfield from 1880", A.L.Barnett, Rail Correspondence and Travel Society 1984. {{ISBN, 0-901115-58-4 Hull and Barnsley Railway Great Central Railway Rail transport in South Yorkshire Rail transport in Doncaster