The Great Northern Railway (GNR) was a British railway company incorporated in 1846 with the object of building a line from London to York. It quickly saw that seizing control of territory was key to development, and it acquired, or took leases of, many local railways, whether actually built or not. In so doing, it overextended itself financially.
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a 393-mile long (632 km) electrified railway between its southern terminus at London King's Cross station and Edinburgh Waverley via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broadly parallel to the A1 road. The main line acts as a 'spine' for several diverging branches, serving destinations such as Cambridge, Leeds, Hull, Sunderland and Lincoln, all with direct services to London. In addition, a few ECML services extend beyond Edinburgh to serve Glasgow Central, although the principal London-Glasgow route is the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
The Wakefield line is a railway line and service in the West Yorkshire Metro and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive areas of northern England. The Wakefield line is coloured yellow on maps and publications by West Yorkshire Metro. The line was electrified in 1989, between Leeds & Wakefield Westgate, as part of the programme to electrify the East Coast Main Line.
The Dearne Valley line is the name given to a railway line in the north of England running from York to Sheffield via Pontefract Baghill and Moorthorpe. The route was built over several years and consists of lines built by several railway companies.
The Pontefract line is one of the rail services in the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England. The service is operated by Northern, and links Wakefield and Leeds with Goole via Pontefract. The Metro timetable for the line also includes services operated as the Dearne Valley line between York and Sheffield via Pontefract.
Moorthorpe railway station serves the village of Moorthorpe and town of South Kirkby in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Wakefield Line and the Dearne Valley Line, 18+1⁄4 miles (29.4 km) north of Sheffield and is served by Northern.
The Sheffield–Lincoln line is a railway line in England. It runs from Sheffield to Lincoln via Worksop, Retford and Gainsborough Lea Road. The route comprises the main line of the former Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), to Gainsborough Trent Junction, where it then follows the former Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway (GNGEJR) to Lincoln Central. The former MS&LR main line continues from Trent Junction to Wrawby Junction, Barnetby, much of it now single line, where it then runs to Cleethorpes. In 2023, the Department for Transport announced that a new station will be opened on the line. Waverley station will be located between Darnall and Woodhouse.
Goole railway station is a railway station in the port town of Goole on the Hull and Doncaster Branch in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Pontefract Monkhill railway station is the busiest station in the town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. The station is on the Pontefract Line managed by Northern but is also served by Grand Central and is 14 miles (23 km) south east of Leeds.
Knottingley railway station serves the town of Knottingley in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Pontefract Line, operated by Northern, and is 16 miles (26 km) south east of Leeds railway station.
Church Fenton railway station serves the village of Church Fenton in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated where the Cross Country Route from Leeds to York meets the Dearne Valley line from Sheffield to York, just under 10.75 miles (17 km) from York.
Pontefract Baghill railway station is one of the three railway stations that serves the town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. The other stations, Monkhill and Tanshelf, both lie on the Pontefract Line, while Baghill lies on the Dearne Valley Line 21+1⁄4 miles (34 km) south of York towards Sheffield.
Askern railway station was a station on the Askern branch line of the former Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway between Doncaster and Knottingley. It served the town of Askern in South Yorkshire, England.
Norton railway station was a railway station to serve Norton, South Yorkshire, England. It was built by the Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway company on their line between Doncaster and Knottingley. The line and its stations were absorbed into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1847 when that company changed its name from the Manchester and Leeds Railway.
Joan Croft Halt railway station was a small halt on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) situated by a level crossing at Joan Croft Junction in South Yorkshire, England. The junction gives access from the ECML to the Skellow line of the West Riding and Grimsby Railway and eventually to Hull, Immingham and Grimsby Docks.
The Freight Route Utilisation Strategy is a Route Utilisation Strategy in the United Kingdom, published by Network Rail in March 2007. It is one of only two which have the perspective of the network as whole. It was included in a map published by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) as established in May 2007. As with other RUSs, the Freight RUS took into account a number of responses to a Draft for Consultation, including those from the ORR.
The East Coast Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS), published by Network Rail in February 2008, was the seventh RUS.
Werrington Dive Under is a replacement dual track grade separated railway junction at Werrington Junction, 3 miles (5 km) north of Peterborough railway station in Cambridgeshire, England. The junction leads to the Great Northern/Great Eastern Joint line (GN/GE) which goes through Spalding to Lincoln and beyond. Completed and opened in December 2021, the dive under allows trains on the west side of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) to access the GN/GE line without conflicting with the faster passenger services on the ECML.
The Great Northern Railway developed an extensive network over time, having started in 1846 with the intention of connecting London and York, as well as other major Yorkshire towns. The Great Northern Railway in Yorkshire was a major part of that, although the GNR did not succeed in reaching York as it originally intended. By acquiring running powers it reached Leeds, Bradford and Halifax over other companies' lines, as well as Barnsley Sheffield and Grimsby, and then York too. After acquiring local companies it developed a network, chiefly in West Yorkshire. Later it built lines north and west of Bradford into hilly terrain, and these were very expensive to build, and never repaid the initial cost.
The North Doncaster Chord is a railway connection (chord) between the freight only lines between Hatfield & Stainforth railway station and the Askern branch line, in South Yorkshire, England. The line was built to allow heavy freight trains, mostly from the Port of Immingham, to access the power stations in the lower Aire Valley without the need for them to use the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and creating slower line speeds for faster passenger trains. The chord meant the creation of 2 miles (3.2 km) of new railway and the building of Shaftholme Viaduct, which straddles the East Coast Main Line.
