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 Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsby. It pursued a policy of expanding its area of influence, especially in reaching west to Liverpool, which it ultimately did through the medium of the Cheshire Lines Committee network in joint partnership with the Great Northern Railway and the Midland Railway.
The Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company (HB&WRJR&DCo.) was opened on 20 July 1885. It had a total projected length of 66 miles but never reached Barnsley, stopping a few miles short at Stairfoot. The name was changed to The Hull and Barnsley Railway (H&BR) in 1905. Its Alexandra Dock in Hull opened 16 July 1885.
The Axholme Joint Railway was a committee created as a joint enterprise between the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y) and the North Eastern Railway (NER) and was established by the North Eastern Railway Act of 31 July 1902. It took over the Goole and Marshland Railway, running from Marshland Junction near Goole to Reedness Junction and Fockerby, and the Isle of Axholme Light Railway, running from Reedness Junction to Haxey Junction. Construction of the Goole and Marshland Railway had begun in 1898, and by the time of the takeover in early 1903, was virtually complete. The Isle of Axholme Light Railway was started in 1899, but only the section from Reedness Junction to Crowle was complete at the takeover. The northern section opened on 10 August 1903, and the line from Crowle to Haxey Junction opened for passengers on 2 January 1905.
Gainsborough Lea Road is one of two railway stations that serve the town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, England, the other being Gainsborough Central, which is located in the town centre. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway and is located 14+1⁄4 miles (23 km) northwest of Lincoln Central on the A156 Lea Road in the south of the town. It opened in 1867 on a single line of the Great Northern Railway, who ran four trains a day from Gainsborough to Lincoln.
Goole railway station is a railway station in town of Goole on the Hull and Doncaster Branch in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Over the latter years of the 19th and early years of the 20th centuries, Penistone in Yorkshire gained a name as an accident black-spot on Britain's railway network; indeed, it could be said to hold the title of the worst accident black-spot in the country. The main line through the town was the Woodhead route of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway between Sheffield Victoria and Manchester, London Road. The line was heavily graded with a summit some 400 yards inside the eastern portal of the Woodhead tunnel.
The Sheffield District Rail Rationalisation Plan was a series of linked railway civil engineering projects, station and line closures and train route changes that took place in and around Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The majority of these changes took place in the 1960s and early 1970s, however the plan, by now much modified in the face of rapidly dwindling freight traffic, was not fully realised until the 1980s.
The South Yorkshire Railway was a railway company with lines in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Denaby and Conisbrough railway station was a small station, the southern terminus of the South Yorkshire Junction Railway branch from Wrangbrook Junction. The station, built to serve Denaby Main and Conisbrough, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, was situated just to the north of the Mexborough to Doncaster line of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, close by the road linking the villages in its name. Access to the station was by a subway under the G.C. line.
The South Yorkshire Junction Railway was a railway which ran from Wrangbrook Junction on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway to near Denaby Main Colliery Village, South Yorkshire. It was nominally an independent company sponsored by the Denaby and Cadeby Colliery Company but was worked by the Hull and Barnsley Railway.
The Dearne Valley Railway (DVR) was a railway line which ran through the valley of the River Dearne in South Yorkshire, England. It was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on 6 August 1897, which authorised the building of a line between Brierley Junction, on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway, to junctions with the Great Northern Railway and the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway south-east of Doncaster.
The West Riding and Grimsby Railway was a railway company that promoted a line between Wakefield and Doncaster, in Yorkshire, England. There was also a branch line connection from Adwick le Street to Stainforth, which gave access towards Grimsby. The company was promoted independently, but it was sponsored by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway, and became jointly owned by them.
Barnoldswick railway station was the only railway station on the Midland Railway's 1-mile-64-chain (2.9 km) long Barnoldswick Branch in the West Riding of Yorkshire in England. It served the market town of Barnoldswick, which was in West Riding of Yorkshire at the time. The line left the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway at Barnoldswick Junction 55 chains from Earby railway station. The line through the junction was on a 20-chain radius after which it converged to a single track and ran in a straight but undulating line to Barnoldswick. The passenger train that ran back and forth between Barnoldswick and Earby was known locally as the 'Barlick Spud' or 'Spudroaster'. The real reason for the name is lost in time, but the two versions that were commonly recited are that the original branch locomotive was so small it looked like a portable potato roaster used by a local vendor or that the journey time was the same as that taken to roast a potato in the locomotive's firebox.
The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line" was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern counties of England. It was owned jointly by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and the Great Eastern Railway (GER). It was formed by transferring certain route sections from the parent companies, and by the construction of a new route between Spalding and Lincoln, and a number of short spurs and connections. It was controlled by a Joint Committee, and the owning companies operated their own trains with their own rolling stock. The Joint Line amounted to nearly 123 miles (198 km) of route.
Doncaster railway station was built as a terminus for services on the Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It was reached by a triangular junction from the main line just outside town. The station was set at the north end of town, just beyond the Doncaster Avoiding Line, in the fork of the old A1 and the A19.
The Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway was a joint line which ran from Aire Junction, on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway, near Gowdall to the Great Central and Midland Joint Railway at Braithwell Junction.
The Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway (LB&HJR) was an English railway company. It built a line between Bradford and Leeds, and had running powers over the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to Halifax. It opened its main line in 1854 and later built a number of branch lines.
Gascoigne Wood Junction railway station was a railway station near Sherburn-in-Elmet in North Yorkshire, England. It was originally opened as a junction station, enabling transfers for passengers between trains. It was later a private halt station for the staff who worked at the Gascoigne Wood marshalling yard. It opened in 1839, and was closed, renamed and re-opened several times before closing completely in 1959. The station was 14 miles (23 km) from Leeds New Station, and 6 miles (9.7 km) from Selby.
