The Great Central Railway in England came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the London and North Eastern 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 Penistone Line is operated by Northern in the West Yorkshire Metro and Travel South Yorkshire areas of northern England. It connects Huddersfield and Sheffield via Penistone and Barnsley, serving many rural communities. Metrocards can be used for travel between Huddersfield and Denby Dale and intermediate stations.
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 North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840.
Mexborough railway station serves the former mining town of Mexborough, South Yorkshire, England. It is a station on the Sheffield to Doncaster Line 7 miles (11 km) south west of Doncaster.
Gainsborough Lea Road railway station is one of two stations that serve the town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, England, the other station 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. The station opened in 1867 on a single line of the Great Northern Railway, who ran four trains a day from Gainsborough to Lincoln.
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 Hull and South Yorkshire Extension Railway was incorporated on 6 August 1897 and on 25 July 1898 was transferred to the Hull and Barnsley Railway. The bill was deposited by a group of local coal owners representing the Manvers Main Colliery Company, Hickleton Main Colliery, Wath Main Colliery, Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery together with representatives of the Hull and Barnsley Railway.
Moorhouse and South Elmsall Halt was a railway station situated on the Hull and Barnsley Railway's branch line from Wrangbrook to Wath-upon-Dearne. The station served the small village of Moorhouse and the eastern part of the mining village of South Elmsall on the South Yorkshire / West Yorkshire boundary, although this was about a mile distance. The station is located between Hickleton and Thurnscoe and Wrangbrook Junction, where the Wath branch joined the main line. The single storey station building, on the Wath-bound platform was, unlike the others on the line, built of brick with a slate roof. The other platform had just a simple waiting room for the few passengers who used the station. The platform surfaces were gravel and stone edged. The station master's house, of a standard Hull and Barnsley style, was situated a road level by the underbridge.
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.
The Barnsley Coal Railway was a short railway which, when fully opened, ran between Stairfoot Junction, on the Mexborough to Barnsley line of the South Yorkshire Railway (SYR) and a triangular junction at Nostell on the line of the West Riding and Grimsby Railway (WR&GR).
Wrangbrook Junction near Upton in West Yorkshire was a location where two lines branched off the Hull and Barnsley Railway main line from Hull Cannon Street to Cudworth. The first junction led to Denaby and Conisbrough on the South Yorkshire Junction Railway, and after some four chains further the Hull & South Yorkshire Extension Railway to Wath diverged. The line between Hull and Cudworth had opened on 20 July 1885, the branch to Denaby on 1 September 1894 and the one to Wath on 31 March 1902.
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.
Kirk Smeaton railway station is located on the east side of Willowbridge Road in Little Smeaton, North Yorkshire, England. It opened on 22 July 1885, two days after the Hull Barnsley and West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company opened the line between Hull Cannon Street and Cudworth. The station had two facing platforms, the brick-built main station building in "domestic revival style" was on the down side, while the up platform had a waiting room. At the east end of the down platform was a signal box which controlled the goods yard. The latter consisted of four sidings, but had no goods shed.
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 the Hull or Cleethorpes lines and cause a bottleneck.
The Hull and Doncaster Branch is a secondary main railway line in England, connecting Kingston upon Hull to South Yorkshire and beyond via a branch from the Selby Line near Gilberdyke to a connection to the Barnsley to Barnetby Line at a junction near Thorne 8 miles northeast of Doncaster.
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.
