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 doing so it overextended itself financially.
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 construction of a new railway in the Doncaster area of South Yorkshire, England. The five companies had equal rights over the line, each of the companies regularly working trains over it.
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 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.
Wath railway station was one of three railway stations in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire, England. It was the southern terminus of The Hull & South Yorkshire Extension Railway which became part of the Hull and Barnsley Railway in 1898 and was the southern terminus of a branch line from Wrangbrook Junction. The station was located on Station Road between the Great Central Railway's Wath Central station and the Midland Railway's Wath North station. Branch line trains connected with Sheffield-Cudworth-Hull trains at Wrangbrook.
The South Yorkshire Railway was a railway company with lines in the south of 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.
Sprotborough (H&B) railway station was a small station on the South Yorkshire Junction Railway, which ran south from Wrangbrook Junction, where it joined the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway. It was situated between Denaby and Conisbrough and Pickburn and Brodsworth station.
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. 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.
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.
The River Don Navigation was the result of early efforts to make the River Don in South Yorkshire, England, navigable between Fishlake and Sheffield. The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden had re-routed the mouth of the river in 1626, to improve drainage, and the new works included provision for navigation, but the scheme did not solve the problem of flooding, and the Dutch River was cut in 1635 to link the new channel to Goole. The first Act of Parliament to improve navigation on the river was obtained in 1726, by a group of Cutlers based in Sheffield; the Corporation of Doncaster obtained an Act in the following year for improvements to the lower river. Locks and lock cuts were built, and, by 1751, the river was navigable to Tinsley.
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.
Warmsworth railway station was a railway station to serve the village of Warmsworth, South Yorkshire, England and was on the Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway. It was built ready for the opening of the line on 1 May 1916 with flanking platforms and facilities. However, although the line opened to goods traffic on that date, along with the other stations on the line it never opened for passengers.
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 East and West Yorkshire Union Railway was promoted in 1883 to connect the Hull and Barnsley Railway at Drax with Leeds. The company was unable to raise the money it needed to build the line, and it substantially reduced its scope to connecting collieries around Rothwell with the existing main line network nearby. This was successful, with trains running from 1890, but the company decided it would find a way to connect to Leeds and operate a much truncated passenger service, from Rothwell. It sponsored the South Leeds Junction Railway to make a connection from Rothwell to the Midland Railway at Stourton; the SLJR was soon re-absorbed by the E&WYUR. The passenger service started on 4 January 1904 but it was a disastrous failure, and it was soon withdrawn from 1 October 1904.
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.
