Barnsley Coal Railway

Starting Point - Barnsley Main Colliery, Oaks Lane, Barnsley. Finishing Point - Fitzwilliam Station. Distance -  12 Miles

Below - Railway Clearing House map (from Wikipedia) showing the Barnsley Coal Railway in pink (for Great Central Railway who owned the line at the time) between Stairfoot and Nostell towards the left of the picture.

Primarily built to serve the local mining industry, the Barnsley Coal Railway connected Stairfoot Junction near Barnsley to Nostel on the West Riding and Grimsby Railway (now the section of the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and Leeds). On completion the line became part of the South Yorkshire Railway which then became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and later the Great Central Railway. A limited passenger service was operated from Leeds Central to Barnsley Court House but this finished as early as 1930, goods traffic carried on until 1961. More information about the history of the route can be found on the Wikipedia page. Today there are footpaths along much of the route.

Google Map

1931 Map

Having travelled to Barnsley by train I walked to Barnsley Main Colliery on Oaks Lane, close to Stairfoot Junction where the route began. Here some of the pit head buildings have been preserved.

Below - Around Barnsley Main Colliery some of the narrow gauge internal railway system is in situ in the concrete roadways.

From here it was a short walk in to the Dearne Valley Country Park, through which the route now forms one of the paths through the park.

Below - Where the path crosses the River Dearne it does so on the site of southern most bridge of the two railway bridges that can be seen in the above map. The abutment of the northern most bridge can be seen.

Below - Remains of an aqueduct that carried the connection between the Aire and Calder Navigation and the Barnsley Canal

As the course of the railway leaves the country park as it passes under a modern bridge under Tannery Road the trackbed has been lost under a modern road junction. Continuing along Wakefield Road the former Old Mill Lane goods depot can be seen across the industrial site that now occupies the former trackbed. 

1906 Map

The railway trackbed is rejoined just off Smithies Lane just before it crosses Smithies Lane on a surviving bridge. Looking down at the abutments (not very clear on the photo for the trees) it can be seen that there were two bridges spanning the road, the missing one on the left having served Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery. On the right was access to Primrose Main Colliery. Some retaining walls can be seen in the trees on the right with industrial units and a bus depot on the former pit site.

1906 Map

Beyond Primrose Colliery was East Gawber Hall Colliery, though the colliery has gone and the site landscaped over. As the former line skirts the modern housing of New Lodge there has been a lot of landscaping since the mines and railway were in existence. The old maps show the railway going from an embankment to a steep rock lined cutting which aren't evident today, though the route is still a path across the fields and popular with dog walkers from the areas of modern housing that have sprung up nearby. A former British Coal sign is a remarkable survivor though. At this point the former trackbed was later used as a road access to East Gawber Hall Colliery.

1906 Map

Below - Though partially infilled, the bridge carrying the A61 over the former railway is still in situ.

This was the site of Staincross Station, the former station master's house survives as a private residence.

Below - The site of Staincross station. The path on the right is the former passenger access from the road to the station.

Just beyond Staincross station the branch to Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery went off, this was through North Rounds Wood on the 1893 map but today the wood has gone and the course of the branch forms the northern edge of the modern housing of Athersley North.

Below - Former junction of the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery branch.

1893 Map

The bridge across Lee Lane is gone and a section of embankment alongside Muscle Hill Farm levelled, though the path climbs to join the former trackebed behind the farm buildings. Where the line curves to the right a branch once went off straight ahead to serve a quarry, this must have been short lived as it was already dismantled on the 1893 map. Much of the branch has been ploughed into the adjoining fields but is still evident on satellite views.

1893 Map

A short stretch of the trackbed was quite badly flooded when I visited so I had to take a detour around it using a footpath that connected to Parkhead Close, another path off Applehaigh view returned to the railway and this was an old footpath that existed when the railway was built so the remains of a bridge could be seen.

Below - Looking back along the flooded trackbed when I picked up the route.

At Bleakley Lane another bridge has gone. To the east of the road was Notton for Royston station, the trackbed is regained by taking what was originally the access road for the goods yard up the embankment. The former station master's house survives as a private residence at road level on the North side of the station site.

Below - Bridge abutment on the west side of Bleakley Lane.

Below - Former goods yard access road on the left and a bit of brickwork, possibly from the platform, on the right.

1893 Map

Beyond Notton for Royston station the line passed over the Midland Railway route at Royston. A chord branched off to connect with the Midland line in the northbound direction, though this chord had been disconnected in the 1893 map and was removed on subsequent maps. It is therefore quite remarkable that the footpath bridge over this long closed line is still intact.

The viaduct that carried the line over the Midland route and the canal has gone and the embankments up to it levelled off at both sides. A little deviation is necessary here along Navvy Lane and Church Lane.

Below - Navvy Lane crosses the former Midland Railway line, once one of the main routes between Leeds and Sheffield only a section of the line from Wakefield to Monk Bretton survives as a single track freight line to supply sand to a glass works. This was the site of the Midland's Royston and Notton station.

Church Lane crosses a footpath along the former Ryhill Main Colliery Tramway, this runs west up to where it met the Midland Line and the canal. Heading east that path heads to the site of Ryhill Main Colliery and it is where that line passed under the Barnsley Coal Railway that we can access the former trackbed again. The route has been ploughed in to the fields between the Midland line and this point.

1893 Map

Below - Looking along the Ryhill Main Colliery Tramway, on the right is the footings of the abbutment for the bridge that carried the Barnsley Coal Railway. The path heads up the embankment to the trackbed. 

Below - Old farm track bridge still in situ.

Approaching the site of Ryhill station, the Station Road bridge has been filled in but the path can be picked up on the north side of the road. The path was quite overgrown, remnants of Ryhill station's platform could be seen (below).

1893 Map

  Below - Another missing bridge but with surviving abutments where the railway crossed Long Dam Lane.

Below - The next bridge taking Back Lane over the trackbed was still in situ.

Below - Towards the top of the above 1893 map earthworks for a level crossing can be seen, though it was not connected to the nearby roads so was presumably a farm crossing. The earthworks can still be seen though and the gate posts are still in place.

 

1907 Map

A little further north the later Dearn Valley Railway crossed over the Barnsley Coal Railway on a bridge. Both old lines are now footpaths at this point (and I hope to walk the Dearn Valley line at some point) though the bridge is gone and the paths cross on the level, those of the Dearn Valley sloping up to embankment height.

At Winterset Junction two sides of the triangular junction with the main line from Leeds to Doncaster diverged, a bridge that carried a farm track is still in situ at the site of the junction.

 

Within the former triangular junction was a coal terminal alongside the surviving main line. This was used in to the 1990s to move coal from opencast mines in the area and known as Winterset Coal Sidings. Though now disconnected, the sidings are still in place.

 With this being the junction with the surviving main line that marks the end of the old railway walk, though there was still a bit of walk remaining to reach Fitzwilliam station for a train home. I found an underpass under the mainline at the site of Nostell South Junction flooded, I had hoped to look for remnants of the branch line in to Nostell Brick & Tile Works. Instead I had to carry on to Swine Lane.

Crossing over the mainline, nothing remains of Nostell station except for the Station Cottages. The brick and tile works is still in existence. After passing the brickworks I took Gamil Lane towards Fitzwilliam station.

Bowes Railway

Starting Point - Marley Hill on the Tanfield Railway. Finishing Point - Jarrow Metro Station. Distance 10.7 Miles

Continuing from my walk along the Tanfield Railway trackbed from the River Tyne. This route was another route built to connect collieries in the area to the River Tyne, though in this case at Jarrow to the east of Newcastle. It was built by the Grand Allies group of local colliery owners but much later than the Tanfield route from the 1820s onwards with later sections reaching Marley Hill and beyond by the 1850s. More information about the route can be found on the Wikipedia site.

Initial phases of the route were engineered by George Stephenson and the route used several incline sections, worked by gravity or by stationary engines. The last of these inclines remained in use until 1974, by which time the railway was operated by the National Coal Board. 

Below - Map of the Bowes system from the Tanfield Railway Blogspot page.

Below - Map on the Suscram page giving more detail of the various inclines in operation.

1862 Map

Below - After crossing the road from the Tanfield Railway at Burdon Plain the trackbed is reached. In later years Blackburn Fell drift mine was accessed here and some sections of concrete road for loading coal in to lorries in the later years of this mine can be seen a little further along the trackbed.

1896 Map

Beyond this the route takes a dead straight course and climbs as it assends the Birkhead Incline to the site of Kibblesworth Colliery where an engine was situated. The site of this colliery is easily pinpointed as it is where the route curves to the left following the straight of the incline, the site has now become quite wooded.

1896 Map

The route crossed under that of the North Eastern Railway, now the East Coast Main Line. In more recent years this has become the site of Tyne Yard as part of the scheme to modernise the railways in the 1950s and 60s by concentrating freight workings on a series of large marshalling yards. In the picture below the route passes under the main line and the more modern concrete bridge that accessed the marshalling yard.

The line then passed under Lamesley Road and (Below) the A167. It can be seen that this bridge has been widened in later years, originally this would have been the route of the main A1 route to the north, this is now on a later 3 lane alignment to the east which we cross under in a concrete tunnel. 

Beyond the A1 we reach the foot of the Black Fell Incline. Though Google Maps suggests taking another footpath it is possible to follow the railway route up the incline. Remnants of the railway can be seen including several sleepers. 

Below - The inclined railway crosses a bridge, with rails in place.

Below - Towards the top of the incline the tracks are still in situ. The Black Fell Engine House can be seen at the top of the incline.

Below - What looks like it might have been a stone sleeper from an early waggonway.

Below - Fairly overgrown track around the Black Fell Engine House.

Below - An old Lancashire boiler at the side of the Black Fell Engine House.

Below - Restored winding wheel at the Black Fell Engine House.

Below - The Black Fell Engine House.

Below -  Adjacent to the Black Fell Engine House is the remains of the sidings at the curve of the line next to Mount Moor Colliery (shown as Vale Pit in later maps) in the above map. As well as wagons from Mount Moor having joined the line behind me and to the right, this was the point at which cables were attached and dettached from the Black Fell Incline and the next incline, the Blakhams Hill West Incline to the sumit of the route at Blackhams Hill Engine.

1946 Map (the Bowes Route is the one on the right)

Below - The incline crosses a largely intact level crossing. 

Below - Another level crossing on the Blackhams Hill West incline looking up towards the Engine House.

Below - Overgrown tracks near Blackhams Hill Engine House.

Below - The Blackhams Hill Engine House site is fenced off, it is part of the heritage railway in operatation on this part of the system, though it is some time since trains have reached here and the site has been prone to vandalism. The path takes a detour around the west side of the engine house and the operational section of Bowes Railway. A later chord on the Bowes line takes the line on to the former Ouston & Pelaw Waggonway and a run round loop at the site of a former quarry siding at Wrekenton.

1946 Map

Below - Adjacent to the Bowes Railway's base is a level crossing on Springwell Road, looking south west from the level crossing the track and rollers of the Blackhams Hill East Incline up to Blackhams Hill Engine Engine can be seen

Below - Blue plaque at the site of  Springwell Colliery, now the base of the Bowes Railway which includes many of the workshop buildings.

The northern edge of the Bowes Railway's site is the top of the Springwell Incline, a self acting incline i.e. the weight of loaded wagons descending the incline by gravity hauled empty wagons back up the incline. This is the location where the ropes were attachd and detached at the summit.

Below - Looking down the Springwell incline and sadly we have now lost the rails.

1946 Map

Below - Having descended the Springwell Incline the remaining section of the route to Jarrow was locomotive worked. An engine shed housed locomotives for this level section at Wardley. This still survives, on the above map it is surrounded by fields but is now in the middle of a modern housing estate. This section of the route survived beyond the closure of the previous sections and their associated inclines in 1974, continuing in use primarily to serve Monckton Coke Works until 1986.

1947 Map

Below - Near Wardley Park the Bowes route passes over the disused Leamside line between Newcastle and Washington. Looking from the bridge to the trackbed below, the track of the Leamside line can still be seen. In recent years there have been proposals to reopen this as a local rail route which would free up capacity on the East Coast Main Line. Due to track thefts sections of the route were lifted and this now seems less likely. At the time of writing there are proposals to reopen this route as an extension to the Tyne and Wear Metro, linking in to their existing network at Pelaw and South Hylton.

1897 Map (top left corner of map)

The railway crosses over the Newcastle and Sunderland Railway which is still in use with Tyne & Wear Metro trains and local Northern Rail services. As we get towards Jarrow the area has been largely redeveloped with modern housing and though the railway route survives as a path, there is little to show that this was once a railway connecting local industry.

1947 Map

1917 Map

After passing Beech Street in Jarrow a chord linked to the Newcastle and South Shields railway (now part of the Tyne and Wear Metro system) in the Newcastle direction. The line passed under that route and on to coal staithes on the Tyne and steel works. A Modern industial estate now occupy the site of these.

Below - A Metro service on the South Shields line passes over the former rail route to the Tyneside staiths and steel works.

From here it is a short walk to Jarrow station and a Metro train back to Newcastle.