When London was over six hours away
DONCASTER railway station has played an important role on the East Coast Main Line system for over 170 years. This has been a great advantage for the town as, originally, the Great Northern Railway Company planned to extend the London to York line via Lincoln, Gainsborough and Selby and miss out Doncaster.
Fortunately, Doncaster MP Edmund Becket Denison was able to persuade the GNR to extend the route through Peterborough, Grantham , Retford and Doncaster to York.
During April 1848, reports stated works on the GNR’s line in the Doncaster area were proceeding satisfactorily. A temporary wooden station structure was in place by early September. It was gas-lit and comprised a booking office and ladies’ waiting rooms, along with platforms 450ft long and 18ft wide. On September 21, a short section of the GNR’s line stretching northwards from Doncaster was opened.
The first train left the Doncaster station at around 7.30am for Stockbridge (later named Arksey), Askern and other stations to Knottingley etc. No formal opening took place, but the platforms and station were visited by a great number of people. A band played on the arrival and departure of some of the trains.
On September 4, 1849, the opening of the GNR line southwards to Retford took place. Thus race-goers from the south were able to travel by train for the first time to the St Leger race meeting and return home on the same day. A connection from Doncaster station to the west side of the country was established on November 10, 1849 when a line was opened for traffic to Swinton station. A line continued eastwards from Doncaster in later years.
The temporary Doncaster station was replaced by a permanent structure before September 17, the day the 1850 race meeting began. The layout of the station included several sheds for locomotives, carriages and warehousing, besides two ladies’ waiting rooms, offices and refreshment facilities.
Passengers travelling to the St Leger race week brought chaos to Doncaster station. One report from 1850 said: “The station yard comprises an immense area, and about it thousands of human beings were scampering as thick as mites in a Stilton cheese, whilst ‘puffing billies’, as the Yorkshiremen term locomotive engines, were screaming, whistling, snorting and flying up and down, hither and thither, some by themselves, and others with tails of carriages as long as the Sea Serpent, for all the world like so many iron monsters seized with a fit of frenzy; the din raised jointly by them and the populace baffles all description. To hear oneself speak was impossible; to avoid being knocked by a burly ‘grinder’, or crushed to atoms by a locomotive engine, was to be regarded as a miraculous escape.”
In later years, to cope with the town’s race traffic Cherry Tree station and St James’ Bridge station were brought in operation to the west of Doncaster station.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, along with the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess Royal and the Princess Alice, alighted and departed from the new station on August 27/28, 1851 as they broke their journey whilst travelling from London to Scotland. This was the first time the Queen had travelled on the new GNR line. On arrival at Doncaster station, just after 6pm, ladies waved their handkerchiefs, gentlemen cheered with hats in hands and hordes of children were also vocal; the main station entrance was covered with crimson cloth. The royal party stayed overnight at the town’s Angel Hotel.
During 1877 the GNR directors were contemplating extensive alterations to Doncaster station, which had long been inadequate to the extensive traffic passing through. In 1880, the GNR announced to shareholders that it would be spending £2,115 (over £255,000 today) on “the enlargement of station buildings at Doncaster down side”.
In the first decade of the 20th century, severe congestion had been building up for some time caused by the Great Central Railway Company’s lines running from Manchester to Hull and Immingham criss-crossing over the GNR’s tracks, running north to south at Doncaster.
At that time, it was estimated that around 700 trains passed through the town every 24 hours. The efficient flow of rail traffic was compounded by a level crossing just north of the town’s railway station and this was not eased until the building of the North Bridge in 1911. Thus, Grand Central desperately needed a line which avoided the Doncaster station area. An Act of Parliament in 1903 set the ball rolling and, in time, the company obtained permission, to construct an avoiding line, running round Doncaster station.
The new line took a spur north eastwards from Grand Central’s main Sheffield to Doncaster tracks at Hexthorpe junction, leapt across the River Don, passed through Sprotbrough, and vaulted York Road and the GNR’s main line near Bentley, and carried on eastwards to join Grand Central’s DoncasterGrimsby line. The route opened for goods and mineral traffic on July 25, 1910 and for passenger traffic four days later.
Two years later, royalty was seen at Doncaster station once more when King George V and Queen Mary arrived in the town on July 8, to begin a tour of Yorkshire’s industrial district. At the station the King and Queen were received by the mayor and one or two notable local people were presented.
“Not before time” was the local and colloquial comment on the announcement during February 1936 by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) company that Doncaster station was to undergo extensive alterations. It was mentioned that Doncaster was one of the busiest railway junctions in the country.
The reconstruction of the station was intended to remove the bad bottleneck on the LNER main line to Scotland. It would be one of the most up to date in the country with a modern layout of booking hall, waiting and refreshment rooms. The signal system would be remodelled and a new track laid. The provision of an island platform was to make possible an additional “up” running line, which was intended to eliminate any delay in dealing with simultaneous passenger traffic from the Hull, York and Leeds areas.
The station continued to be redeveloped after the war with additional new signalling and the introduction of electrification on the East Coast Main Line.
Doncaster station has witnessed the demise of steam and the introduction of diesel electric locomotives. During the last 30 years the journey time to London has been slashed to around 100 minutes, something unimaginable in Queen Victoria’s day – her trip, almost 170 years earlier, had taken over six hours.
The station now has nine platforms on three islands and the annual passenger usage is just under four million. The station booking hall and offices were listed Grade II in April 1988. In 2006 a new interchange and connection to Frenchgate Centre opened.
At the beginning of 2020 work began on redeveloping the entrance to the train station and forecourt.
Thousands of human beings were scampering as thick as mites in a Stilton cheese.