Rail routes that were powering a region
THE PROSPECT of a group of new coal mines opening in South Yorkshire at the dawn of the 20th century excited a number of railway companies serving Yorkshire but did not lead to them squabbling over establishing railway lines in the area. Instead, five of them joined together amicably, forming the South Yorkshire Joint Committee in 1903 to create one line - the South Yorkshire Joint Line (SYJ). The companies involved were the Great Central Railway (GCR), Great Northern Railway (GNR), the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y), the Midland Railway (MR), and the North Eastern Railway (NER). Two directors from each of the five railway companies sat on the SYJ committee.
The SYJ line began at Dinnington Junction and travelled in a north easterly direction to Kirk Sandall Junction. Work to build the line was put out for tender and there was a response from over 20 contractors. Eventually, the work was awarded to Whitaker Bros of Horsforth, Leeds, with a bid of just over £235,000. The consultant engineer was Edward Parry; the resident engineer Lloyd Roberts.
Construction work started at the Dinnington end during November 1905. There was a spur into Dinnington colliery (opened about the same time) and that was the only colliery connected to the system at the outset. Navvies excavating cuttings and building embankments toiled long hours from 6.00 am to 5pm for a pittance of £1 a week. In use were a number of steam excavators helping to move tons of rock and soil each day into some 400 tipper wagons hauled by 14 contractor’s locomotives. The excavators were particularly useful in a long cutting from Dinnington to Brookhouse where heavy excavations were necessary. A five span skew lattice viaduct at Brookhouse, over a small stream in a large valley, used 300 tons of steel and 1.5 million bricks.
The route, largely skirting built-up areas, led through Maltby where a branch into Maltby colliery was to be established by 1910. Later connections to both Firbeck and Haworth collieries were made. After running through Tickhill, the line crossed over the L&Y’s Dearne Valley line (DVR) and the GNR’s East Coast Main Line via viaducts at Black Carr, a few miles south of Doncaster. There was a viaduct with twelve 28ft spans and a centre span of 60ft over the GNR line; and a viaduct over the DVR of three spans of 39ft each. The cost of the viaducts was an estimated £15,000. It was found necessary to construct a bank three-and-ahalf miles long to carry the line over the GNR and DVR. However, a series of connections, including fly-overs and bridges, around Black Carr, linked the SYJ to these lines, and was made possible by several signal boxes amongst them being at Low Ellers and St Catherine’s. Additional signal boxes along the entire line could be found at Dinnington, Maltby and Tickhill stations. Signal men worked a 12hr day for a weekly wage of £1.05.
From Black Carr, the SYJ ran beneath the A1/Great North Road at Bessacarr, through to Armthorpe where Markham colliery would be connected in the 1920s before ending at Kirk Sandall Junction on the GCR’s Doncaster to Hull line. This gave access to eastern destinations and ports. At the southern end, access was gained to the MR and GCR tracks from Sheffield and Retford.
The total cost of the line and buildings amounted to £410,871 - each one of the five companies having contributed £87,500. A Board of Trade inspection occurred September 1908 and the line opened for freight, largely coal traffic, on January 1, 1909. Over the next few years the growth in coal traffic using the SYJ was considerable and proved very profitable for all five railway companies within the organisation.
Although mainly intended for mineral workings, passengers were eventually carried on the line. Three railway stations were positioned at Dinnington (named Dinnington and Laughton), Maltby and Tickhill (situated mid-way between Tickhill and Wadworth); the latter two were built at a cost of over £43,00 by F.J. Salmon & Co. All three were similarly built red brick structures, the principal buildings being on the east side of the line.
The station masters at Dinnington and Maltby received £105 per annum; the Tickhill one £90. The SYJ traffic inspector based at Dinnington received a salary of £200.
The decision to operate passenger services took some time to come to fruition but eventually arrived on June 20, 1910 albeit when two excursion trains ran on the SYJ - one a miners’ excursion from Dinnington to Doncaster in connection with a Rally, the other a well-packed Sunday School trip from Dinnington to Cleethorpes. It was not until December 1, 1910 that the first regular passenger services began from all three stations between Doncaster and Shireoaks, using first and third class coaches.
The frequency of services was reduced from four to three after about a year as money was being lost, and for a few days in 1911 they came to a halt completely due to a national rail strike. Nonetheless, revenue from passenger and freight trains grew once industry became fully established in the areas along the route.
A number of picture postcards record initial passenger service movements, particularly at Tickhill, where noted photographer George Crossland lived and was on hand to capture scenes.
The SYJ did not have its own stable of locomotives so each one of the five railway companies provided their own. For passenger services a 4-4-2 tank engine was often used whilst for mineral traffic locomotives were usually of the 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 wheel arrangement types. A little later the 2-8-0 variety found much work hauling trains of about
40 or sometimes more loaded wagons. Water supplies for the steam locomotives were available
at Cantley Bridge, Dinnington colliery and Maltby colliery. Once seen behind the locomotives hauling coal trains was the long rakes of private owner wagons, many displaying hand painted lettering denoting particular ownership.
Unfortunately, passenger services stuttered to a halt at all three stations during the 1920s, unable to cope with being badly positioned and competition from trolley and motor buses. At Dinnington & Laughton and Maltby closure to passengers first came during April 1926 then they reopened on July 25, 1927 only to close again on December 2 1929.
At Tickhill & Wadworth (Wadworth added from July 1, 1911) the station closed during April 1926, reopened on July 25, 1927 then closed July 8, 1929. All the station buildings have since been demolished.
In spite of a closure to passenger traffic, the SYJ continued to be very much alive as a coal carrying line whilst two passenger excursions ran over the line in 1952 and 1953. The first was organised by the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society the other by the Gainsborough Model Railway Society.
The closure of collieries at Dinnnington, Maltby, Firbeck, and Haworth has meant infrequent use of the SYJ. Earlier in February this year, Alexander Stafford, Tory MP for Rother Valley, was vocal in suggesting the SYJ could be adapted to carry passengers once more. He said: ‘The South Yorkshire Joint Railway is the perfect opportunity for the Government to invest in reopening passenger services on a line that offers huge potential for improving connectivity, reducing carbon emissions and providing greater access to opportunities for residents...with the demand for freight use on the line having fallen significantly, now is the ideal time to give residents in Maltby, Laughton Common, Dinnington, and North and South Anston greatly improved transport link’.
■ Further reading available: B.J. Elliott The South Yorkshire Joint Railway and the Coalfield (2002)
Unfortunately, passenger services stuttered to a halt at all three stations during the 1920s.