Hull and Barnsley Railway

Hull and Barnsley Railway

1920 map of the railway
The H&BR armorial device[note 1]
Overview
Headquarters	Kingston upon Hull
Dates of operation	1880–1922
Successors	NER, LNER
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length	106 miles 33 chains (171.3 km) (1919)[1]
Track length	366 miles 30 chains (589.6 km) (1919)[1]
Route map v t e Hull and Barnsley Railway Legend circa 1885–1923 H&BR track Non-H&BR track Hull and Hornsea Railway Hull and Holderness Railway Alexandra Dock Victoria Dock Hull Bridge over River Hull Wilmington Bridge Beverley Road Hull Cannon Street Hull Paragon Hull West Docks Neptune Street Goods Hull West Docks Springhead works H&B Mainline NER Hull-Selby Line Springhead Halt Willerby and Kirk Ella Eppleworth Viaduct 83 ft 25.3 m Little Weighton cutting Little Weighton 2116 yd 1935 m Drewton Tunnel 132 yd 121 m Sugar Loaf Tunnel 132 yd 121 m Weedley Tunnel South Cave North Cave Wallingfen Sandholme North Eastrington NER Hull-Selby Line South Howden Barmby River Ouse swing bridge Drax Abbey Selby to Goole Line Carlton Towers River Aire Aire Junction H&B & Great Central Joint Rly Wakefield, Pontefract & Goole Rly (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) NER Doncaster-Selby Knottingley & Goole Canal Askern Branch Line (L&YR) Kirk Smeaton 1226 yd 1121 m Barnsdale Tunnel South Yorkshire Junction Railway Wrangbrook Junction Upton and North Elmsall Swinton & Knottingley Jt Rly West Riding and Grimsby Railway Hemsworth and South Kirkby Moorhouse and South Elmsall Halt 685 yd 626 m Brierley Tunnel Hickleton and Thurnscoe Halt Dearne Valley Railway Cudworth (NMR platform) Midland Railway Midland Railway Wath Stairfoot Midland Railway to Barnsley

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 (106 kilometres) 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 main line ran from Hull to Cudworth, with two other lines branching off at Wrangbrook Junction, the South Yorkshire Junction Railway to Denaby, and The Hull & South Yorkshire Extension Railway, an eight-mile (thirteen-kilometre) branch to Wath-upon-Dearne, opened 31 March 1902. The company also had joint running powers on the Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway (Gowdall and Braithwell Railway).

Before the Grouping of 1923, the line was taken over by the North Eastern Railway (NER). Following incorporation into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), duplicated infrastructure was closed or reduced in function – notably Cannon Street station and the Springhead Locomotive Works.

Closure of the greater part of the main line itself came during the time of British Railways. As of 2011 the elevated line in Hull with some of the extensions and alterations added by the NER and LNER are still in use and referred to as the Hull Docks Branch and as the Engineer's Line Reference of HJS.^{[note 2]}

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