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Dearne Valley line
Pacer unit at Pontefract Baghill
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	North Yorkshire South Yorkshire West Yorkshire
Termini	Sheffield York
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Dearne Valley line
Legend
East Coast Main Line York (1841) York York city walls York Racecourse Holgate Sidings Dringhouses Yard ECML (old route) Copmanthorpe East Coast Main Line Bolton Percy Ulleskelf Harrogate branch Church Fenton Cross Country Route Sherburn-in-Elmet Selby Line Milford Junction Monk Fryston Burton Salmon to Castleford Ferrybridge Pontefract line to Pontefract Monkhill Pontefract Baghill Ackworth Hull and Barnsley Railway Wakefield line Moorthorpe Frickley Thurnscoe Dearne Valley Railway Goldthorpe Hull and Barnsley Railway Bolton-upon-Dearne North Midland Railway South Yorkshire Railway Swinton–Doncaster line Swinton Kilnhurst West to Mexborough Aldwarke Junction Parkgate and Aldwarke Parkgate and Rawmarsh Rotherham Parkgate Rotherham Road Rotherham Masborough Rotherham Central Rotherham Westgate Sheffield Supertram Midland Main Line (Old Road) Holmes South Yorkshire Railway Hallam line Sheffield Supertram Meadowhall Brightside Sheffield District Railway Grimesthorpe Bridge Sheffield Wicker Attercliffe Road Woodhead line Sheffield–Lincoln line Sheffield Midland Main Line

The Dearne Valley line is the name given to a railway line in the north of England running from York to Sheffield via Pontefract Baghill and Moorthorpe. The route was built over several years and consists of lines built by several railway companies.

History

The northernmost section of the route was opened in stages by the fledgling York and North Midland Railway (Y&NM), a company which belonged to the railway empire of George Hudson. York to Sherburn Junction was completed in 1839 to form a link with the Leeds and Selby Railway, which was later taken over by the Y&NM. This section includes Ulleskelf, Church Fenton and Sherburn-in-Elmet stations, as well as the former station sites at Copmanthorpe (closed 1959) and Bolton Percy (closed 1965).

Y&NM extended the line to Altofts Junction in 1840 to meet the new North Midland Railway as part of a new route from York to London St Pancras via Normanton, Swinton, Chesterfield and Derby. Stations on this section were Milford (closed 1904), Monk Fryston (closed 1959) and Burton Salmon (also closed in 1959), where the present route diverges. The next section, from Burton Salmon to Ferrybridge, was completed in 1850 to form a link between York and Knottingley; Ferrybridge station closed in 1965.

From Ferrybridge, the route takes up the course of the Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway, constructed in 1879. The first station encountered is Pontefract Baghill, which remains open today, before the line reaches a closed station at Ackworth (last served in 1951), then the station at Moorthorpe. The small hamlet of Frickley saw its station close in 1953, but two new stations at Thurnscoe and Goldthorpe were opened in 1986. These are primarily served by Wakefield Line trains; the two Dearne Valley line trains a day pass through without stopping. Finally, the S&KJR's Bolton-on-Dearne station has remained open throughout.

Beyond Bolton-on-Dearne the line joins the North Midland's route to the south, opened in 1840 and serving Swinton, a new station here replacing that closed in 1967 and Kilnhurst West (also closed in 1967).

At Aldwarke Junction the route diverges from the North Midland via a junction constructed by British Rail and opened in 1965. Here it joins the former Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway line, part of a link between two branch lines opened many years earlier by the South Yorkshire Railway. This section once had stations at Parkgate and Aldwarke (closed 1951) and at Rotherham Road (closed 1953), before reaching the former Rotherham Central re-opened, slightly nearer the College Road bridge, in 1987 by British Rail. Leaving Rotherham Central we take the "Holmes Chord", a single line to Holmes Junction where we take to the rails of the Sheffield & Rotherham company, which opened its line in 1838 and which once served Holmes (closed in 1955), Meadowhall (a new station opened in 1991), Wincobank (closed 1956), Brightside (closed 1994) and Attercliffe Road (closed 1994), before arriving at Sheffield. The section between Holmes Junction, adjacent to the station and Grimesthorpe Junction is the oldest section of the route.

Electrification

Electrification of the section between Colton junction and Church Fenton is underway. Two bridges were raised to create room for overhead wires in April 2015. This work was due to be complete by 2023, but this was impacted by delays. The work was completed and the first train ran between the two stations in September 2024.

Current services

Services which operate over the entire length of the route are provided by Northern Trains. Freight trains also regularly use the route.

Northern services, usually make just three round trips daily, from Sheffield to York calling at Meadowhall Interchange, Rotherham Central, Swinton, Moorthorpe, Pontefract Baghill, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Church Fenton and Ulleskelf. However, the summer 2022 timetable has buses replacing trains, and the services only operating between Moorthorpe and York. Several lines across Yorkshire had their services either cut, or replaced by buses, with Northern attributing the problem to a lack of drivers and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This service was more frequent in the 1970s and 1980s (e.g. the 1988 timetable had seven trains per day in each direction Mon-Sat, including a summer only through service to and from Scarborough, and four each way on Sundays), but since a major round of cutbacks in 1991 (due to a shortage of rolling stock) the service frequency has gradually declined.

The northern part of the route as far as Colton Junction is used by all Edinburgh to London King's Cross expresses, as well as the numerous CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Northern York to Leeds workings which continue as far as Church Fenton. Sherburn-in-Elmet is served by some York–Selby/Hull trains which diverge from the route at Sherburn South Junction, but beyond this point the only passenger trains are the infrequent Sheffield–York local services, until Moorthorpe is reached.

Overall, the effect of this is that there are only three departures in each direction from Pontefract Baghill per day, although there are two other stations in Pontefract (Pontefract Monkhill and Tanshelf). The line is however a busy freight artery (particularly with bulk loads of imported coal for the power stations at Ferrybridge, Eggbrough and Drax and also further afield in the East Midlands) and also a useful diversionary route, which ensures its continuing survival.

In 2017, the section through Rotherham Central was adapted for use by Sheffield Supertram, the light rail network that operates within Sheffield. Supertram is operating a pilot tram-train service over the route, testing the feasibility of such an operation. This is initially intended to run for two years, with an extension of the operation should it prove successful. It involved the construction of a new chord between the National Rail line and Supertram's own network, with a tram platform built at Rotherham Central and a short siding to serve the Rotherham Parkgate tram stop terminus with the extension electrified. It opened on 25 October 2018.

References

1. Hoole 1986, p. 30.
2. Hoole 1985, pp. 154, 159.
3. Cookson & Chapman 2003, p. 4.
4. Chapman, Stephen (2002). Selby & Goole. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. pp. 46, 47. ISBN 1-871233-14-3.
5. Cookson & Chapman 2003, p. 56.
6. Grant, Donald J. (2017). Directory of the railway companies of Great Britain. Kibworth Beauchamp: Troubadour. p. 551. ISBN 1788037685.
7. Burgess, Neil (2014). The lost railways of Yorkshire's West Riding. The central section : Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield. Catrine: Stenlake. p. 84. ISBN 9781840336573.
8. Kelman, Leanne (2020). Brailsford, Martyn (ed.). Railway track diagrams, books 2 - eastern (5 ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. 35A. ISBN 978-1-9996271-3-3.
9. Batty, Stephen R. (1991). Doncaster. Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 133. ISBN 0-7110-2004-3.
10. Burgess, Neil (2014). The lost railways of Yorkshire's West Riding : Barnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and the south. Catrine, Ayrshire: Stenlake. p. 46. ISBN 9781840336566.
11. "Bridge replacements works mark the start of the Trans Pennine electrification project – VolkerRail". VolkerRail. 17 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
12. "Find out about work to improve the railway in Church Fenton and Ulleskelf". RailAdvent. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
13. "First TRU electric trains complete test runs in North Yorkshire". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
14. Table 30 National Rail timetable, May 2022
15. Spereall, David (21 January 2022). "'If we were in leafy Harrogate this wouldn't be happening': Five Towns fury over axed train services". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
16. "Sheffield to Rotherham tram-train – Everything you need to know". Retrieved 16 October 2018.

Sources

• Body, Geoffrey (1989). Railways of the Eastern Region. Wellingborough: P. Stephens. ISBN 1-85260-072-1.
• Cookson, Peter; Chapman, Stephen (2003). Pontefract, Castleford & Knottingley. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. ISBN 1-871233-15-1.
• Hoole, K. (1985). Railway stations of the North East. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8527-5.
• Hoole, K. (1986). The North East (3 ed.). Newton Abbot: David St John Thomas. ISBN 0946537313.<

Literature

• Rail Atlas: Great Britain & Ireland, by S. K. Baker
• The Railways of Great Britain: A Historical Atlas, by Colonel Michael H. Cobb

v t e Railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber
Primary	To London East Coast Main Line Midland Main Line To Exeter Cross Country Route
Others	Inter-regional Hallam Line Hope Valley line Leeds–Morecambe line Doncaster–Lincoln line Northallerton–Eaglescliffe line Sheffield–Lincoln line Settle–Carlisle line Intra-regional Airedale line Askern branch line Barton line Calder Valley line Dearne Valley line Esk Valley line Harrogate line Huddersfield line Hull–Scarborough Leeds–Bradford lines Leeds–Northallerton railway Penistone Line Pontefract line Selby Diversion Selby Line South Humberside Main Line Stocksbridge Railway Swinton–Doncaster Wakefield line Wharfedale line York–Scarborough
Defunct	Barnsley–Doncaster Beeston Junction–Hunslet Goods railway Bradford–Leeds & Wakefield Brockholes–Holmfirth Clayton West branch Dearne Valley Railway Gilling and Pickering Harrogate–Church Fenton Harrogate Gasworks Railway Huddersfield–Kirkburton Hull–Barnsley (Cudworth) Hull and Holderness Hull and Hornsea Knaresborough–York Leeds–Harrogate Low Moor–Mirfield Malton–Driffield Middlesbrough–Guisborough Middlesbrough–Guisborough–Normanby Huddersfield–Bradford Lockwood–Meltham Nunthorpe–Battersby Otley–Ilkley Pilmoor–Knaresborough Queensbury lines Rosedale Railway Royston to Thornhill Scarborough–Whitby Seamer–Pickering Selby–Driffield Selby–Goole Shipley Great Northern Railway branch line Sowerby Bridge–Rishworth Skipton–Grassington Skipton–Ilkley Spurn railway Thirsk and Malton line Wetherby–Cross Gates (Leeds) Whitby–Loftus Woodhead line York–Market Weighton–Beverley York–York (Foss Island)
Heritage	Derwent Valley Light Railway Elsecar Heritage Railway Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Middleton Railway North Bay Railway North Yorkshire Moors Railway Wensleydale Railway
Light railways	Colsterdale Light Railway Nidd Valley Light Railway North Holderness Light Railway Sand Hutton Light Railway Whistlestop Valley

• Rail transport in North Yorkshire
• Rail transport in South Yorkshire
• Rail transport in West Yorkshire
• Rail transport in Sheffield
• Rail transport in York
• Railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber