The Hull and Doncaster Branch is a secondary main railway line in England, connecting Kingston upon Hull to South Yorkshire and beyond via a branch from the Selby Line near Gilberdyke to a connection to the Doncaster–Barnetby line at a junction near Thorne 8 miles north-east of Doncaster.
The line was sanctioned by parliament in 1864, and opened in 1869; much of the line is flat, with extensive straight sections; the crossing of the River Ouse required a major bridge, the Skelton Viaduct (or Goole swing bridge). There are two minor stations on the line and ; the present Goole railway station was also created as part of the line, replacing an earlier terminus in the docks.
Description
The Hull and Doncaster Line is a railway running from Staddlethorpe junction (also known as Giberdyke junction) on the Hull and Selby Line south-west past to the River Ouse crossing by the Skelton Viaduct swing bridge near Skelton and then making an end on junction at Goole railway station.
At Goole the line diverges south-west passing over the westward running line of the former Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway (WP&GR); Knottingley and Goole Canal (Aire and Calder); and the Dutch River, then passing Thorne and crossing the Stainforth and Keadby Canal section of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, connecting with the Barnsley to Barnetby Line at Thorne junction. The line then ran to Doncaster over the Barnsley to Barnetby branch line to Doncaster.
As of 2014 Network Rail classes the line as a secondary route, part of the SRS H.08 set of route which include Goole-Knottingley and Moorthorpe-Knottingley-Church Fenton lines. The line is double tracked, with the exception of the junction at Thorne. The line code is TJG: TJG1 Thorne junction to Thorne is ; and TJG2, Gilberdyke junction to Thorne North, . Route availability is 8 or 9, with loading gauge W6 to W9, the linespeed mostly .
The line is used for both passenger and freight trains, with an average of two passenger trains per hour.
History
Background
Early proposals for a line connecting Hull to Doncaster included the Hull, Sheffield and Midland Direct Railway, promoted in 1845, which was for a line from the Hull and Selby Line near Gilberdyke, crossing the Ouse near Goole by a tunnel, then via Thorne and Kirk Sandall to Doncaster, then west to a junction with the North Midland Railway (Midland Railway) near Wath upon Dearne. This was abandoned by 1846. Another scheme, the Hull, Goole and Doncaster Railway was promoted in 1855 to connect South Yorkshire coalfields to Hull.
In 1860 another scheme, called the 'Hull and Doncaster Railway', was submitted to parliament. The line was to run from the Thorne branch of the South Yorkshire Railway (SYR) to a junction with the Hull and Selby Railway east of Staddlethorpe station. Both the SYR and Great Northern Railway (GNR) were to have running powers to Hull over the line. The North Eastern Railway (NER) persuaded the original promoters to withdraw the scheme on the understanding that the NER would promote and build a similar line.
The NER submitted a scheme for a railway connecting Doncaster (South Yorkshire) and Hull via a line from Staddlethorpe to Hull; the NER's line face three other rival schemes: the independently promoted Hull and West Riding Junction Railway; and lines from south Yorkshire towards Hull promoted by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR), and by the SYR, the 'Hull and West Riding Junction' scheme was withdrawn at an early stage, the remaining three schemes undertook and expensive three-way battle in parliament for an enabling act. The NER's scheme was passed by the House of Commons but defeated in the House of Lords.
In the next session of parliament (1862/3) the NER reached an agreement with the SYR and Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railways (MSLR, then lessor of the SYR from 1861) not to oppose the bill, in exchange for mutual running powers over the two companies' lines between Hull and Doncaster. The NER also reached an agreement with the L&YR, who had a rival bill in parliament, with both companies agreeing running powers on each other's routes to Normanton, and mutual running powes to Hull, and to Barnsley. The NER's scheme was submitted in 1862, and in the same session the SYR submitted a bill with clauses enabling it to modify a previously permitted line from Doncaster to Thorne (South Yorkshire Railway Act, 1862.) to add a junction and branch north to near the Selby-Bawtry turnpike, north-west of the town of Thorne.