Pontefract line

The route

History

• 1 April 1848: the Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway, 27 miles in length, opened. This line passed through and served Knottingley, which was then producing some 65 000 tons of burnt lime a year, mainly used for agricultural and building purposes.
• February 1854 the Great Northern Railway and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway jointly administered Knottingley station.
• August 1850: Knottingley to Burton Salmon line opened. Trains were able to run from London to York via Knottingley, which was the station to change to and from trains into the heart of the West Riding, and so it became a major junction.
• May 1879: The Swinton and Knottingley Railway, connecting Sheffield and York via Pontefract, opened; Ferrybridge station opened three years later.

• Leeds – Methley: Midland Railway
• Methley – Pontefract – Goole: L&YR
• Wakefield Westgate station was joint GNR)/L&YR
• Wakefield – Pontefract : L&YR

  Description of route

Leeds–Goole

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• here is Methley Junction, where lines of the MidR, L&YR and the Great Northern Railway converged.
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• : junction with Wakefield line
• : joint L&YR/GNR station. The Dearne Valley line has a junction at this point; there is also the Askern branch line for Doncaster
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• runs under East Coast Main Line
• : junction for the Hull and Barnsley Railway ; and the joint GCR/HBR line crossed the line about a mile further east
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• Oakhills Junction with the Selby–Goole line closed in 1964

• Wakefield–Pontefract

• ' : the station was jointly owned by GCR and GNR; to the south was the West Riding and Grimsby Joint Railway
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• leaving Wakefield there were a large number of junctions between there and Crofton
• there were two stations on this line serving Crofton and Sharlston
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• ' where the Leeds line joins