In full, the Hull, Barnsley and West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company.
Construction (1880–1885) For construction of the line Parliament authorised a share issue of £3,000,0000 and loans of £1,000,000. The engineer for the main line was
William Shelford, whilst
Stephen Best was responsible for the Hull section, and
Benjamin Baker designed the Alexandra Dock. The contractors were Messrs.
Lucas and Aird. The line was one of the earlier built with the aid of
steam navvies. Around 8,000 navvies, including both Scots and Irish as well as English, were employed in the constructions, the largest concentration of which was to be found at
Riplingham (near to the Drewton tunnel). The average wage was 15 shillings for a 58-hour week. The
Weedley Tunnel was not originally planned; the track was to skirt the hill to the south. However unstable ground meant that the line tunnelled through the hill instead. The South Kirby tunnel passed through
Magnesian Limestone to reach the lower beds of sandstone, and clay. Excavation of tunnels and cuttings included the practice of tunnelling into the rock, placing charges, then moving up the contractors wagons and detonating the charges so that the blasted rock would fall into the wagons. One of the notable features of the line was the number of bridges it required, a result of the elevated nature of the Hull section where it crossed roads, waterways, and the line of the NER. Additionally, being built after the
Railway Mania of the 1840s it had to cross numerous already existent lines in southern Yorkshire. Over one hundred bridges were required, with over 20 within the urban area of Hull alone. The majority (eighty eight) of the bridges were of plate girder construction with usually three plate sides (one central) supporting cross-beams on which the track was supported. For longer spans a girder "N" truss design was used These larger bridges incorporate rollers on one end to allow for the thermal expansion of the bridge. Stations were built in the English Queen Anne revival style – with decorative external brick courses between floors and brick lintels; minor embellishments on other brick structures such as bridge buttresses roughly echoed the same style. In July 1884 work stopped for five months, The line terminated in Hull at three main points:
Alexandra Dock; for import and export of goods by sea,
Cannon Street station (a goods station and also the passenger terminus), and
Neptune Street goods station, the main goods terminus. The HB&WRJR&DCo's main asset was Alexandra Dock. At the time of its construction it was the largest in Britain at and was expanded by in 1889. The entrance lock was long at wide. Two
graving docks, one long and wide, the other a little bigger were also built at the north-east corner of the dock. Its primary purpose was the export of coal; in the opposite direction pit props, as well as cut wood were transported. Distances on the line (mileposts) were measured from Alexandra Dock, and the up direction was from Hull to Barnsley. From here the track rose, joining the embankment, and crossed Hedon Road, beginning its curved route round Hull by numerous bridges, crossing roads, drains, and the North Eastern Railway's own track, the first major crossing after Hedon Road being the NER's
Hull to Withernsea Line. Next was a minor goods yard situated at Burleigh Street, then the Foredyke Stream (a drainage canal) and the NER's
Hull to Hornsea Line were crossed close together. The line then crossed the River Hull at the Hull Bridge, and then branches (from the down direction) serving Sculcoates goods yard (southward) and the British Gas Light Company's gas works (northward). Westward from Sculcoates goods yard a spur ran backwards to serve Hull Corporation's own electricity power plant (opened 1895). After Sculcoates junction and the
Beverley and Barmston Drain came Beverley Road junction where the line from Cannon Street station coming from the south-east joined the westward-travelling main line. Lack of funds, and the expense of purchasing expensive real estate in the centre of the town meant that Cannon Street became the main terminus. The station was in one of the most densely populated areas of the town, close to the river and its associated seed oil and varnish works, the buildings being quickly constructed of wood, and surrounded by the company's own coal yards, all of which would have given a poor impression compared with the facilities offered by the NER. (locally known as "five arches"). From here the line rose to Little Weighton station via a deep cutting. Then the line reached a high point of after inclines of up to 1 in 100 before entering the
Drewton Tunnel after which the descent grade was 1 in 150 for , passing through
Sugar Loaf Tunnel and
Weedley Tunnel further west, both shorter tunnels of , and then South Cave and North Cave stations. Less than south-west of Aire junction a westward junction (Gowdall junction) connected the H&BR to the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) at Hensall junction via a short chord. The main line continued south-west and crossed over the same L&Y line (the
Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway then owned by the L&YR). About further on the line crossed over the NER main line to Selby (the former
East Coast Main Line via
Shaftholme and
Selby. The line then crossed the
Knottingley and Goole Canal, then went over another L&YR line (connecting Knottingley to Shaftholme junction) before arriving in
Kirk Smeaton station. After
Upton the line crossed over the
Swinton and Knottingley joint line (
Midland and
North Eastern railways), shortly after a branch west from Hemsworth East junction connected the line to the
West Riding and Grimsby joint line which was operated by the
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire (
after 1897 the Great Central) and
Great Northern railways; which was then passed over by the continuation of the H&BR main line. The next station was Hemsworth. The westernmost of the two main branches crossed the Midland Line by girder truss bridge, then a spur to
Monk Bretton station left west, whilst the final part of the line continued to Stairfoot junction where it joined the Great Central Main Line. The easterly branch ran to
Cudworth station where there was a platform, but no connection. An amalgamation by the NER itself was then proposed, which would have included the NER paying off the HB&WRJR&DCo.'s debts; this scheme too was rejected. After exiting receivership, the fortunes of the Hull and Barnsley recovered and it began to pay reasonable dividends on ordinary stock. In 1905 the Hull Barnsley and West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company officially changed its name to the shorter Hull and Barnsley Railway. The same year running powers were obtained and a junction made with the
Dearne Valley Railway. The site was served by a siding from Ella Street on the H&BR line, as well as being accessed by a siding from the NER on the Hull to Bridlington line, forming a non-official line link between the networks of H&BR and NER. Construction of the new dock – "
King George V Dock" – was completed by 1914. • Cudworth • Hensall •
Springhead engine shed, Hull •
Alexandra Dock engine shed (Hull) • Bullcroft • Denaby • Millhouses • Doncaster York Road • Wrangbrook
Accidents and incidents • On 23 December 1903, a passenger train collided with wagons on the line at Springhead Junction, Hull. Locomotive No.34 with a train of 5 four wheel carriages and a fish van ran into the back of a formation of a brake van and 11 loaded mineral wagons which had detached unnoticed from an earlier train due to a broken coupling. The driver was seriously injured, passengers reported only minor injuries. • At around midnight 25 September 1907 the boiler of F2 locomotive No. 109 exploded. The train was halted whilst the fireman was collecting a signal token before
Wrangbrook Junction near
Wath when the boiler exploded. The driver, John Edward Brook, was blown by the blast and was badly scalded and injured; he was taken to Beckett Hospital in Barnsley but died four days later. An inquest was held, where a boiler specialist reported that 30 stays had given way – the stays had been over repaired without replacement; it was noted that suspect stays had been reported in March, and that a boilersmith had previously warned the stays required replacement. A verdict of accidental death was returned, on the basis of an error of judgement having been made.
Rolling stock and vessels Locomotives The H&BR never manufactured any of its own locomotives, all being built elsewhere. The first types in use were to the design of
W. Kirtley (Locomotive Superintendent of the
London, Chatham and Dover Railway) who was acting as a consultant.
Matthew Stirling (son of
Patrick Stirling of
'Stirling Single' fame) was the first and only Locomotive Superintendent of the H&BR during its independence, and who undertook the rebuilding of some of Mr. Kirtley's designs, as well as contracting the construction of his own designs to various builders. His locomotives were typically domeless, and many of the original Kirtley engines were also rebuilt without domes. Kirtley's locomotives were painted black with grey lining. Matthew Stirling subtly modified the livery – using
invisible green (black except in bright sunlight) produced from a 50:50 mixture of 'drop black' and '
brunswick green'. Lining was of broad stripes of blue (
ultramarine) with red (
vermilion) edges. The 2-4-0 and 0-6-0 tender locomotives procured by Kirtley carried a small cursive monogram of the letters "HB&WRJR", other locomotives carried the initials "H&BR".
Rolling stock Initially the railway used 2-axle coaches, by the time services to Sheffield were introduced the company had 4-axle composite corridor coaches on bogies. Most of the rolling stock was for freight; in 1923 the company had 4,808 freight wagons of which over 3,000 were open wagons. Additionally the company possessed a snow plough, since the cuttings in the Yorkshire Wolds were prone to drifts when snow occurred.
Ships and watercraft The company operated a number of vessels in relation to the construction, operation and maintenance of the
Alexandra Dock; those vessels included: •
Alexandra – tug built by
Earle's shipbuilding of Hull in 1885. •
Barnsley – tug – a sister of "Alexandra" built in 1886 but not by the same builder. •
Hull – tug built by
J. P. Rennoldson of South Shields in 1898. • "H.& B.R. No. 1", "H.& B.R. No. 2" and "H.& B.R. No. 3" – static dumb dredgers. • "H.& B.R. No. 4" – built by Jonkeers of
Kinderdijk in 1914; grab dredger engined by Earle's of Hull. Transferred to N.E.R in 1922 and renamed "N.E.R Grab No. 4" and to the L.N.E.R. in 1923. Renamed "H. & B.R. Dredger No. 4" in 1938 and ownership changed again in 1948 to the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive and then to
B.T. Docks Board. Eventually sold to Italian interests and broken up in 1963. ==History 1922–present==