The line between Swinton and Ferrybridge was jointly owned by the North Eastern and Midland Railways and later was jointly worked by their successors the
London and North Eastern Railway and the
London Midland and Scottish Railway. The line was authorised by the '''''' (
37 & 38 Vict. c. cxxxiii) and opened on 1 May 1879, with stations at
Ferrybridge (1882),
Pontefract Baghill,
Ackworth (1 July 1879),
Moorthorpe,
Frickley and
Bolton-on-Dearne (1 July 1879). {{boxquote|A railway fifteen miles five furlongs five chains and eight yards in length, commencing in the township and parish of Adwick-upon-Dearne, in the west riding of the county of York, by a junction near Swinton with the Midland Railway, and terminating in the township of Ferry Fryston or Ferrybridge and parish of Ferry Fryston, in the said west riding, by a junction near Knottingley with the Knottingley branch of the North-eastern Railway. The route is now the central section of the
Dearne Valley Line between York and Sheffield and is operated by
Northern. The section from Swinton to Moorthorpe is part of the line from Sheffield to Leeds, known as the
Wakefield Line, since the closure of the
North Midland route via due to mining subsidence in 1985. ==References==