Beighton Junction

Beighton Junction is a set of railway junctions near Beighton on the border between Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, England.

Scope

The term Beighton Junction has been used in a narrow sense to encompass either one, two or three junctions, according to author's purposes, or even as a shorthand for Beighton Junction Signalbox.

The narrowest possible scope concerns the original Beighton Junction, which, essentially, stands today, i.e.:

• the single, core junction of a pair of lines east from Sheffield and a pair south from Rotherham. This has been constant from 1849, referred to hereafter as Beighton Junction 1849.

 

Beighton Junction Signalbox in 1970

 

"Beighton Junction 1849" in 1977

 

"Beighton Junction 1891" in 1977, southbound

 

"Beighton Junction 1891" in 1977, northbound1

 

"Beighton Junction 1891" in 1977, northbound2

On 1 December 1891 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway (MS&LR) started running trains drawn by contractor's locomotives south from a new, additional, "Beighton Junction", approximately 500 yards north west of the first Beighton Junction on the MS&LR, labelled in later Midland system maps as:

• "Beighton Junction G.C.",^[1] referred to hereafter as Beighton Junction 1891.

In 1900 the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (LD&ECR) made another, additional, junction 66 yards (60 m) south of the first. This pair of junctions were thereafter often referred to collectively as "Beighton Junction" as was the adjacent signal box.^[2] Their components were recorded as:

• "GC Line Junction (Sheffield Section)" (the original and remaining junction Beighton Junction 1849)

 and,

• "GC Line Junction (LD&EC Section)",^[1] referred to hereafter as Beighton Junction 1900.

This complex evolution is addressed by the accompanying Route Diagram "Beighton Junction detail."

v t e Beighton Junction detail
Legend
From 1907: MR, GCR absorbed LDECR
to Rotherham Masborough         Great Central Railway to Sheffield Victoria             Great Central Railway to Worksop         GCR Beighton Junction (1891)     MR & GCR Beighton Junction (1849)       Beighton Junction signalbox         MR & LDECR Beighton Junction (1900)             Killamarsh N Junction (1907)       Killamarsh S Junction (1907)       ex-LDECR to Langwith Junction     Great Central Railway to Marylebone   Midland Railway to Chesterfield
Today
track lifted     to Rotherham         ex-Great Central to Sheffield             ex-Great Central to Worksop                       site of Beighton Junction Signalbox           bridge still in place                   siding & run-around                 former line to Langwith Junction     former line to Marylebone   to Chesterfield

This article treats these junctions as the lynch pin of a complex interweaving triangular network of lines, stretching over two miles from Killamarsh in the south to Beighton station in the north west and to Waleswood in the north east. That triangle as a whole is addressed by the accompanying Route Diagram "Beighton Junction".

v t e Beighton Junction
Legend
1849–1891: Midland Railway & Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
River Rother     Midland Railway "Old Road" to Rotherham       Woodhouse Mill│ Aston Colliery & tramway                             Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Rly ← to Sheffield to Worksop →                   North Staveley Curve               Beighton (second)         Beighton Junction                         1 Norwood colliery 2 West Kiveton colliery     3 Norwood End tunnel 4 Kiveton Park colliery                           Midland Railway Killamarsh Branch                 Chesterfield Canal to Worksop     5 Norwood Locks 6 Norwood Tunnel           Holbrook No. 1 Colliery │Killamarsh                                                     Chesterfield Canal to Staveley         Midland Railway "Old Road" to Chesterfield
1891–1900: Midland Railway & Great Central Railway
River Rother     Midland Railway "Old Road" to Rotherham       Woodhouse Mill│ N. Staveley Colliery & tramway                             Great Central Railway ← to Sheffield│to Worksop →                         Crown Paper mills│North Staveley Curve                 Beighton (third)           Beighton Jct (1891) │ Beighton Jct (1849)                 Holbrook Colliery Junction           Bedgreave Viaduct                                           Waleswood Curve           Killamarsh Junction                 Midland Railway Killamarsh Branch to Norwood                 Chesterfield Canal to Worksop                         Holbrook No. 1 Colliery │Killamarsh (MR)             Killamarsh (GC)                                                     Chesterfield Canal to Staveley       Great Central Main Line to Nottingham Victoria     Midland Railway "Old Road" to Chesterfield
From 1900: Midland Railway, Great Central Railway and Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway
River Rother     Midland Railway "Old Road" to Rotherham       Woodhouse Mill│ N. Staveley Colliery & tramway                               Waleswood GCR ← to Sheffield to Worksop →                         Crown mills │ Beighton colliery │ Brookhouse Colliery │ N. Staveley Curve                       Beighton (third)│wagon works             Beighton Jct (1891) │ Beighton Jct (1849)             Beighton sidings Beighton Jct (1900)             Holbrook Colliery Junction               Bedgreave Viaduct                                               Waleswood Curve               Killamarsh Junction │ Ward's Scrap c. 1950–1970                   Midland Railway Killamarsh Branch to Norwood                           Killamarsh North Jct │ Norwood Tunnel collapsed 1907                                   Glovers Siding │ Killamarsh South Junction from 1907           Holbrook No. 1 Colliery │Killamarsh (MR)           Killamarsh (GC)           Killamarsh (LDECR) renamed 1907                                             Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway to Langwith Junction         Chesterfield Canal to Chesterfield       Great Central Main Line to Nottingham Victoria     Midland Railway "Old Road" to Chesterfield

Overview

Beighton Junction went through four distinct phases:

• Initial simplicity from 1849 to 1891
• Sudden expansion from 1891 to 1907
• Consolidation then decline from 1907 to the 1980s, then
• Return to simplicity since the 1980s.

Initial simplicity

The MSLR's "Beighton Branch" and the original Beighton Junction opened to passenger traffic on 12 February 1849.^[3] The branch and junction joined the MSLR's east–west main line to the Midland Railway's erstwhile North Midland Railway line from Chesterfield to Rotherham Masborough which still runs south–north along the valley of the River Rother. The MS&LR's Beighton station opened at the same time.

The MS&LR line had been promoted by the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway (S&LJ). The first sod was ceremonially cut at High Hazles (nowadays spelled High Hazels and better known as Darnall)^[4] in eastern Sheffield on 15 October 1846, to the customary celebrations.^[5] The S&LJ and other associated lines were amalgamated in 1847 to form the MS&LR.

The junction made it possible to run trains from Sheffield eastwards, then turn southwards. At the time the modern line directly south from Sheffield was some way from becoming a financial and engineering possibility.^[vague] The Midland Railway (MR) allowed MS&L trains to run south two stops beyond Beighton Junction to Eckington where passengers had to change for Chesterfield and beyond.

This essentially local scheme continued for forty years. It was condemned to remain local in scope by the opening in 1870 of what was to become known as the "New Road" direct from Sheffield through Bradway Tunnel and Dronfield. This "New Road" led to the Midland Line along the Rother Valley becoming known among railwaymen as the "Old Road." Some attempts were made to run through trains from the MS&L, notably to London, but these more often fell foul of railway politics than operating or financial difficulties. In essence, the MS&L was a provincial railway with ambitions but no cash, the Midland and the LNWR had the lines to the south and the whip hand.

Sudden expansion

The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

The MS&LR was extremely ambitious. On 11 July 1889 its "Derbyshire Lines" Bill was passed by the Lords and by the following January contracts were let for a new line to be built from Beighton to Chesterfield. On 7 February 1890 the first sod was cut at Beighton.^[6]

The "Derbyshire Lines" expansion had two overall aims:

• to break the Midland's stranglehold on the rapidly expanding coal traffic to and from the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire coalfield, and
• to gain access to wider, notably Nottingham and London, markets by joining with the GNR at Annesley, north of Nottingham.

Naturally, the Midland objected, both in parliament and elsewhere.

The "Derbyshire Lines" in question were:

• a new main line from the MS&L's Beighton Branch to the GNR at Annesley. This would provide an entirely MS&L West-South route.
• a new branch from Waleswood, on the MS&L main line east of the Rother, to join the new main line a little over a mile south of the new Beighton Junction, thereby providing an entirely MS&L East-South route, and
• a new branch leaving the new main line at Staveley to serve Chesterfield and, especially, the ambitious and expanding works in the Staveley area.

On 9 May 1890 Parliament granted the MS&L powers to extend the Chesterfield branch southwards to the new main line at Heath, thereby forming a loop.^[7]

The initial aim of opening in June 1891 proved over-optimistic, but openings came thick and fast:

• December 1891: goods traffic to Staveley Works via the new Beighton Junction commenced, using contractors' locomotives.
• 1 June 1892: public passenger service from Sheffield (MS&L, later Victoria) via Beighton to Staveley Town, later Staveley Central.
• 1 June 1892: erstwhile passenger service via Beighton to Eckington (MR) ceased.
• 4 June 1892: public passenger service extended to Chesterfield (later Chesterfield Central).
• 24 October 1892: new main line south from Staveley to Annesley opened, allowing MS&L coal and goods trains to reach Nottingham, a key goal of the enterprise.
• 3 January 1893: passenger traffic started south from Staveley to Nottingham London Road
• 3 July 1893: passenger traffic through Chesterfield to Heath started, completing the loop and enabling MS&L trains to travel to Nottingham both
  • direct between Staveley and Heath, or
  • round by the Chesterfield Loop, a situation which continued for almost seventy years.
• 17 July 1893: Waleswood Curve opened for goods traffic, giving the MS&L East to South access to the new main line.
• 1 November 1893: Beighton station, itself a replacement for an earlier station on the Midland's "Old Road", replaced with the third and final Beighton station.
• January 1894: Waleswood Curve opened to passenger traffic.^[8][9]

The gateway to this frenetic activity was the MS&L's new Beighton Junction. The Midland's ire must be understood not in the trivial loss of transfer passenger traffic at Eckington, but in the consequent opening of the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire coalfield to railway competition. From 1891 to 1894 no fewer than seventeen new colliery branches were opened by the MS&L off the lines catalogued above, most leading to pits already served by the Midland. One such was the Holbrook Colliery Branch which left the new southbound MS&L main line merely yards from their new Beighton Junction.^[8]

This new Beighton Junction proved to be the springboard for yet more ambition. Later in the 1890s the MS&L sets its sights on getting to London under its own steam and built the "London Extension" south from Annesley to London Marylebone. The MS&LR became the GCR and the London Extension became the Great Central Main Line. MS&L locals to Killamarsh, coals from Holbrook Colliery and crack expresses from Marylebone to Sheffield Victoria, all were made possible by the MS&LR's junction, the second at Beighton.

The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway

In the 1880s a grandiose scheme was formulated to build a railway from "Coast to Coast", i.e. from near Warrington on the emerging Manchester Ship Canal (not actually on the coast, but near enough for sloganising purposes) to a wholly new port near Sutton-on-Sea in Lincolnshire. In November 1890 detailed plans for this new line - to be known as the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (LD&ECR) - were made public, they included a branch from Langwith to Beighton, aiming at the expanding heavy industry in Sheffield. Notice seeking to put a Bill before Parliament was given in the same month.^[10]

Effective groundwork had been done so that only 37 petitions objecting to the new line were tabled. Most of those from landowners were "successfully dealt with" (i.e. "bought out" or mitigated, so they were withdrawn) and those from the CLC, LNWR and GN&GEJR were subsequently withdrawn when they became satisfied that the proposed line was either neutral or advantageous to them. The GER went one step further, changing from opponents to supporters, as they saw that the line could give them access to Sheffield and to North Midlands coal.

This left two opponents, the MR and the MS&LR. The Midland's opposition was lukewarm, they saw both opportunities and threats:

• opportunities such as Beighton, where the LD&ECR's traffic would end in a floodplain on the outskirts of Sheffield and would need carrying further, potentially over Midland metals, and
• threats such as Southgate and Barlborough near Clowne where collieries which they served exclusively might be tapped by the new line.

The MS&L's opposition was by far the strongest, not least because the proposed line broadly paralleled their established main line from East to West and would potentially be a direct competitor. Their rumbustious leader, Watkin, described the proposed line as "one of the maddest schemes ever presented to Parliament."^[11] So little opposition, and that from a partial source, meant the Bill sailed through Parliament and received Royal assent on 5 August 1891, the biggest line authorised in a single session.

That was the easy bit. Investors prepared to back the scheme were thin on the ground and by the Autumn of 1891 the decision was taken to start building eastwards from Chesterfield to meet the GN&GEJR at Pyewipe Junction west of Lincoln and northwards from Langwith Junction towards Beighton, which would occasionally be referred to as the "Sheffield Branch" but much more widely as the Beighton Branch. As things turned out they were the only two stretches of line which would be built.

As late as 1896 the LD&ECR still had no means of getting into Sheffield and the Beighton Branch still looked set to end in a marsh next to the Rother. In that year a scheme was passed by Parliament permitting the building of the Sheffield District Railway (SDR) from a point on the LD&ECR's Beighton Branch near Barlborough to Attercliffe in Sheffield's northern industrial heartland. This route was both difficult and expensive at a time when the LD&ECR was having trouble financing its Chesterfield-Lincoln main line. The driving forces behind the SDR were Sheffield businessmen and the company was legally independent, but the LD&ECR saw it as a child of its own. Despite the lack of finances the Duke of Norfolk cut the first sod in Attercliffe in 1896.^[12]

The Byzantine railway politics of the period then threw up another surprise, the Midland Railway jumped off the fence and offered the LD&ECR and SDR another route into Sheffield. Instead of embarking from Barlborough off the Beighton Branch, the line could:

• make an East-North junction with the Midland Railway's "Old Road" at Beighton, using LD&ECR metals already under construction
• use Midland metals to Treeton
• build a much shorter and cheaper version of the SDR westwards from Treeton, joining the Midland's Sheffield-Rotherham line south of Brightside
• use Midland metals southwards through Attercliffe
• build a short branch to the goods depot under construction in Attercliffe, and
• let passenger trains run beyond Attercliffe to the Midland's Pond Street station at Sheffield.

This was the railway which was actually built. As a result:

• the LD&ECR had a viable route into Sheffield at little extra cost
• the shortened SDR could be built at a fraction of the original cost
• the GER, who had running rights over the LD&ECR, gained access to Sheffield for nothing
• the Midland would gain revenues where LD&ECR trains ran over its metals
• the Midland gained influence over the SDR as the latter ran onto the Midland at both ends, and
• the Midland cocked a snook at the MS&LR.^[13]

The East-North junction at Beighton, usually referred to in sources simply as "Beighton Junction", was the third Beighton Junction, as shown on the "Beighton Junction Detail" route diagram. It was formally opened by the Duke of Norfolk on 21 May 1900, along with the SDR. Goods and mineral traffic started on 28 May and passengers on 30 May 1900.^[14]

The Great Central Railway

In 1897 the MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway (GCR) in anticipation of reaching London Marylebone in 1899. Its change of name and scale did not dim its expansionist character.

By 1905 the LD&ECR, which had never been strongly capitalised, was in financial difficulty, despite a strong growth in traffic, notably freight tonnage which had risen from 477,374 tons carried in 1896 to 2,317,714 tons carried in 1905.^[15] Its end as an independent company was rapid by any criteria:

• 7 November 1905 the Board resolved to offer the company for sale to the Great Northern Railway (GNR)
• 9 November 1905 the GNR replied, saying that none of the LD&ECR's proposed methods of sale was acceptable
• 10 November 1905 the Board met again and offered the company for sale to the GCR, who had representatives in attendance.
  • Terms were agreed there and then, with the aim of takeover from 1 January 1907.
  • It was agreed that the necessary Parliamentary Bill would include the construction of junctions between the two systems.^[16]

1906-7 saw the construction and opening of two wholly separate sets of junctions between the LD&ECR and the GCR:

• Duckmanton Junction where the LD&ECR "Main Line" and Great Central Main Line (GCML) crossed between Staveley and Heath, and
• Killamarsh South and North Junctions, approximately 1.5 miles south of the LD&ECR's Beighton Junction.

These latter two are shown on the "Beighton Junction detail" route diagram. Their positioning south of Killamarsh Junction meant that trains off the LD&ECR could travel:

• to and from the GCR's lines in Sheffield without touching Midland metals,^[17][18] and
• eastwards via the Waleswood Curve^[19]

The GCR had the last laugh over the Midland regarding the LD&ECR. Having bitterly opposed the LD&ECR ("...one of the maddest schemes...") and suffered the Midland's ploy of enabling the LD&ECR to get to the heart of Sheffield under the GCR's noses the GCR now owned the usurper and had its trains running over Midland metals to Attercliffe and points nearby. Whatever scores may have been settled the GCR had certainly scotched the competitive threat posed by the LD&ECR and went on to make significant use of its metals, most notably as the Nottinghamshire Coalfield spread eastwards.

Other lines

Over time the triangle described in this article also contained:

• the River Rother
• the Chesterfield Canal
• five railway branch lines:
  • the Crown Paper Mills branch
  • the North Staveley Curve
  • Glovers Siding
  • the MR's Killamarsh Branch and Extension, and
  • the Holbrook Colliery Branch
• a wagon works
• two substantial locomotive scrapyards:
  • Thos. W. Ward at Beighton, and
  • Thos. W. Ward at Killamarsh
• two significant railway yards:
  • Beighton Yard, off the ex-GCR Beighton Branch, and
  • Beighton Sidings, ex-LD&ECR

Significantly, no roads ran along the valley bottom, and few crossed it, as the river was and is prone to flooding. The natural course of the Rother was slow and meandering, straight out of school geography textbook diagrams. The North Midland "Old Road" did some straightening, but by virtue of coming first it took the easiest and driest line.

The lines which undertook the most preventive work were the Waleswood Curve and the LD&ECR, the former in particular diverted a horseshoe bend in the river to end up with just one crossing - Bedgreave Viaduct^[20] - instead of many.

The GCR became a significant victim of the river, in 1937, for example, Beighton station flooded above rail level and by 1950 was forced to undertake platform raising and other works, partly as a result of flood damage and partly as a preventive measure.^[21][22]

As was often the case, railways addressed the same transport needs as canals and faced similar obstacles. The Chesterfield Canal sought to move heavy goods between early industrial North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire and to connect both with the North Sea via the River Trent. Its most famous traffic - Anston stone for the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament following a disastrous fire in 1834 - was transferred from narrowboats to seagoing craft and taken thereby to the Thames. The MS&LR had a similar objective in building the Waleswood Curve, as well as the additional spur of meeting a clamour of traffic in the opposite direction - iron ore for Staveley Works.^[20]

Both the canal and the railway faced the problem of climbing eastwards out of the Rother valley. James Brindley made best use of the technology of his day to build Norwood Locks, immediately followed by Norwood Tunnel which emerged within a stone's throw of what would later be the MS&LR main line near Kiveton Park Colliery. The Waleswood Curve took advantage of later technology and greater resources. It smoothed out the same climb by taking a longer route. It, too, had a tunnel - Waleswood Tunnel^[23] - which was a mere 66 yards (60 m) long compared with Brindley's 2,884 yards (2,637 m). Railways in general rendered most narrow canals uneconomic, but the Chesterfield Canal suffered an additional blow when Norwood Tunnel collapsed in 1907.

The five railway branch lines varied considerably.

The Crown Paper Mills branch first appeared on OS maps in 1899–1900. The branch turned a sharp right angle north eastwards off the GCR Beighton Branch immediately north west of the third Beighton station. It served the Crown Paper Mills until the 1940s, after which the mills' site was used by George Slater's scrap metal business.^[24] OS maps show rail connections to the site until the 1970s. No evidence suggests that this scrapyard dismantled railway locomotives.

The North Staveley Curve turned sharply eastwards off the MR's "Old Road" between the 1849 Beighton Junction and Beighton Viaduct,^[25] which carries the MS&LR's east–west main line over the Rother and the MR's Old Road. The branch was so named because it served North Staveley Colliery, Aston. The line was laid when the company bought and developed Aston Colliery in the 1860s. The 1854 OS map shows the colliery and a tramway running southwards, seemingly to end at right angles to the MS&LR main line. 1877–92 OS maps show the developed position, with the tramroad from the colliery crossing the MS&LR at right angles to enter coal handling facilities immediately south thereof, on Midland metals. Later in the colliery's life the tramway was replaced by a conveyor belt. The coal handling facilities in later years consisted of a hopper, from which coal was dropped into railway wagons.^[26] The North Staveley Curve appears to have joined the MS&LR at North Staveley Junction a short distance west of the coal handling facilities, opened on 1 January 1870^[27] but later sources make no mention of "North Staveley Junction" referring consistently to Brookhouse Junction as described below. The North Staveley Colliery Company was intimately connected with the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, based in Staveley, ten miles to the south. When the company bought the mine the MS&LR's "Derbyshire Lines" were far into the future so the Midland Railway was the natural partner to transport the coal southwards, as they already served the ironworks on a large scale. The Midland System Diagrams^[1] of 1918 show North Staveley Colliery as "Aston Colliery".

"Beighton Colliery" (or sometimes "Beighton Pit") appears on OS maps from 1905 to 1924^[28] to 1967. The colliery is shown on the Midland Railway System Maps dated 1918^[1] as being served by the joint MR & GCR 748 yards (684 m) "Beighton Colliery Branch", which ran east–west immediately south of the GCR Sheffield-Worksop line. This branch connected to the North Staveley Curve in such a way that Midland trains travelling between the Midland's Old Road and the colliery would have to reverse into and out of branch. GCR trains could proceed straight ahead to the eastern end of the North Staveley Curve and on towards Worksop by what would later be known as Brookhouse Junction.

The same maps show that the later Brookhouse Colliery and its coke works connected both to the North Staveley Curve and to the Sheffield-Retford line,^[29][30] the latter connection having a signalbox for that purpose.^[31] Sinking Brookhouse Colliery commenced in 1929 and eventually joined Aston's North Staveley Colliery workings undergrou

January 01, 1970