Doncaster Disused Railway & Disused Doncaster York Road Station

[@WobblyRunner]

00:00 Intro 01:13 Former Doncaster York Road Station 03:42 Hull & Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway 11:17 Sprotbrough Foundry 16:37 River Don Viaduct - Warmsworth

[@SuperCmorris]

I find it so sad we have lost so much of our industry, so many life’s interrupted by the loss, love your videos, thankyou❤

[@neilotley1311]

Ahh, the sticklebacks. Great memories here mate.

[@WobblyRunner]

Would be 30 odd years ago now 😃. Let that sink in. Looks and feels very different now.

[@neilotley1311]

@@WobblyRunner was down that way about 2 years ago. The amount of rubbish dumped was upsetting. Never used to be that way.

[@organisten]

I grew up in Scawthorpe, and I remember them ripping up the tracks. I used to go with my father shopping on Saturdays, and I remember being on the double decker bus looking over that Watch House bridge - and I remember seeing the work and feeling a little sad at the time. It must have been sometime in the seventies.

[@WobblyRunner]

Great to hear an account of the tracks being taken up 👍. It seems strange thinking about it. I used the lines to get to school up at Don Valley every day and can't get my head around it being nothing but a cinder track.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

Strange, how it pulls a string when we witness our history being dismantled ¿?

[@SuperCmorris]

I have stumbled across your video’s, thankyou for sharing the history of these places, I live in kilnhurst now and like to find the history of where I live and surrounding areas, I know a little about the railway here which actually passes by at the bottom of my garden, I love the old trains, do you know more about the lines in kilnhurst, I know the pit lines ran through here and abit about the old platform, again thankyou for sharing ❤

[@WobblyRunner]

I remember growing up when the Doncaster to Sheffield trains passed through Kilnhurst. Passing the old station was always a highlight as there were usually old shunters dumped there. I was rather excited when it got on a train last year that was unexpectedly diverted that way. Was like a trip back in time 😊

[@john170277]

Used to walk that old track bed to watch the dons on a Sunday afternoon

[@WobblyRunner]

Me too. Though I was only 14 years when they went under and left Tattersfield. Great memories though.

[@bonobo2go]

My wonderful Doncaster friend, David J Rogers of Scawthorpe (former sub organist of Doncaster Minster and Selby Abbey) used to tell me all about the Doncaster railway lines (and those throughout the area of Yorkshire) in detail. He was incredibly knowledgable about railways and trains. I'm sure he would have liked this video. If I could add an extra like on his behalf I would.

[@WobblyRunner]

Thank you very much 👍🙂. Wonderful words.

[@WobblyRunner]

That cheered me up reading that about your friend David. I could listen to tales about the lost railways for hours. Lots of history and memories.

[@philramsay6093]

Cheers pal. Lovely to get these bits of Donny Railway history filled in for a relative newcomer to the area. How things have changed in 50 years is scary, but that is progress I suppose?

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Phil. Yeah lots change in a short space of time. At the same time lots seem to have stayed the same since the 80s 😄

[@The_Hairy_Hermit]

Thanks I'm from Donny and love history in general so win win! Liked and subd 👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Kirton. 👍🙂

[@Carolb66]

Hi Paul, what a lovely trip fown memory lane for you! Its great doing a railway video around the area you grew up. Doncaster so famous for its railway history. Fab video. ❤😊👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Carol. I wish I could have asked my dad so much stuff looking back.

[@Carolb66]

@@WobblyRunner I know, I think of stuff all the time to ask mum & dad but can't about all kinds of stuff. It's so sad. 😢❤️

[@WobblyRunner]

☹️ Left with great memories though and a great excuse to take an interest in things.

[@Carolb66]

@@WobblyRunner yes that's right. 🥰

[@clivebroadhead4381]

A new East West line is being reopened between Oxford and Cambridge. Similarly, the East West line between Immingham and Manchester via Woodhead needs to be reopened to re-establish cross country rail connectivity particularly for freight and containers between Immingham and Liverpool

[@louisdebenham6337]

Haha I actually know that bench aswell I used to sit on it everytime I went on a walk with my grandparents

[@clivebroadhead4381]

Great video, Paul! Although I come from the area, I was totally unaware Doncaster had a second station. I recall my parents cycled to the market in Doncaster. Perhaps the lines in Doncaster need re-developing for local passenger services?

[@WobblyRunner]

Hi Clive. Don't forget there was also St James in Doncaster too just near Hexthorpe bridge.🙂

[@Tuberuser187]

These videos of Doncaster really remind me of my Home, Tamworth has loads of cycle trails with every part of the town connected with them. The landscape is shaped by colliaries, culverted rivers and spoil heaps. Doncaster looks very similar.

[@WobblyRunner]

Sounds pretty similar 👍😊

[@dalethompson2390]

Great trip down memory lane Paul 😁

[@WobblyRunner]

It sure was

[@stevebluesbury6206]

Lovely to see some of my old stamping grounds. I grew up in Sprotbrough in the 60’s . I remember Booths Scrapyard well. The ironwork in your photo was part of a large gantry crane with a huge electromagnet for handling the scrap metal. I think it was loaded onto railway wagons, I may be wrong. Furniture factors used to be the Co-op dairy with it’s own sidings as someone’s already said and there was the model dairy, not quite sure what that was about. Fowler’s, we used to call it the tank factory, was very close to Richmond Hill Schools and we used to take magnets to school, run them through the dust and muck on the playground and collect masses of iron filings. Watch House Lane bridge was on my way to work at Cementation next to Bentley crossing.

[@WobblyRunner]

Great Stuff Steve. Cementation was up from where I grew up. I remember them building the houding estate on the tank factory and playing on the building sites amongst the shell of the houses.

[@suzyqualcast6269]

Used to know some sound Donny folk, from the daze at Wigan C, Clifton Hall etc....

[@theurbandon5902]

The station was roughly where the car wash is today. The redevelopment of this area the past few decades makes it difficult to place everything. Good job with the video I enjoyed it 👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Donny Explorer. I remember seeing it change over the years. I wish I'd have taken more notice as I was growing up.

[@theurbandon5902]

@@WobblyRunner I remember walking to the stn with my dad when I was maybe seven years old. It was built in the blue brindle brick and the platform was still intact. Scrap yard was still there and the Don's ground! Morrisons was just a field. Happy days 👍

[@WobblyRunner]

@@theurbandon5902 😄 and the circus used to come to the field between the station and the dons ground.

[@davepogmore478]

I can remember the platforms at York Road after the tracks had gone as a kid. My dad was a fireman on the footplate and came up and down the line a few times, he told me that in the triangle up from the station there used to be a signal box and the Furniture Factor building used to be the Coop warehouse.

[@WobblyRunner]

Doncaster junction signal box? I didn't know until this week the furniture factors was the old coop dairy.

[@davepogmore478]

@@WobblyRunner Yes as far as i know can remember it was called York Road. Also remember the crossing gates at Anchorage lane.

[@davepogmore478]

Brilliant Video really enjoyed it 👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Dave🙂

[@davepogmore478]

@@WobblyRunner welcome mate keep it up love the history of railway round Doncaster, my Dads dad was a driver on the footplate and according to what dad told me during WW2 he was followed to coventry by German bombers following the sparks from the chimney....be good for you if u can the old sprotboro stn ..the old tunnel and following the track bed, not much left towards cadeby where there was a stn, there is a cutting at cusworth just after where the P.O.W Camp was based.

[@andrewbriggs6083]

Lived in Scawsby from being 9yo to 37. Now lived in the the USA for the last 25.

[@WobblyRunner]

Hi Andrew. Hello to the USA.

[@davepinch1]

always remember a very large cutting just beyond doncaster sheffield line.. really deep and had 50 pence shaped cladding up both sides and the bridges were still there in the early 90s.. sadly it was all infilled mid 90s and housing built on it

[@WobblyRunner]

Ah yes. Someone was telling me the built the new houses around 2003ish

[@brians78s94]

@@WobblyRunner we did that walk in the 90's.. not really changed a great deal.. when we got the point where you stopped just after the rainbow bridge and the line went under the main line .. which was infilled .. we were a bit naughty.. i remember us clambering up onto the main line... scurrying across and i took a photograph of the massive cutting at the otherside.. also you could see a road bridge in the distance.. like my brother stated above.. all infilled now with houses built on it

[@WobblyRunner]

@@brians78s94 👍. Wonder if that was Warmsworth road you could see?

[@brians78s94]

@@WobblyRunner don't think it was the main road mate maybe church lane bridge

[@seamusmcevoy2011]

I do love the way that Notts/Derby/Yorkshire have converted a lot of their disused lines into trails, but I still feel that leaving them in their natural state would lead to better exploring experiences, they would need to be kept relatively clear of weeds but I'm sure that could be done. Some good finds there and the shots of the bridges at the end was a great end to an entertaining video.

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Seamus. I reckon there are loads of great exploring opportunities amongst the undergrowth. It seems to be so bad this year.

[@seamusmcevoy2011]

@@WobblyRunner You're right, I was going to go to East Norton Tunnel in Leicestershire over the summer, but was told not to bother as the nettles at the portal entrances were impossible to get through, so I'm waiting for the next school half-term in October.

[@WobblyRunner]

Yeah hopefully it will have died back by then. Even my some of my usual running routes seem to be borderline impassable at the moment. Not noticed it be such a bit issue in previous summers .

[@eggy77]

Definitely think that when making the old lines into cycle paths they need to leave as much as the heritage as possible. An old line near me has recently been bulldozed and from what I can make out there's very little left now to show it used to be a railway. I'm sure they didn't need to clear it quite so much.

[@seamusmcevoy2011]

@@eggy77 Totally agree, sometimes it looks like a nuclear aftermath, completely razed to the ground. There's one that goes from Lincoln to Woodhall Spa which is just a concrete strip, yes the stations and platforms are still there, but inbetween the stations you would struggle to know it was a disused railway line. Before it was converted the trackbed was still there and you could clearly see that it was a railway, however, it now has to be accessible to wheelchair users otherwise they wouldn't get the funding.

[@DeltaJazzUK]

We called the avoiding line the Frodingham line. Spent many a summer in the early 70s at the junction where it joins the Doncaster-Sheffield line which you come to towards the end of your film. That was called Hexthorpe Junction, although it's in Warmsworth of course, and there was a signal box there. It wasn't blocked off back in the day and you could get down the banking to the box, which occasionally the signalman would let us in for a gander. Never heard of York Road station before, but there was a station at Hexthorpe Bridge for the Doncaster-Sheffield services which meant the trains didn't have to go into the main station.

[@WobblyRunner]

👍🙂 Was that the St James station?

[@DeltaJazzUK]

@@WobblyRunner Yes. Unfortunately I can't find any good photos of it online, just one of the platforms, but I saw some in a magazine once and there were canopies as well.

[@WobblyRunner]

@@DeltaJazzUK I remember seeing photos of it years ago somewhere. Not sure if my memory is playing tricks but I seem to recall something left of one the platforms by the Sheffield line.

[@ScxptixYt]

saw u that day i live in donny and never knew anything like this

[@WobblyRunner]

👍excellent. Where abouts was I?

[@markgreenwood7487]

Fantastic video. Reminds me of my mis-spent youth cycling up and down that cinder track from our home on Anchorage Lane. Distinctly recall Fowler's foundry being redeveloped next to Richmond Hill school, it had never dawned on me that the street names related to tanks.

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Mark. Yeah many happy memories playing down the cinder track growing up.

[@jasinere35]

16:29 isnt the junction its further back & just after where the discarded rodding anchors sit if anyone had noticed the avoiding line is the same level as the trackbed your on at that point there are photos of this on google & i happen to have a few of them showing what the junction once looked like with its juction box & cross overs

[@mickd6942]

Cycled these but didn't know any of the history of these lines

[@paulwilliamson8501]

Very interesting vid I was born in woodlands in 60s now live in ponte

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Paul. I know Woodlands very well.

[@leathandrubb]

Hi there.Is this the line that went passed Shelley grove where a friend that i haven't seen for years lives or used to live.

[@WobblyRunner]

Shelly Grove near the Newton pub? It sure is.

[@leathandrubb]

@@WobblyRunner Thank for confirming it.

[@john170277]

Used to walk that route from scawsby to hexthorpe when I was younger

[@WobblyRunner]

Many happy memories cycling and walking the track growing up 👍

[@philhallam7017]

York Road Station you have booths scrap yard to the left the station building was taken over by trent building supplies and in the foreground was a scaffolding company called CMC scaffolding

[@WobblyRunner]

👍🙂 cheers Phil.

[@neilotley1311]

Pretty sure MM = 2000. New millennium marker?

[@WobblyRunner]

I think you're right

[@tezer296]

The MM are Roman numerals representing the year 2000. This is part of the Millennium walk which passes the housing estate named after tanks

[@WobblyRunner]

@@tezer296 cheers Terry

[@richiesnetwork]

You can translate any numerals or wordings from Roman (aka Latin) to English using Google translate you know :)?

[@kevinrodgers3851]

The Millennium Walk was laid out by Sprotbrough and Cusworth Parish Council.

[@user-ii6ju6lm7w]

MM ...Markham main.....pit

[@eggy77]

Do you still get sticklebacks or did they cease to exist at the end of the 80s, remember catching them as a kid but never notice them nowadays. That seat's lovely with the little train underneath. A shame about all the rubbish and fly tipping, and the graffiti, why can't people take pride in where they live.... Oh and I'd much rather cycle around Doncaster than Sheffield 😄

[@WobblyRunner]

😄 wheres the fun when it's flat? I think kids these days are taught that sticklebacks are savage animals. Like frogspawn. Was always taking that home in buckets.

[@eggy77]

@@WobblyRunner there's plenty of fun where it's flat that's why I like cycling on old railway lines, although Clowne definitely isn't flat 😂😂 I thought perhaps sticklebacks had died out cos rivers these days were too clean for them 😄

[@WobblyRunner]

@@eggy77 first time I did Clowne Greenway I thought there was something wrong with me. That was before I saw how much of a gradient it was.

[@eggy77]

@@WobblyRunner 😂😂 I usually go up it, very rare I incorporate it into the end of a ride, probably as I still have hills to climb to get home. Keep thinking it'll do me good going up it regularly but I never seem to get any better /quicker at it 😄

[@DaStig]

It continues through Highfields and Woodlands. Highfields is literally a miners welfare village.

[@WobblyRunner]

That's a different disused railway line up towards Highfields