"GCR COAL RAILWAY", THURGOLAND

[fodenway]

This line was a short branch eastwards from the ex-MSLR Sheffield-Manchester "Woodhead Route" at Thurgoland, between Sheffield and Penistone. It was built in the mid 1800s to serve a colliery in the area, variously known as Hollin Moor Pit and Stanhope Silkstone Main. (Stanhope was the coal-owner, and Silkstone was the name of the seam being worked). Old maps show an inclined plane and a short tramroad connecting smaller pits in the immediate area to the line at its terminus. Local records give conflicting dates of closure of the pit, dates ranging from 1875 to 1927 have been noted. Although much of the trackbed, including embankments and an underbridge, is still clearly intact, there was a fearsome gradient from the junction near the site of the former Thurgoland Station  in the Don Valley up to the summit just east of the A629 road on the southern edge of Thurgoland village. I have not been able to find evidence of any kind of winding house or loco servicing facilities on the line, so, my question is: was it locomotive hauled, or rope-worked, and does anyone have diagrams or photos relating to the line? 

[Erichill16]

Evening,

Cant really shed  any light on your queries but I’m also interested in that line. During lockdown I’ve  spent a lot of time walking in that area and day dreamed about building a layout based on it, but like you found information hard to find.
I’m sure the stretch from Halifax Road down to the GC mainline must have been a rope worked incline but I too have looked but can’t find any evidence. For such a seemingly insignificant coal line there is quite a bit of civil engineering, I thinking particularly about the stretch around ‘the Monkey’.

By the way do you have any information on Thurgoland station. I know where it was and that it was only open for a short time but was that only referring to the passenger side of things.

Good look and I hope some one comes up with some information.

Regards

Robert

 

 

[fodenway]

Robert, just by chance this morning I googled 'Ordnance Survey Maps 1850', and eventually found exactly what I was looking for. The 1855 map shows in great detail that there was an incline from the main line up to the summit, but no sign of an engine house, so I assume that full wagons descending would have pulled the empties back up. I was told many years ago that Thurgoland station continued in use for goods for a considerable time after closing to passengers, serving the settlements of Thurgoland, Huthwaite, Green Moor and of course Wortley Top Forge. Also shown on the maps is the extent of small pits around East field and Bagger Wood, and amazingly confirmation of something I'd suspected since my early teens. Around 1967 I was cycling down Stampers Hill, between Stainborough and Pilley on my way to see the remains of Rockley Forge. I noticed a section of what seemed to be un-necessarily substantial earthworks for a simple farm track, and that set me wondering  about the possibility of an early waggonway from any pits "up top" to the canal basin at Worsborough. The map shows exactly that!  This system of tramroads, inclines and waggonways must have been made redundant by the coming of the Coal Railway, since there is no mention of them on the 1888 map. The 1855 map also shows that the South Yorkshire Railway was creeping up the valley to reach the pits from Aldham Junction, but had not yet reached Silkstone Common and the eventual junction with the MSLR Penistone-Barnsley line. Although I now know much more than I did yesterday, I'm still on the lookout for more information

Edited February 11, 2021 by fodenway

[Erichill16]

Evening,

Well at least you’re getting somewhere .

Are the earth works near Stampers Hill still visible.

I think I’ve read somewhere that Stanhope Main was owned by the same company that owned Dodworth Colliery, Old Silkstone Collieries Ltd. I think they also owned Silkstone Fall colliery whose remains can be seen in the woods by the railway line between Dodworth and Silkstone Common stations. If this is correct then the wagons on the line in question may be branded  as ‘Old Silkstone’.

Still no closer to finding out if the line was steam hauled of horse drawn though.

[Wheatley]

Don't know about the GCR Coal Railway but I do know a bit about the Worsborough Tramway. I had a job in Worsborough Country Park in the summer of 1987, the bridge which took the tramway from the canal basin over the river towards the Red Lion / Button Mill / whatever it's called now was still in use by us in Landrovers, it was a very overgrown stone arch with no parapets, just a wooden railing and I'd be suprised if the Council Engineer knew we were taking vehicles over it.  None of us dared to take the big tractor over it, that went in via the gate on West Street. 

 

From there the tramway follows the south side of Worsborough Res before it disappears under the M1. Carry on towards Wentworth Castle, in the fields somewhere to the SE of it the tramway went through a tunnel to avoid spoiling the view from the house,  part of which is still there. We went in  there one evening on a school trip to watch the bats which roost in it, I doubt that's still allowed. 

 

The Borough Engineer for Worsborough was at one time a lovely man called John Shepherd, he attended my parents' church and gave me a tracing of a map of the tramway when it was operational. He was in his 90s by then I believe. It's in the loft somewhere, if I can find it I'll photograph it for you. 

 

Part of the job involved patrolling the railway line from Worsborough Bridge up to West Silkstone Jcn in Landrovers to check on the anti-motorbike barriers, including walking through the tunnels without a torch for a dare, but that's another story. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by Wheatley

[fodenway]

17 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Evening,

Well at least you’re getting somewhere .

Are the earth works near Stampers Hill still visible.

I think I’ve read somewhere that Stanhope Main was owned by the same company that owned Dodworth Colliery, Old Silkstone Collieries Ltd. I think they also owned Silkstone Fall colliery whose remains can be seen in the woods by the railway line between Dodworth and Silkstone Common stations. If this is correct then the wagons on the line in question may be branded  as ‘Old Silkstone’.

Still no closer to finding out if the line was steam hauled of horse drawn though.

I've had a look at Stampers Hill this afternoon, and the low embankment I referred to seems to have all but disappeared. Some of Moor Leys Wood has been cleared for cultivation at the point where the line crossed the road, although Google Earth does show a slight scar across the field where the line was. There is also a scattering of what appear to be stones roughly where the embankment was. The line crossed the road on the apex of the first slight left hand bend (uphill) before turning sharply right at the top of the incline down towards Rockley Furnace.The site of the incline is still marked by a line of trees. I also visited East Field, hoping to walk the trackbed of the Coal Railway, starting from the Monkey (Eastfield Arms), but much of it is fenced off. A ramble through the woods showed that the sites of the tramroad and the incline from pits and kilns in the woods are also fenced off. At the point where the line passed under Thurgoland Hall Lane there is a high stone retaining wall adjacent to the line at the entrance to Toad Hole Farm. The cutting here has been filled to road level, yet this wall reaches some eight feet or more above and is holding back an earth bank - another mystery. Perhaps I will have another look when the ground is a bit more forgiving.

[Billy Flathead]

Growing up in Birdwell, Rockley bottom was a regular haunt, with my parents picking blackberries on the edge of the woods behind Rockley Abbey Farm, where they grew on what looked like old mining spoil and with friends climbing trees or pushing our bikes up stampers hill.

My dad told me about the wagon way and once took us to see an old tunnel in some woods. That was nearly fifty years ago so I'm not sure just where it was, looking at Google earth I'd guess at the woods just above the caravan site.

David