Hull and Barnsley Railway - Background

Background

By the 19th century the coalfields of southern Yorkshire were producing large amounts of coal, the industrialised midland region was making manufactured goods, and the new industrial towns of the West Riding of Yorkshire and of Lancashire were producing cloth and other goods. Thus opportunities for trade, export and profit existed along the east coast of England as well as along the Humber and the tributary rivers feeding it.

Goole had risen from nothing as a port on the Ouse with the creation of the Knottingley to Goole Canal in 1826 by the Aire and Calder Canal Company; the port, built to generous specifications rapidly gained inward and outward trade - much to the chagrin of Hull, and spurred the development of the extension of the Leeds to Selby Railway to Hull which opened in 1840. Additionally the North Eastern Railway - which had a monopoly on rail transport to Hull prevented other rail companies investing there, and so Goole gained its own railway by the Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway (Later part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) in 1848. A custom built railway dock, as well the use of specialised coal barges and unloading facilities, as well as the backing of the Aire and Calder Canal company made it a very viable competitor to Hull for trade.

Additionally as a competitor to the port of Hull (and equally well placed for European trade), Grimsby began to grow after the 1840s when the Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway Company built a rail connection, and the Royal Dock was completed in 1852.

Hull had expanded rapidly during the 18th century with shipping tonnages increasing over ten times in that period, and numerous docks supplementing and connecting Old Dock (Queen's dock) being built by the Dock company in the 19th : Humber dock (Prince's dock) 1809, Junction dock 1829, by 1846 Railway dock connected to the Hull & Selby Railway (later part of the NER), as well as Victoria dock (1850), Albert dock (1869) and St. Andrews Dock (1883). Despite all this activity the Dock company was criticised for lack of action - specifically with regard to construction of facilities that would make Hull a foremost coal exporting port. Additionally the NER whose interests in the north east of England were in competition with Hull, and which held a monopoly on rail transport to Hull was viewed with mistrust, suspicion, dissatisfaction and even hate schemes for independent railways or a company other than the NER were proposed to build a line to Hull, including bridge over, and tunnels under the Humber were being actively promoted by Hull merchants.

The situation became untenable when in 1872 with the NER refusing or unable to transport shipments from the port, deliverys of fish delayed, and a general traffic jam on the rails :

"..the traffic overwhelmed the powers of the Railway Company ; orders for supplies of goods could not be executed, vessels could not receive or discharge cargoes, and the general trade of the port was almost paralysed." —prospectus for the Hull South and West Junction Railway., A History of Hull Railways, G.G. MacTurk, Chapter XV (F.B Grotrian)

The plans finally found fruition in 1880 in the charge of Col. Gerald Smith (a Hull banker) and through the cooperation of the Hull Corporation (including sale of land to the railway, and an investment of £100,000) As part of the Hull Corporation's involvement with the scheme came the power to veto any joint workings with other railway companies or selling or leasing of land,> and despite the opposition of the NER (which had been instrumental in blocking previous plans.); the Bill of Parliament being passed with minor alterations on 26 August 1880. The company The Hull, Barnsley and West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company (actually formed 1879) began work on the new line and associated deep water dock which was completed by 1885.