The Hull & Barnsley Railway
Click for detailed map
The Hull and Barnsley Railway of 1880 was the last large-scale railway line (apart from the Barry Railway)
to be built in Victorian England. The railway was conceived out of Hull's jealousy of the
North Eastern Railway (NER) with its perceived
diversion of trade through neighbouring ports.
It was a poorly conceived scheme beset with early bickering and the creation of a difficult route through
large chalk hills. The attendant tunnels and deep cuttings were financially crippling, returns were inadequate
to ensure a secure future.
The H&BR had no alternative, the NER had the long established
level route more or less along the Humber Bank. From about 1900 onwards, the H&HB was paying a profit, but
was eventually killed off by the Great War.
The line was never seriously profitable but even today has attracted a band of devotees and the more practical
gift of the "high level" in Hull, famed for eliminating numerous and troublesome level crossings in the city.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to John Broadwell for the above introduction and many of the above H&BR pages.
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