The Doncaster Avoiding Line is a railway line, which as its title suggests, avoids the town of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and routes goods traffic, principally coal and steel, away from the main line station where it would have to cross from the Sheffield line to the Hull or Cleethorpes lines and cause a bottleneck. The line was passed in an Act of Parliament in 1903 but work did not commence until 5 years later. Built mostly on

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...

it opened in 1910. It was brought into use following the opening of Wath marshalling yard in 1907, and in preparation for the opening of

Immingham Dock The Port of Immingham, also known as Immingham Dock, is a major port on the east coast of England, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary in the town of Immingham, Lincolnshire. In 2019, the Port of Grimsby & Immingham was the largest ...

in 1912. The Doncaster Avoiding Line runs from Bentley Junction on the Doncaster–Barnetby line to Hexthorpe Junction on the Swinton–Doncaster line. It is double track throughout with Bentley Junction being a 'flyover' junction and Hexthorpe Junction a 'flat' junction. The only junction in between was Sprotborough Junction, opened in 1916, where connections were made with the

Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway The Hull and Barnsley and Great Central Joint Railway (also known as the Gowdall and Braithwell Railway) was a joint line which ran from Aire Junction, on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway, near Gowdall to the Great Central and Midlan ...

. These were two sets of 'double cross-overs' with the signal box between. The line was worked under

permissive block regulations Permissive Working on a railway in the United Kingdom allows more than one train at a time to be on the same line in a block section, a signal section or a dead-end platform line. Authorisation The areas where Permissive Working is allowed are ...

, but these were suspended when passenger trains were to work over the line and

absolute block Absolute block signalling is a British signalling scheme designed to ensure the safe operation of a railway by allowing only one train to occupy a defined section of track (block) at a time. This system is used on double or multiple lines wher ...

substituted. There was a rising gradient towards Hexthorpe Junction which if trains were heavy and had been stood in the queue from Sprotborough Junction a banking locomotive was provided. This came from Mexborough depot and was usually a J11, N5 or L3 but sometimes a G.C."Fish" engine which was on shed at the time. This locomotive also was used on the "Top Yard" to York Road goods and when it was away from its post Doncaster's passenger pilot locomotive would deputise if required The line is still open and fulfils its original purpose, even more important today with faster trains on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

in both freight and passenger.

References

*A.L.Barnett, "Railways of the South Yorkshire Coalfield". RCTS. *C.T.Goode. "Railways in South Yorkshire", Dalesman 1975. {{ISBN, 0-85206-307-5 Rail transport in Doncaster Great Central Railway