Hexthorpe railway platform was a short, wooden railway platform on the

South Yorkshire Railway The South Yorkshire Railway was a railway company with lines in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Initially promoted as the South Yorkshire Coal Railway in 1845, the railway was enabled by an act of 1847 as the South Yorkshire Doncaster and ...

line about west 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 i ...

in the area known as Hexthorpe Flatts, just on the Doncaster side of the road bridge. The platform was situated on the Doncaster – bound line and was normally used for the collection of tickets particularly on the days of the

St. Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

race meeting.

1887 accident

On 16 September 1887 the platform was the scene of a tragic railway accident. The

Hexthorpe rail accident The Hexthorpe rail accident occurred on 16 September 1887 at Hexthorpe railway platform some west of Doncaster on the South Yorkshire Railway line to Sheffield and Barnsley. The platform was situated within a block section between Hexthorpe Jun ...

was one of a series of accidents which occurred in the "Battle of the Brakes", a period when railway managements were in dispute over the type of brake, if any, which should be used on passenger trains. The death toll reached 25 and 66 were injured.

References

* ''Great Central'', Volume 2 George Dow, Locomotive Publishing Co., * ''Historic Railway Disasters'' by O.S. Nock. Ian Allan. 1966. Disused railway stations in Doncaster {{Yorkshire-Humber-railstation-stub