Ex NE railway from Thorpe Gates Jct to Oakhill Jct (around Drax)

[Justin Smith]

Can anyone help with some info on the Ex NE railway from Thorpe Gates Jct to Oakhill Jct ?
I believe it was opened in 1910 but when did the various sections close ?
I have Oakhill Jct to Drax chord closed 1964 (are my dates correct ?).
(ex) Drax chord to Drax still open.
Drax loop to just south of Barlow (approx OS e/w line 280) closed 1964.
Question : what was the factory / sidings at Barlow ? And when did they open / close.
Barlow to A1041 still open as engineers siding (is this correct ?)
(ex) Brayton East Jct to Selby Canal Closed on my 1960 OS, but when did it close ?
Thorpe Gates Jct to Selby Canal is still open on my 1960 OS but is closed on my 1979 OS, but when did it close ?

 

[Gloster]

This seems to have been entirely missed by Hurst. The Selby-Goole passenger service went on 15 June 1964 according to Passengers No More (Second edition). There is some information on Wikipedia under Barlow and Airmyn Railway Station entries and Selby-Goole line. Barlow had an ammunition depot.

My 1978 Baker shows a line from Brayton Junction to Barlow Tip. The tip is on what looks like a short north-easterly extension of the line.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

Barlow to A1041 still open as engineers siding (is this correct ?)

Brayton Junction to A1041 is still in place. The end closest to the main line serves the Network Rail depot at the junction. The rest was a tamper training line (and may still be) but looking at Google Earth it appears to be very overgrown at the A1041 end.

 

[Justin Smith]

Barlow had an ammunition depot.

Apparently that opened in 1889 and closed in 1980.
My 1979 Baker's atlas only has the line serving the Barlow tip so it'd be interesting to know when the line to the ammunition depot was closed.
My 1960 OS has all the lines to Barlow ammunition depot on it, but my 1979 it is no longer there at all ! Having said that I have noticed that some of the MOD properties were censored off OS maps in the 1960s so maybe that explains the latter ?
I think Barlow tip was for ash from power stations ? We went on a tour round Drax years ago when it was coal fired (an amazing experience) and I seem to remember them mentioning the "Barlow tip was used to be for the ash but no longer as the Flue Gas Desulphurisation process (installed between 1988 and 1995) meant all the ash was converted to Gypsum and is now used to make plasterboard" ? They may even have mentioned they'd started digging up the ash again for that, but that may be a false memory !

 

[Gloster]

Having looked at this again and studied the 1:2500 scale maps from 1970 and 1971, I think that the 1978 Baker was partly wrong. The location at the end of the line where it swung north-east was the ammunition depot, not the tip. The tip was not shown in the Baker, but was alongside the line on the other (west) side of the former Barlow station and reached by a reversal (for trains from Selby); it was also on the north side of the line.

 

[Justin Smith]

Having looked at this again and studied the 1:2500 scale maps from 1970 and 1971, I think that the 1978 Baker was partly wrong. The location at the end of the line where it swung north-east was the ammunition depot, not the tip. The tip was not shown in the Baker, but was alongside the line on the other (west) side of the former Barlow station and reached by a reversal (for trains from Selby); it was also on the north side of the line.

I think you are right, "Barlow Common" is now a nature reserve and was, apparently a "former tip". And that is situated at approx map ref 633/285. In fact careful inspection of Google's satellite view reveals the course of one of the removed lines (running approx SE to NW).
Whereas ex Barlow MOD site is at 655/280.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

Finally rooted out my copy of "Railways in East Yorkshire" by Martin Bairstow... and the opening and closing dates are not in the route tables!!
From the text and various internet researches I've found the following;
Thorpe Gates to Goole including the link from Brayton North Junction to Brayton East Junction (from Selby) opened to goods on 1st November 1910. Selby to Goole received its passenger service from 1st May 1912. The line from Thorpe Gates to Brayton East did not have a passenger service and appears to have been a basket case - by 1931 it was in use for wagon storage. It appears to have officially closed in 1945 but the consensus is that it actually closed in 1939 on the outbreak of war, the implication is that the rails were removed for use elsewhere.
Barlow tip to Oakhill Junction closed in June 1964 but the short section serving Drax Power Station came back into use in 1972.... I think.
I'll do some further digging and post the results if I find any!!

 

[Justin Smith]

Thank you for your efforts so far !