Wath marshalling yard

Wath marshalling yard, also known as Wath concentration yard, was a large railway marshalling yard specifically designed for the concentration of coal traffic. It was set at the heart of the South Yorkshire Coalfield, at Wath-upon-Dearne, approximately halfway between Barnsley and Doncaster, in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and closed in 1988.

History

The idea of a yard for the concentration of coal traffic developed following a visit by the Great Central Railway's General Manager, Sam Fay (later Sir Sam Fay) to the United States. it was built by Logan and Hemingway, a contractor regularly used by the Great Central Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway before them, and opened in August 1907.cite web | title = Wath concentration yard & the "Wath Daisies" | publisher = GCR Rolling Stock Trust | url = http://www.gcr-rollingstocktrust.co.uk/articles_output.asp?id=8&checkSource=sitemap | accessdate = 2008-03-21 ]

At this time a significant amount of rail-borne coal traffic was wagon-load i.e. one particular customer's load could quite often consist of a single wagon or just a few wagons, resulting in much splitting and reforming of trains. Some 45 collieries were working within a ten miles radius of the chosen site for the yard; its purpose was to gather the wagons of coal from the local collieries in a central position and arrange them into trains. Throughout its lifetime, the yard handled loaded and empty coal and coke wagons almost to the exclusion of other traffic.

Many trains were sent over the Woodhead Line to a yard at Mottram, near Manchester, where they were divided for distribution throughout the North-West. Another major destination for the coal traffic was the steam trawler bunkering sidings at New Clee, near Grimsby, and after 1912 export coal was sent via the new dock facilities at Immingham.

In the early 1950s, the yard became one of the eastern ends of the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electric railway, over the Woodhead route. A prime justification of this scheme was the heavy coal flows from Wath up the steep grades over the Pennines.

By the 1970s, the energy requirements of Britain's households and industry had changed, which resulted in much of the coal traffic going to power stations rather than individual end-users. Power station traffic was block-train rather than wagon-load and consequently did not require much marshalling: the coming of Merry-go-round trains for coal that travelled from colliery to power station in a continuous cycle further reduced this need.

In 1981 the Woodhead route and the associated electrification system closed. Wath Yard was busy with coal trains for a few more years, but the impending closure of many of the remaining local collieries after the 1984-85 miners' strike resulted in a sudden decline. The western exit to Wombwell and Barnsley was lifted in 1986. The yard finally closed and was lifted in 1988 with the closure of the last of the local collieries.

The whole site of the yard was cleared in stages in the mid-1990s and is now an area of office, light industry and residential developments set around a lake.

The yard

The yard was set to the south of the main line from Doncaster and Barnsley. It was built on the 'hump' principle, where trains were uncoupled and then propelled over a hump, allowing the wagons to run by gravity into sidings to await collection. With a total length of over 1¼ miles, between Wath Central railway station and Elsecar Junction, and with over 36 miles of track this was two yards in one: Eastbound traffic was received in 8 reception sidings feeding 31 departure sidings and controlled by "B" Box, whilst for westbound traffic there was a fan of 9 reception sidings, again feeding 31 departure sidings and controlled by "A" Box. The western entry/exit to the yard was under the control of Elsecar Junction signal box whilst the eastern end was controlled by Moor Road signal box, with additional control from the Wath Central signal box, which controlled the main lines through the yard and was situated by the station. The yard could handle as many as 5,000 wagons per day.

The locomotive depot

Initially the yard did not have major locomotive stabling facilities: locomotives were provided by Mexborough shed. With the coming of the electrification a two-road engine shed was built to the North of the yard adjacent to the Moor Lane Bridge. This was used to stable the new electric locomotives, it was also was used to stable the diesel locomotives that replaced Mexborough's steam locomotives after their withdrawal and that shed's closure in the mid-1960s. Wath shed closed in 1983, although a shunter was provided as a trip from Tinsley until 1986. After closure of the depot and yard, the locomotive shed was for a few years the home of a toxic waste processing company, which resulted in a local protest movement being formed. [cite web | title = House of Commons Hansard Debates for 13 Jun 1991 | url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199091/cmhansrd/1991-06-13/Debate-12.html | accessdate = 2008-03-22]

In a lane off Moor Road to the south of the yard was the 'power house', along with the Yard Master's and Inspectors Offices and the Yard Master's House. At the time of opening the points within the yard, controlled by "A" and "B" boxes, were controlled by electro-pneumatic power, this being extended to control points on the main line and signals. The compressed air was supplied from the 'power house' through a network of pipes running throughout the yard.

pecial locomotives

To operate the yard special, powerful, locomotives were needed and Gorton developed a large, three cylinder, 0-8-4 side tank locomotive, four of which were built by Beyer Peacock & Company, being delivered in December 1907 and January 1908. On delivery these were numbered 1170-1173, becoming L.N.E.R. 6170-6173. They were known as "Wath Daisies", GCR Class S1.

References