The Hull and South Yorkshire Extension Railway was incorporated on 6 August 1897 and on 25 July 1898 was transferred to the Hull and Barnsley Railway

Hull and Barnsley Railway

The Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company was opened on 20 July 1885. It had a total projected length of 66 miles but never reached Barnsley, stopping a few miles short at Stairfoot. The name was changed to The Hull and Barnsley Railway in 1905...

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The bill was deposited by a group of local coal owners representing the Manvers Main Colliery

Manvers Main Colliery

Manvers Main Colliery was a coal mine, sunk on land belonging to the Earl Manvers and was situated on the northern edge of the township of Wath-upon-Dearne, between that town and Mexborough, in the Dearne Valley, South Yorkshire, England...

 Company, Hickleton Main Colliery, Wath Main Colliery

Wath Main Colliery

Wath Main Colliery was a coal mine situated in the Dearne Valley, close by the township of Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire, England. The colliery was operated by the Wath Main Coal Company Limited....

, Warncliffe Silkstone Colliery together with representatives of the Hull and Barnsley Railway.

Description

The main line left that of the Hull and Barnsley at Wrangbrook Junction, which then became a three-way affair with the South Yorkshire Junction Railway

South Yorkshire Junction Railway

The South Yorkshire Junction Railway is a railway which ran from Wrangbrook Junction on the main line of the Hull and Barnsley Railway to near Denaby in South Yorkshire. It was nominally an independent company sponsored by the Denaby and Cadeby Colliery Company but was worked by the Hull and...

 as well as the H&B. It ran via Hickleton and Thurnscoe to Wath

Wath (Hull and Barnsley) railway station

Wath railway station was one of three railway stations in Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire, England. It was the southern terminus of The Hull & South Yorkshire Extension Railway which became part of the Hull and Barnsley Railway in 1898 and was the southern terminus of a branch line from...

 where it made an east facing junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.-Origin:...

 and a spur to reach Manvers Main Colliery.

The line was over 8 miles in length, with steep gradients - being between 1 in 120 to 150 uphill for the first six miles after Wrangbrook junction, then around 1 in 110 to 1 in 115 dowhill to Wath. The line had problems with subsidence, as well as flooding at the point it passed under the Midland railway.

The line was transferred to the H&B on 25 July 1898 and the in June following year they put in hand work to double the line between Wrangbrook Junction and Hickleton as well as spurs to serve the collieries at Hickleton, Manvers and Wath. The line was opened for goods on 31 March 1902 and for passengers on 28 August the same year with intermediate stations at Moorhouse and South Elmsall

Moorhouse and South Elmsall Halt

Moorhouse and South Elmsall Halt was a railway station situated on the Hull and Barnsley Railway's branch line from Wrangbrook to Wath-upon-Dearne. The station served the small village of Moorhouse and the eastern part of the mining village of South Elmsall on the South Yorkshire / West Yorkshire...

 and Hickleton and Thurnscoe

Hickleton and Thurnscoe Halt

Hickleton and Thurnscoe Halt was a small railway station on the Hull and Barnsley Railway line between Wrangbrook Junction and Wath-upon-Dearne. The halt was built to serve the mining villages of Hickleton and Thurnscoe, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire and was situated in the centre of Thurnscoe at...

. Passenger traffic, which ran to Kirk Smeaton on the H&B, ended on 6 April 1929, goods traffic between Wath and Hickleton ended on 2 October 1933, between Hickleton and Moorhouse on 31 May 1954 and on the remainder of the line on 1 October 1963. Certain lines around the southern terminus at Wath remained for use by the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

. These were closed with the Wath Main / Manvers Main complex in the 1980's.