Dovecliffe railway station explained

Dovecliffe
Status:Disused
Borough:Worsbrough, Barnsley
Country:England
Coordinates:53.5248°N -1.4441°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Original:South Yorkshire Railway
Postgroup:London and North Eastern Railway
Years:4 September 1854
Events:opened
Years1:7 December 1953
Events1:closed

Dovecliffe railway station was situated on the South Yorkshire Railway's Blackburn Valley line between and Wombwell Main Junction.

History

The station opened with the line on 4 September 1854 and closed on 7 December 1953. The line through the station remained open until the 1986 to allow freight access to Barrow Colliery, although the through line to Sheffield was severed between Birdwell and Westwood in the late 1960s with the construction of the M1 motorway.

The station was originally named Smithley for Darley Main & Worsborough but its name was changed by the end of 1855 to Darkcliffe and again in early 1860 to Dovecliffe. It was controlled by a signal box which sat on the station roof. When the line opened, as a single line, there was no block working and when a box was needed it was required to be placed on the outer side of a bend to give better visibility. With the station buildings being very close to the level crossing the only place where the box could be erected was on the station roof.

References