Bowers Row colliery

[Justin Smith]

Has anyone any idea where "Bowers Row" Colliery was ?
It appears on the 1979 Baker's rail atlas and is on the map in Paul Shannon's "Rail freight since 1968 : Coal".
Both place it just NW of Allerton Bywater colliery.
However, there is no mention of it on any authoritative source on the net (e.g. the Northern Mine Research society), nor can I find it on any of my old OS maps of the mid 60s /70s where it is supposed to be (i.e. at OS map ref 405286).
Thanks.

 

[alistairlees]

Has anyone any idea where "Bowers Row" Colliery was ?
It appears on the 1979 Baker's rail atlas and is on the map in Paul Shannon's "Rail freight since 1968 : Coal".
Both place it just NW of Allerton Bywater colliery.
However, there is no mention of it on any authoritative source on the net (e.g. the Northern Mine Research society), nor can I find it on any of my old OS maps of the mid 60s /70s where it is supposed to be (i.e. at OS map ref 405286).
Thanks.

I googled Bowers Row Colliery and it seems that it was not a colliery but a small settlement of Bowers Row with two collieries both including the word "Bowers".

Possibly these were local names for "Allerton, Victoria" and "Allerton, Albert", both owned by T and RW Bower. See http://www.dmm.org.uk/company/b1014.htm

 

[Gloster]

Well, there had been a pit of this name but it was long closed. (You have to get the NMR map up to a very large scale to find it, which is difficult on my iPad.) I wonder if it is a copyright trap, the equivalent of a trap street.

 

[oldman]

Thiese 1892 maps from the NLS shows a Lowther Colliery immediately to the south of Bower's Row and Allerton Main (Albert and Victoria pits)to the north.

https://maps.nls.uk/view/125642671
https://maps.nls.uk/view/125644606

 

[Gloster]

I have found a picture on Flickr by Googling Bowers Row colliery: it is of a Class 56 on a loaded MGR passing Ledston signal box in October 1985. The caption says it is coming from Bowers Row opencast site.

EDIT: it seems also to have been known as St Aidan’s. Googling Bowers Row opencast site produces photos of the 03 and LMS 350 h.p. that were there.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

The caption says it is coming from Bowers Row opencast site.

Yes, it was an opencast site in latter times. Photo'd class 11, 12099 and 03 D2148 there in mid eighties. Grid ref for the site as was at that time approx. SE 285400. The sidings were more extensive in past times though, so not sure if there was ever a deep mine there in the dim and distant past?

 

[nanstallon]

When I was at Leeds University in 1968, there was a useful publication about NCB steam in the area. I seem to recall the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG) publishing quite a few titles that were similar. It may have more information. Sadly I no longer have mine.

 

[unslet]

There was a station called Bowers Halt on the Garforth-Castleford line.It was built on an embankment to serve the then new housing estates.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Grid ref for the site as was at that time approx. SE 285400

What a berk (I am..) got my compass points a-about-T ! Should read nearer to what OP has quoted. IRS in their EL books quote SE 399285, but near enough anyhow.

 

[47296lastduff]

This opencast site was by the Southern end of the Castleford to Garforth line, the Northern section closing in 1969. The site was also referred to by the name Allerton Bywater, in railway terminology.

 

[Justin Smith]

Thank you for all your help;

This opencast site was by the Southern end of the Castleford to Garforth line, the Northern section closing in 1969. The site was also referred to by the name Allerton Bywater, in railway terminology.

I thought it may just be an alternative name for A N Other colliery (though I cannot find one that was still open in the 70s at that site), but both the maps I referred to in the opener place Allerton Bywater colliery a few miles SE of "Bowers Grove".

 

[unslet]

Hard to imagine now,but loaded coal trains from St Aidans opencast mine used to stop about where the bin is in the attached street view.

The class 56 would be left ticking over whilst the crew nipped into the chip shop for their lunch.

The train would then proceed across the road to join the "main line".

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[nlt]

As far as I am aware there has never been a comprehensive history of the coal mining activity in the area to the north of the River Aire in and around Swillington and Allerton Bywater. From my own research the gist is as follows. It’s possible there was excavation of coal near the surface in the area stretching back to the Roman era. Then circa 1655 most of the land around the villages of Great and Little Preston, as well as Swillington. was acquired by John and WIlliam Lowther from Cumberland who had made money trading cloth between Yorkshire and Europe. Over succeeding generations the Lowthers developed the mining activity, first in bell pits, then going deeper as the technology improved during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Lowthers mainly let the coal leases to individuals who actually employed the miners who did the work. Meanwhile the Lowthers grew very rich on the royalties they earned. One of them built Swillington House. In the early days from about 1700 most of the coal was shipped either to Leeds or further afield on the Aire and Calder Navigation. Lowthers were directors or “undertakers” of the company. I am not sure of the precise date but at some point in the early decades of the 19th century the leases for coal mining on the Lowther estate were acquired by the Bower family of Hunslet who owned glass works there. Joshua Bower (1773 - 1855) and his son of the same name (1802 - 1868) were both involved. After the second Joshua died the leases, as part of his estate, passed to his wife Elizabeth. During the 1870s a limited company was formed called Bowers Allerton Collieries Limited. This was put up for sale in 1879. Am attaching a plan from the sale prospectus. It shows the various pits/collieries (also as shown on the Ordnance Survey maps). As far as I am aware none of the indiviudal pits was called Bowers or Bowers’ or Bower’s Colliery. Locals worked at Bowers’ pit meaning they worked for the company at one of the several pits. (Primrose Hill closer to Swillington was added in the 1890s).

After a bit of financial jiggery pokery the Bower family regained control of the company in the 1880s and until circa 1920 it was known as T. & R. W. Bower, named after Thomas and Robert William Bower, sons of the second Joshua Bower. (So where should the apostrophe be: Bower’s or Bowers’? In the end it was dropped completely.) Thomas appears to have taken more of a management role in the company than his brother and in 1882 gave evidence to the parliamentary commitees into the East and West Yorkshire Union Railway(s) which planned a line from Lofthouse on the Great Northern, passing Swillington, to Drax where it would have joined the Hull and Barnsley railway. The line was proposed because the colliery owners thought they were being ripped off by the railway companies, ie the Midland and the North Eastern. Despite being approved the E&WYUR was only built in truncated form in the Rothwell area. The Bowers were responsible for the Bowers Row “village” and along with Lowthers helped fund a local school and chapel. The Lowthers gave up their interest in Swillington around the time of the First World War and after the war the Bower pits were sold to Pease and Partners who had them until nationalisation. Primrose Hill was the last to close circa 1969 when the workforce either took redundancy or transferred mainly to the new Selby coalfield. After that there was a big opencast mine in the area which completely destroyed the old surface infrastructure and in the process broke the banks of the River Aire causing a huge flood. Eventually the site was reclaimed and is now the St. Aidan’s nature reserve. For further reading see The Lowther Family by Hugh Owen, Bowers Row by Jim Bullock and Private Owner Wagons 14th edition by Keith Turton. (Nb The Bower company pits are often described as being in or at Woodlesford. This is incorrect. Woodlesford was used as an address as it was where the nearest post and telegraph office was.)

 

[Justin Smith]

As far as I am aware there has never been a comprehensive history of the coal mining activity in the area to the north of the River Aire in and around Swillington and Allerton Bywater. From my own research the gist is as follows. It’s possible there was excavation of coal near the surface in the area stretching back to the Roman era. Then circa 1655 most of the land around the villages of Great and Little Preston, as well as Swillington. was acquired by John and WIlliam Lowther from Cumberland who had made money trading cloth between Yorkshire and Europe. Over succeeding generations the Lowthers developed the mining activity, first in bell pits, then going deeper as the technology improved during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Lowthers mainly let the coal leases to individuals who actually employed the miners who did the work. Meanwhile the Lowthers grew very rich on the royalties they earned. One of them built Swillington House. In the early days from about 1700 most of the coal was shipped either to Leeds or further afield on the Aire and Calder Navigation. Lowthers were directors or “undertakers” of the company. I am not sure of the precise date but at some point in the early decades of the 19th century the leases for coal mining on the Lowther estate were acquired by the Bower family of Hunslet who owned glass works there. Joshua Bower (1773 - 1855) and his son of the same name (1802 - 1868) were both involved. After the second Joshua died the leases, as part of his estate, passed to his wife Elizabeth. During the 1870s a limited company was formed called Bowers Allerton Collieries Limited. This was put up for sale in 1879. Am attaching a plan from the sale prospectus. It shows the various pits/collieries (also as shown on the Ordnance Survey maps). As far as I am aware none of the indiviudal pits was called Bowers or Bowers’ or Bower’s Colliery. Locals worked at Bowers’ pit meaning they worked for the company at one of the several pits. (Primrose Hill closer to Swillington was added in the 1890s).

After a bit of financial jiggery pokery the Bower family regained control of the company in the 1880s and until circa 1920 it was known as T. & R. W. Bower, named after Thomas and Robert William Bower, sons of the second Joshua Bower. (So where should the apostrophe be: Bower’s or Bowers’? In the end it was dropped completely.) Thomas appears to have taken more of a management role in the company than his brother and in 1882 gave evidence to the parliamentary commitees into the East and West Yorkshire Union Railway(s) which planned a line from Lofthouse on the Great Northern, passing Swillington, to Drax where it would have joined the Hull and Barnsley railway. The line was proposed because the colliery owners thought they were being ripped off by the railway companies, ie the Midland and the North Eastern. Despite being approved the E&WYUR was only built in truncated form in the Rothwell area. The Bowers were responsible for the Bowers Row “village” and along with Lowthers helped fund a local school and chapel. The Lowthers gave up their interest in Swillington around the time of the First World War and after the war the Bower pits were sold to Pease and Partners who had them until nationalisation. Primrose Hill was the last to close circa 1969 when the workforce either took redundancy or transferred mainly to the new Selby coalfield. After that there was a big opencast mine in the area which completely destroyed the old surface infrastructure and in the process broke the banks of the River Aire causing a huge flood. Eventually the site was reclaimed and is now the St. Aidan’s nature reserve. For further reading see The Lowther Family by Hugh Owen, Bowers Row by Jim Bullock and Private Owner Wagons 14th edition by Keith Turton. (Nb The Bower company pits are often described as being in or at Woodlesford. This is incorrect. Woodlesford was used as an address as it was where the nearest post and telegraph office was.)

Thank you for your exceptionally interesting post.
It actually raises even more questions though !

Backing up what you said there is no pit named "Bowers Row" on the Durham Mining Museum site, one wonders where Stuart Baker and Paul Shannon got the name !
Here is the page with all collieries within 5m of Allerton Bywater :
http://www.dmm.org.uk/collnear/a205.htm

I have used your map in conjunction with this reference :
https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-...ries-of-the-british-isles/coal-mines-england/
The latter does not pretend to be fully comprehensive but I have found it to be pretty much.

It gives the closing date for Albert pit as 1935, yet it is on my 1970 OS map, albeit as "disused" !
Victoria pit does not appear to be listed.

Fleakley colliery is listed as Fleakingly Beck pit but with a closing date of 1897, yet its rail infrastructure is on the 1970 OS map !

I suspect the opencast mine you refer to may be the one we are after ?
Does anyone know what was its name was and when it shut ?

I shall continue my research !

Useful map of Yorkshire collieries :
https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/yorkshire-coalfield/

And here is a larger scale version with all the collieries around the area we are interested in :
https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/yorkshire-coalfield/selby/

 

[nlt]

Thank you for your exceptionally interesting post.
It actually raises even more questions though !

Backing up what you said there is no pit named "Bowers Row" on the Durham Mining Museum site, one wonders where Stuart Baker and Paul Shannon got the name !
Here is the page with all collieries within 5m of Allerton Bywater :
http://www.dmm.org.uk/collnear/a205.htm

I have used your map in conjunction with this reference :
https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-...ries-of-the-british-isles/coal-mines-england/
The latter does not pretend to be fully comprehensive but I have found it to be pretty much.

It gives the closing date for Albert pit as 1935, yet it is on my 1970 OS map, albeit as "disused" !
Victoria pit does not appear to be listed.

Fleakley colliery is listed as Fleakingly Beck pit but with a closing date of 1897, yet its rail infrastructure is on the 1970 OS map !

I suspect the opencast mine you refer to may be the one we are after ?
Does anyone know what was its name was and when it shut ?

I shall continue my research !

Useful map of Yorkshire collieries :
https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/yorkshire-coalfield/

And here is a larger scale version with all the collieries around the area we are interested in :
https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/yorkshire-coalfield/selby/

I think the answers are as follows:
1. Baker and Shannon are probably referring to the name of the opencast site as it was known by the NCB. See National Archives.

​

Reference:	COAL 94/140
Description:	Issued audit reports: Opencast Executive headquarters; Bowers Row and Astley Staithes disposal points, Yorkshire

Also wiki page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Aidan's photo attached. I think St. Aidan's is a modern name and I dont think Aidan of Lindisfarne had any connection to the area.

2. The pit was Fleakingley Beck. Many of the men who worked there lived in Woodlesford due to lack of housing on north side of the river. The closed pits probably continued as ventilation or access shafts. The Primrose Hill date of 1947 probably refers to a drift that was built there rather than the earlier shaft.

3. The nmrs maps dont show other pits to the west of the area you highlight. There was a significant amount of mining in the Aire Valley just to the south of the Temple Newsam estate and in the Rothwell area. See Coal Kings of Yorkshire by Goodchild.

 

[Gloster]

Agreed. Bowers Row appears to only refer to the opencast excavation and not to any earlier pit. It seems that the nature park took its name from the opencast excavation, which was also known as St Aidan’s, but why the latter got that name is not clear. Perhaps some vague and erroneous connection with the nearby River Aire.

 

[nlt]

The St. Aidan's name comes from the church built in 1905 at Great Preston. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7835698

 

[Gloster]

The St. Aidan's name comes from the church built in 1905 at Great Preston. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7835698

Ah…I tried searching for a church, but the nearest I could find was in Harehills on the other side of Leeds. The Great Preston one appears to have ceased use as a church in 1988 and is now the village hall.

 

[Justin Smith]

I think the answers are as follows:
1. Baker and Shannon are probably referring to the name of the opencast site as it was known by the NCB. See National Archives.

​

Reference:	COAL 94/140
Description:	Issued audit reports: Opencast Executive headquarters; Bowers Row and Astley Staithes disposal points, Yorkshire

Also wiki page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Aidan's photo attached. I think St. Aidan's is a modern name and I dont think Aidan of Lindisfarne had any connection to the area.

2. The pit was Fleakingley Beck. Many of the men who worked there lived in Woodlesford due to lack of housing on north side of the river. The closed pits probably continued as ventilation or access shafts. The Primrose Hill date of 1947 probably refers to a drift that was built there rather than the earlier shaft.

3. The nmrs maps dont show other pits to the west of the area you highlight. There was a significant amount of mining in the Aire Valley just to the south of the Temple Newsam estate and in the Rothwell area. See Coal Kings of Yorkshire by Goodchild.

Thanks for that, the Wiki page said mining ceased in 2002.

 

[nlt]

The 6 inch maps surveyed 1845/6 give a much better understanding of the locations of the various pits on the Lowther/Kippax estates. The ones marked old coal pit may have been bell pits, if not they were probably very shallow. Attached is a notice from August 1840 which strongly suggests to me the first Bower pit in the area was named Allerton Colliery and was located abt half a mile to the north of Allerton Staith. My guess is that it worked the Haigh Moor seam at a depth of abt 95 yards. It had a "high pressure" steam engine for winding men and coal, the boiler for which exploded in 1849 killing one man.

View map: Ordnance Survey, Yorkshire 234 (includes: Ackton and Snydale; Castleford; Garforth; Rothwell.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952

View map: Ordnance Survey, Yorkshire 219 (includes: Garforth; Ledston; Micklefield; Sturton Grange.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952

 

[Justin Smith]

On the basis that people who read this thread probably know a lot about West Yorks collieries generally ( ! ) could I be forgiven for piggy backing this question ?
Stuart Bakers 1979 atlas shows "Wintersett" colliery just SW of Hare Park Junc (on the south side of the mainline), but I can find no record of it anywhere, incl any sign of it on old OS maps or on the internet either.
Has anyone got any ideas ?
Had he got it mixed up with Walton / Sharlston West colliery which doesn't appear on his map (and was located the other side of Hare Park Junc, on the north side of the main line).

 

[Gloster]

It looks like Wintersett was another opencast pit. Sharlston is shown in Baker as the other side of the Crofton-Monkhill line.

 

[Justin Smith]

It looks like Wintersett was another opencast pit. Sharlston is shown in Baker as the other side of the Crofton-Monkhill line.

I think you're right about Wintersett opencast.

Sharlston is shown on Bakers, but Sharlston West (also known as Walton) is not shown, it was here. It shut in 1979.

 

[nlt]

Silly me. re the original posts abt Bowers Row. I stupidly forgot to check Yorkshire Collieries 1947 - 1994 by Eddie Downes. Despite the book's title Eddie includes significant historical detail about the collieries he covered. The book includes Allerton Main and Allerton Bywater and so I was wrong to say there was no detailed history of the pits in the area. If you are at all interested in the West Yorkshire pits this is the book to look at. It was privately published and is now unavailable so the best place to look for one is in a library. Re Allerton Main he says that Joshua Bower first acquired a lease for the Astley colliery from the Lowthers in 1821.

 

[Clarence Yard]

For anyone wanting to know about the locos used after 1947, together with details of the activities at each location and when rail traffic ceased, I would recommend the following IRS publication:

Industrial locomotives of Yorkshire, Part A - The National Coal Board, compiled by V.J.Bradley and published in 2002. The IRS designation is “Interim Pocket Book 8A”.

It covers NCB locations in West and North Yorkshire.

 

[Adrian Barr]

There's a good book by David Monk-Steel called Merry-Go-Round: On the Rails which I can recommend - at almost 200 pages it has a lot of info, including an appendix with a master list of collieries and opencast sites active during the MGR era.

The symbol for a colliery in a Baker atlas includes opencast sites. As already mentioned, Bowers Row was an opencast site - the Merry Go Round book lists it as opening in 1958, pad loading, with rail traffic ceasing in 1988. This fits in with its appearances in the Quail and Baker maps, where it disappears after 1988. To be more specific, Wikipedia indicates that Bowers Row was the disposal point; St Aidan's was the actual opencast site - there is often a difference between the name of the opencast site(s) and the disposal point railing the coal.
Some pictures of shunting engines at Bowers Row, as mentioned by Gloster: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/bowersrow/

The 1988 Quail map shows a stub of line labelled "Allerton Main" in the same vicinity as Bowers Row, suggesting the colliery (which closed in 1947 according to the NMRS website) and the later opencast site were in the same general area. Meanwhile, Allerton Bywater was a different colliery which trains from Bowers Row passed to reach the main line, as seen here in the 1985 picture mentioned by Gloster, a lovely shot by Andrew Gallon: https://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/12769427595/

In the MGR book, Allerton Bywater is shown as a colliery, pad loading, closed in 1992 (opening dates before 1972 are not generally listed). The pad loading was installed in 1989, before which it had much more of a traditional colliery layout. This picture from Wakefield Museums Collection shows the conveyor system feeding the pad, the loading shovel used to load the wagons, with the former colliery sidings trackless in the background:
Photograph collection > Allerton Bywater

The view of Allerton Bywater in 1992, just a single line: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_davis_photos/27201153348/
Which is very different to the expanse of sidings in 1980: https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/6483503601/

The 1998 Quail map shows a "Ledston Unloading Hopper" at Allerton Bywater. This wikipedia article is actually quite helpful: Castleford–Garforth line. It mentions spoil tips in the area, and this is the only reason I can think of for their being an unloading hopper there after the colliery closed. The name "Allerton Bywater" does vaguely ring a bell in this context, similar to the nearby "Goose Hill" disposal point near Normanton.

Edit: This 1995 photo by Michael Hart, taken at Castleford, shows 56068 with 45 HAAs of shale from Gascoigne Wood to Allerton Bywater for disposal, with brake vans each end!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/54248111985/

Stuart Bakers 1979 atlas shows "Wintersett" colliery just SW of Hare Park Junc (on the south side of the mainline), but I can find no record of it anywhere, incl any sign of it on old OS maps or on the internet either.
Has anyone got any ideas ?

Wintersett was an opencast site, as already mentioned. The MGR book has it as an opencast site with a rapid loading bunker, opening in 1980 and closing in 1988, but the dates seem spurious. It doesn't appear in the 1988 Quail map or the 1990 Baker Atlas, but is in the 1992 Baker Atlas. In Paul Shannon's "Rail Freight Since 1968: Coal" Wintersett gets a mention as follows:

Yorkshire produced relatively little opencast coal traffic in the 1990s. An overhead bunker was installed at Wintersett for traffic from Anglers site...

From its context in the chapter, this appears to indicate Wintersett opened in the 1990s, which sounds right to me, and there are pictures of loaded coal traffic en route from Wintersett in 1995:
56130 with loaded HEAs from Wintersett to Tyne Yard - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gridchaser/20918435678/
60024 at Castleford with an MGR from Wintersett to York Yard North: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/54251945446/

After the end of coal loading, the sidings at Wintersett got a new lease of life as a location to stable Freightliner Heavy Haul coal sets between duties, back when the 66s and HHAs were almost new...
66520 with Eggborough - Wintersett empties in 2001: https://www.flickr.com/photos/183142496@N04/53876916306/
And 66605 with Wintersett - Immingham empties, also in 2001: https://www.flickr.com/photos/183142496@N04/51667457542/

Wintersett sidings, disused in 2019: https://www.flickr.com/photos/134774261@N07/47972178908/

The exit signal from the sidings in 2016, after vegetation clearance for an aborted project to reopen as a loading point for a nearby opencast scheme: https://www.flickr.com/photos/108690725@N05/25792476201

 

[oldman]

According to the Friends of Haw Park and Wintersett, referring to what is now the Anglers Country Park

In 1974 this originally farmed landscape was dramatically changed when it became one of the deepest opencast mines in Europe, reaching a depth of 250 feet. The mine closed in 1982 and restoration works began with the creation of the lake taking two years.

 

[Adrian Barr]

According to the Friends of Haw Park and Wintersett, referring to what is now the Anglers Country Park: In 1974 this originally farmed landscape was dramatically changed when it became one of the deepest opencast mines in Europe, reaching a depth of 250 feet. The mine closed in 1982 and restoration works began with the creation of the lake taking two years.

Ah, thank you, that helps clear things up, I wasn't looking far enough back in the Baker atlases...

Wintersett is shown in the 1977, 1978 and 1980 Bakers Atlas, disappears for 1984, 1988 and 1990, then reappears in 1992.

There's a caption to a picture of the bunker in Merry-Go-Round: On the Rails which adds some context:

Wintersett Disposal Point was located on the Doncaster to Leeds line between Fitzwilliam and Sandall and Agbrigg. Opened in 1980 and closed in about 1988; the terminal remained, bring used in the interim to stable and repair Freightliner hopper wagons. It was photographed in May 2001, but was demolished some time shortly after this. It served a number of opencast sites in the Walton and Wintersett area.

The opening date for the bunker itself was 1980, but the appearance of Wintersett in the 1977 Baker Atlas, and the opening of Anglers opencast in 1974, indicates coal was already being loaded there. The bunker does look pretty substantial - not something that would have been common to install during the 90s when pad loading was in favour for opencast sites.

It probably closed and reopened as a coal loading point more than once - the mention in Paul Shannon's book in the context of 90s opencast may be because it reopened during this period (which matches the photos of 1995 coal workings originating at Wintersett). Also of interest is that the older Baker atlases show entry and exit at both ends, which later became access at the north end only.

If the bunker was installed in 1980 and the Anglers opencast site closed in 1982, it makes Wintersett disposal point look like a bit of a white elephant, but at least it got some use in later years serving other opencast sites.

 

[Justin Smith]

There's a good book by David Monk-Steel called Merry-Go-Round: On the Rails which I can recommend - at almost 200 pages it has a lot of info, including an appendix with a master list of collieries and opencast sites active during the MGR era.

The symbol for a colliery in a Baker atlas includes opencast sites. As already mentioned, Bowers Row was an opencast site - the Merry Go Round book lists it as opening in 1958, pad loading, with rail traffic ceasing in 1988. This fits in with its appearances in the Quail and Baker maps, where it disappears after 1988. To be more specific, Wikipedia indicates that Bowers Row was the disposal point; St Aidan's was the actual opencast site - there is often a difference between the name of the opencast site(s) and the disposal point railing the coal.
Some pictures of shunting engines at Bowers Row, as mentioned by Gloster: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/bowersrow/

The 1988 Quail map shows a stub of line labelled "Allerton Main" in the same vicinity as Bowers Row, suggesting the colliery (which closed in 1947 according to the NMRS website) and the later opencast site were in the same general area. Meanwhile, Allerton Bywater was a different colliery which trains from Bowers Row passed to reach the main line, as seen here in the 1985 picture mentioned by Gloster, a lovely shot by Andrew Gallon: https://www.flickr.com/photos/feversham/12769427595/

In the MGR book, Allerton Bywater is shown as a colliery, pad loading, closed in 1992 (opening dates before 1972 are not generally listed). The pad loading was installed in 1989, before which it had much more of a traditional colliery layout. This picture from Wakefield Museums Collection shows the conveyor system feeding the pad, the loading shovel used to load the wagons, with the former colliery sidings trackless in the background:
Photograph collection > Allerton Bywater

The view of Allerton Bywater in 1992, just a single line: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_davis_photos/27201153348/
Which is very different to the expanse of sidings in 1980: https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/6483503601/

The 1998 Quail map shows a "Ledston Unloading Hopper" at Allerton Bywater. This wikipedia article is actually quite helpful: Castleford–Garforth line. It mentions spoil tips in the area, and this is the only reason I can think of for their being an unloading hopper there after the colliery closed. The name "Allerton Bywater" does vaguely ring a bell in this context, similar to the nearby "Goose Hill" disposal point near Normanton.

Edit: This 1995 photo by Michael Hart, taken at Castleford, shows 56068 with 45 HAAs of shale from Gascoigne Wood to Allerton Bywater for disposal, with brake vans each end!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/54248111985/



Wintersett was an opencast site, as already mentioned. The MGR book has it as an opencast site with a rapid loading bunker, opening in 1980 and closing in 1988, but the dates seem spurious. It doesn't appear in the 1988 Quail map or the 1990 Baker Atlas, but is in the 1992 Baker Atlas. In Paul Shannon's "Rail Freight Since 1968: Coal" Wintersett gets a mention as follows:



From its context in the chapter, this appears to indicate Wintersett opened in the 1990s, which sounds right to me, and there are pictures of loaded coal traffic en route from Wintersett in 1995:
56130 with loaded HEAs from Wintersett to Tyne Yard - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gridchaser/20918435678/
60024 at Castleford with an MGR from Wintersett to York Yard North: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/54251945446/

After the end of coal loading, the sidings at Wintersett got a new lease of life as a location to stable Freightliner Heavy Haul coal sets between duties, back when the 66s and HHAs were almost new...
66520 with Eggborough - Wintersett empties in 2001: https://www.flickr.com/photos/183142496@N04/53876916306/
And 66605 with Wintersett - Immingham empties, also in 2001: https://www.flickr.com/photos/183142496@N04/51667457542/

Wintersett sidings, disused in 2019: https://www.flickr.com/photos/134774261@N07/47972178908/

The exit signal from the sidings in 2016, after vegetation clearance for an aborted project to reopen as a loading point for a nearby opencast scheme: https://www.flickr.com/photos/108690725@N05/25792476201

Very informative.

 

[Adrian Barr]

I've been meaning to come back to this thread for a while now with some more information. This is a long post but it's split into three separate parts:

1) Wintersett
2) Allerton Bywater
3) Allerton Main / Primrose Hill / Bowers Row Opencast

=======
Wintersett
=======

A little bit more digging (no pun intended) into Wintersett, with a rough timeline:

One thing I noticed when looking at this 1965 Ordnance Survey of the Wintersett area - https://maps.nls.uk/view/189182592 - is the triangular layout from Nostell (North and South junctions) which joined at Wintersett Jn and continued as the Barnsley Coal Railway (later GC) line to Stairfoot, which closed in 1961. The Wikipedia page for the Barnsley Coal Railway includes an RCH junction diagram for the area. RailMapOnline shows the later sidings at Wintersett occupying land that would have been inside the triangle, with the entry and exit from the sidings being in the vicinity of Nostell North and South Jns.

One source I didn't check before are working timetables. Wintersett pops up in the 1983 YH WTT as the origin for a 7D56 09:15 MGR to Immingham NCB terminal, running via Applehurst Jn and Stainforth & Hatfield. The YJ timetable, which includes the Doncaster to Leeds line, shows Wintersett as a location in the Oct 1984 WTT. No trains are shown to the location, although that doesn't mean much when local MGR services would be planned weekly. It doesn't appear in the 1986 or 1989 timetables as a location on the route, which could be taken as an indication it was no longer active.

Wintersett timeline, based on available info:

1965: Ordnance Survey map shows triangular junction still in place (Nostell North and South Jns to Wintersett Jn) which had closed in 1961. No indication of sidings at Wintersett at this time, apart from up and down refuge sidings at Nostell North mentioned here - https://britishrailways1960.co.uk/ners41/
1974: Anglers opencast site begins operation; sidings at Wintersett disposal point probably opened around the same time. It seems unlikely that "one of the deepest opencast mines in Europe" would open without accompanying rail loading facilities. Wintersett appears in the 1977 Baker Atlas as a coal loading point.
1980: Overhead bunker installed at Wintersett.
1982: Anglers opencast site closes. Wintersett disposal point may have survived for a few years longer to serve other opencast sites in the area.
1983: Appears in October 1983 WTT as origin of a train to Immingham NCB Coal export terminal
1984: Shown as a location in the October 1984 WTT.
1986: Not included as a location in the May 1986 WTT
1988: Wintersett closes "about 1988" according to Merry Go Round: On the Rails, although its complete absence from both the 1984 Bakers Atlas and the 1988 Quail map suggests it may have closed earlier.
1989: Not included as a location in the May 1989 WTT.
1992: Wintersett disposal point reopens in early 90s and reappears in 1992 Baker Atlas. Photos of coal trains from Wintersett in 1993 and 1995.
1996: Baker Atlas indicates the sidings are in use by RJB Mining (although coal trains may have ceased around this time).
1998: Wintersett is shown as "out of use" in the 1998 Quail map. By this time access is from the north end only.
2001: The sidings are in use once again, with Freightliner Heavy Haul using them to stable their HHA coal sets between workings.

Coal trains from Wintersett in 1993 (photos by Michael Hart):
To Fiddlers Ferry with 60044: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/44401881690/
To Eggborough with 56083: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/52452374087/

This is the only picture I can find online of a train at the site, 66605 with a set of HHAs in January 2001:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/big-stew/8214272849/ (Photo: Stewart Donohue)

A comparison from 2020, from a similar viewpoint with the main line on the left:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128750229@N04/49753675793/ (Photo: davehell)

I'm not sure what the layout was like when the place was first opened, but the later layout with the overhead bunker is shown in the 1998 Quail map as a siding through the bunker, another siding next to it forming a run round loop, and a short 'cripple siding' for defective wagons.

===========
Allerton Bywater
===========

Once the layout at Allerton Bywater had been simplified to a dead end siding with pad loading (around 1989), MGR trains required a brake van for a propelling move onto the branch from Castleford.

56091 is seen on the branch with a loaded MGR train in 1990, brake van at the rear:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mick_page/32346304730/ (Mick Page)

The pad loading machinery at the colliery is shown in this shot of 56073 in 1991:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/48692157257/ (Models of Hull Collection - Garry Cartwright)

At this time (1991/1992) it appears the main flow of coal was to Gascoigne Wood for blending. In this November 1992 shot, a brake van is seen on the rear of a train at Milford which has come from Allerton Bywater:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/183142496@N04/53897099782/ (Robert Catterson)
I assume the brake van must have been attached / detached either at Milford Sidings or Gascoigne Wood itself.

As mentioned already, after the reported closure of the colliery in 1992, Allerton Bywater received trainloads of shale from Gascoigne Wood for disposal. These were running by 1994 (as a set of 45 HAAs with a brake van at each end) and the shale flows from Gascoigne Wood to both Allerton Bywater and Goose Hill (Normanton) are mentioned in the Freightmaster books for 1995. In the 1996 Freightmaster books, only Goose Hill is mentioned as a destination for these trains.

The Goose Hill (a.k.a. Welbeck) terminal is seen in the background to this 1992 shot of a pair of 37s passing with an oil train:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_davis_photos/40364067964/ (delticfan)

A final intriguing shot - this February 1995 shot shows 56077 with loaded coal from Allerton Bywater. Although the colliery had been closed for a couple of years, they could have been clearing or reclaiming coal stocks from the site, or using the loading pad facilities to move coal from a nearby opencast site.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/46525026592/ (Michael Hart)

A similar operation is seen taking place at Sharlston in this photo taken on the same day, two years after that colliery closed.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151904976@N08/45853178934/in/photostream/

The whole area around Knottingley seems a bit of a "wild west" for coal trains in the mid to late nineties, following the privatisation of coal mining and electricity generation. The Winter 1997 Freightmaster book mentions that "coal to Drax and Eggborough can come from just about anywhere," with an increase in traffic from Scotland expected due to the imminent end of a contract with RJB Mining.

===================================
Allerton Main / Primrose Hill / Bowers Row Opencast
===================================

The Lowthers gave up their interest in Swillington around the time of the First World War and after the war the Bower pits were sold to Pease and Partners who had them until nationalisation. Primrose Hill was the last to close circa 1969 when the workforce either took redundancy or transferred mainly to the new Selby coalfield. After that there was a big opencast mine in the area which completely destroyed the old surface infrastructure...

Railway Memories No.15 - Pontefract, Castleford & Knottingley (Peter Cookson & Steve Chapman, Bellcode 2003) helps give a picture of the railways in the area in the 1950s and 60s. The map at the beginning of the book makes an interesting comparison with the 1879 colliery map in post #13. Bowers Row opencast and Primrose Hill colliery are both shown on a colliery branch off the Castleford to Garforth line, leaving the line at approximately the same place marked on the 1879 map as a junction with "L.C & P Railway" (Leeds, Castleford and Pontefract Junction Railway).

In the book, a Hunslet 0-6-0ST is pictured working at Primrose Hill colliery on 01/04/70. Closure date for the colliery itself is given as 06/03/70, but the caption explains that coal was still being washed there at the time the picture was taken. Bowers Row opencast (also referred to as Bowers Opencast) was already in operation by this time, and the same loco pictured at Primrose Hill in 1970 is also pictured at the nearby Bowers opencast site in 1969. The text mentions that "much of the output from Bowers opencast was hauled to Goole docks by Goole 37s."

The signal box where the colliery branch left the Castleford to Garforth line was named "Allerton Main" and beyond this point the Cobb Atlas marks the line as being closed in 1969, which matches the text of the book. The Cobb atlas doesn't show the branch to Bowers Row or Primrose Hill (or the previous collieries shown on the 1879 map) as it understandably doesn't cover private colliery lines or other industrial railways.

This "Gazetteer of British Coal Mines" from the NMRS helps to link together the names and dates of the collieries here between the 1879 map and the one in the book showing Primrose Hill and Bowers Row Opencast: https://www.nmrs.org.uk/assets/mines/coal/yorkshire/1854/index.html

"Allerton Main" comprised Albert, Victoria, Fleakingly Beck and Primrose Hill at various times. "Allerton Main, Primrose Hill" was renamed Primrose Hill in 1947, the same year Victoria shut, leaving it the only remaining part of Allerton Main.

From what I can make out from the lists, "Allerton Main" was the original pit opened in 1853 which became "Allerton Main, Victoria" in 1887 until closure in 1947. "Allerton Main, Albert" lasted from 1882 to 1935. "Allerton Main, Fleakingly Beck" lasted from 1888 to 1897. "Allerton Main, Primrose Hill" opened in 1893, was renamed "Primrose Hill" in 1947 (when it became the last of the Allington Main pits) and closed in 1970.

The Wikipedia entry on the Castleford-Garforth line has a pretty good summary, and provides an opening date for Bowers Row of 1958. It's seems quite likely that once Primrose Hill colliery closed, the opencast site may have expanded into the areas where the various Allerton Main collieries once stood.

Whilst the line served a sparse population, its original intended purpose of moving coal kept it in traffic until the 1990s. Coal was forwarded out from Allerton Bywater, Allerton Main, Kippax, Lowther and Primrose Hill Collieries. Since 1958, Bowers Disposal Point was the forwarding location for coal mined from the St Aidan's opencast venture. One other coal mine, Trench Colliery, was located near to Garforth and its siding faced north, so that it only traversed a small section of the line. Trench Colliery closed down in 1930 and all freight traffic between Garforth and Ledston ended on 14 July 1969.

In the 1980s, spoil from Wheldale Colliery was taken to the tips at Allerton Bywater. This service used National Coal Board (NCB) locomotives with NCB drivers who were qualified to drive on the BR owned branch. These trains ceased in 1987 with the closure of Wheldale. About 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) of track were retained from Castleford East Junction to Ledston to serve Allerton Bywater Colliery and Bowers Row Disposal Point, and later RJB Mining's Ledston Unloading Hopper Compound. These services ended on 6 June 1998.

A few useful quotes from the Railway Memories book giving or confirming closure dates:

[1969] saw complete closure between Garforth and Allerton Main Junction...

In 1989, coal trains ceased running from Bowers Row, and the Castleford - Garforth line was cut back to Allerton Bywater colliery.

All track beyond Ledston to Bowers was lifted by 1996.

Allerton Bywater colliery closed in March 1992, ending coal traffic on the line but then trains of merry-go-round hopper wagons with a brake van at each end brought spoil from the Selby mine for dumping on the tipping grounds between Ledston and the River Aire bridge. This lasted until 1996 after which the line was... officially taken out of use in 1997 during resignalling of the Castleford area.