Milford Sidings
{{Short description|Railway sidings in North Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox railway depot
| name = Milford Sidings
| image = 66592 passes Milford Sidings with a coal train.jpg
| image_alt = A diesel locomotive hauling empty coal wagons on a four-track railway with sidings in the distance
| caption = 66592 passes Milford Sidings with a coal train
| location = South Milford, North Yorkshire, England
| coordinates = {{Coord|53.7718|-1.2371|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| grid_ref_UK = SE504308
| owner = Network Rail
| type = Wagon storage sidings
| roads = 11 dead end sidings, 9 through sidings
| opened = 1983
| closed =
| BR_region = Eastern
}}
{{Railways around Milford Sidings}}
Milford Sidings are a set of railway sidings in South Milford, North Yorkshire, England. The railways through the site were initially opened in 1834 and 1840, when transfer and marshalling yards opened too, which handled mostly coal. However, the current sidings were developed in the 1980s to function as layover (staging in railway parlance){{cite web |last1=Butcher |first1=Louise |title=Rail Freight |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00151/SN00151.pdf |website=researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk |publisher=House of Commons |access-date=21 March 2022 |page=12 |date=12 December 2016}} sidings for coal trains to and from the Aire Valley power stations. The sidings have access to several railway lines radiating in almost all directions.
With the drawdown of coal-fired power stations in line with UK government directives, the sidings have been used less due to the loss of coal trains. However, they are still used to stage other freight trains.
History
The first railway through the area was opened in September 1834 as the Leeds and Selby Railway, which ran on an east/west formation north of the Milford Sidings site, and this line is the present Leeds to Hull (via Selby) line.{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Vic |last2=Smith |first2=Keith |title=Leeds to Selby and Goole |date=2020 |publisher=Middleton Press |location=Midhurst |isbn=978-1-910356-47-0|page=4}} The second line ran in a north/south direction under the Leeds and Selby at Milford connecting {{rws|York}} with {{rws|Normanton}} as the York and North Midland Railway.{{sfn|Body|1989|p=178}} This second line, with a south to east facing connection to the Leeds and Selby railway, was completed in 1840.{{sfn|Tomlinson|1915|p=273}} This allowed passengers to and from Hull, to change trains at {{rws|Milford Junction}} station, when previously, they had to change at {{rws|Sherburn-in-Elmet}} station.{{sfn|Tomlinson|1915|p=342}}
A large hump marshalling yard covering {{convert|47|acre}}, was built at Gascoigne Wood on the Leeds to Selby line, which had access to the former York and North Midland Line, both to the north and south.{{cite web |title=Sherburn-in-Elmet Parish (1950s) |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=53.78088&lon=-1.22714&layers=168&b=1 |website=maps.nls.uk |access-date=10 November 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Kershaw |first1=Ronald |title=Coal Board aims to use railway site as focal point for Selby operations |work=The Times |issue=59122 |date=24 June 1974 |page=13|issn=0140-0460}} This yard was one of several hump yards built by the North Eastern Railway (NER) (others being at Stockton, York and Hull), and consisted of at least 28 lines grouped on either side of the main line.{{cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=Michael |title=From gridiron to grassland. |date=2016 |publisher=Platform 5 |location=Sheffield |isbn=978-1-909431-25-6 |pages=53, 55}} Sidings were also present at the site of Milford Junction station, in the same place as the re-laid sidings of the 1980s, however, these later sidings have taken up the area formerly used by {{rws|Milford Junction}} station.{{cite web |title=Milford Junction |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=53.77213&lon=-1.23567&layers=168&b=1 |website=maps.nls.uk |access-date=22 February 2022 |quote=Use the slider to toggle between mapping from older mapping and modern day satellite imagery}}
File:Garnqueen Gartsherrie & Whifflet. Hensall, Milford Selby & Cliff Common RJD 28.jpg
With the opening of the Selby 'Super Pit' complex, which had a loading terminal at Gascoigne Wood, the need for some sidings to stage and store coal wagons nearby was needed, and these were installed at Milford Junction between 1980 and 1983.{{cite book |last1=Monk-Steel |first1=David |title=Merry-go-round : on the rails |date=2011 |publisher=Historical Model Railway Society |location=Ripley |isbn=978-0-902835-30-6 |page=74}} To enable the new sidings to have access to the running lines to Gascoigne Wood and to the north via York, the curve from Gascoigne Wood to Milford Junction was slewed outwards (towards the east) to accommodate the new sidings.{{sfn|Chapman|2002|p=8}} These twelve new sidings,{{sfn|Body|1989|p=73}} the associated sidings, and loading area at Gascoigne Wood cost £47 million, £1.5 million of which was provided by the EEC. Six through sidings and six dead-end sidings were built between the lines going north to York, and the curve to Gascoigne Wood as part of the Selby Diversion programme.{{cite magazine|last1=Skoyles |first1=James |title=Aire Valley Coal |magazine=Railways Illustrated |date=May 2021|volume=19|issue=5 |page=53 |publisher=Mortons Media |location=Horncastle |issn=1479-2230}} The sidings are used as a staging point for freight trains transiting across Great Britain. When the Aire Valley power stations were receiving deliveries of coal, loaded and empty coal wagons were stored in the sidings until they were needed for their next task.{{cite book |last1=Shannon |first1=Paul |title=EWS : from privatisation to DB |date=2012 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Hersham |isbn=978-0-7110-3520-1 |page=39}} The sidings provide access to lines through {{rws|Castleford}}, Pontefract, {{rws|Knottingley}}, Swinton, {{rws|Goole}} and {{rws|Doncaster}} to the south, to {{rws|Selby}}, {{rws|Hull}} in the east, and {{rws|York}} to the north.
{{cite book |last1=Kelman |first1=Leanne |title=Railway track diagrams, books 2 - eastern |date=2020 |publisher=Trackmaps |location=Frome |isbn=978-1-9996271-3-3 |edition=5|at=Introduction page}} The Selby Coalfield complex was estimated to be produced over {{convert|10,000,000|tonne}} of coal by the late 1980s, resulting in a loaded coal train leaving Gascoigne Wood every 30 minutes during Monday to Friday. This necessitated the expansive sidings at Milford.{{cite journal |last1=Sill |first1=David |title=The Selby Coalfield Project: progress to 1984 |journal=Geography |date=1985 |volume=70 |issue=1 |page=71 |publisher=Geographical Association |location=Sheffield |issn=0016-7487 |oclc=983211363}}
Wagon maintenance was undertaken at the sidings in a limited capacity, however, wagons were taken from Milford Sidings to the traction maintenance depot at Knottingley some {{convert|5|mi|0}} south for more in-depth work.{{cite book |last1=Kelman |first1=Leanne |title=Railway track diagrams, books 2 - eastern |date=2020 |publisher=Trackmaps |location=Frome |isbn=978-1-9996271-3-3 |edition=5|at=40A}} The shunter allocated to Knottingley would undertake this duty moving wagons between the two sites.{{cite magazine |last1=Bendell |first1=Simon |title=Shunter Spot |magazine=Rail Express |date=May 2013 |issue=204 |page=50 |publisher=Mortons Media |location=Peterborough |issn=1362-234X}}
With the downturn in the electricity supply industry (ESI) coal trains due to power station closures,{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Nathalie |last2=Hook |first2=Leslie |last3=Tighe |first3=Chris |title=How Britain ended its coal addiction |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a05d1dd4-dddd-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc |access-date=21 March 2022 |work=Financial Times |date=1 October 2019|url-access=subscription}} many redundant coal hopper wagons have been stored at both sets of sidings either side of the main north/south lines.{{cite magazine|editor1-last=Bickerdyke |editor1-first=Paul |title=Storage space created at Worksop with clearout of redundant wagons |magazine=Rail Express |date=January 2021 |issue=296 |page=13 |publisher=Mortons Media |location=Horncastle |issn=1362-234X}} The site has also been used to store redundant Mk 3 coaches from displaced Intercity 125 sets which have been superseded by newer trains on the East Coast Main Line.{{cite magazine|editor1-last=Bickerdyke |editor1-first=Paul |title=Coaches - shed talk |magazine=Rail Express |date=July 2020 |issue=290 |page=29 |publisher=Mortons Media |location=Horncastle |issn=1362-234X}} Milford Down yard was used as a temporary offloading point for desulphogypsum from Drax Power Station bound for the gypsum plant at nearby Sherburn-in-Elmet in 2007. However, this was deemed unsuitable because of the need to move the desulphogypsum on public roads to the plant. The former rail terminal at Gascoigne Wood was utilised instead.{{cite news |title=Opposition to gypsum move |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWGLNB&t=continent%3AEurope%21Europe&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=Milford%20sidings&docref=news/11C6A23E4029FE00 |access-date=29 January 2022 |work=infoweb.newsbank.com |date=18 October 2007|url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |title=Rail deal will reduce roads' load |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWGLNB&t=continent%3AEurope%21Europe&sort=_rank_%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=Milford%20sidings&docref=news/11ECC25A22F4E9E0 |access-date=29 January 2022 |work=infoweb.newsbank.com |date=29 December 2007|url-access=subscription}}
References
{{reflist}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book |last1=Body |first1=Geoffrey |title=Railways of the Eastern Region |date=1989 |publisher=P. Stephens |location=Wellingborough |isbn=1-85260-072-1}}
- {{cite book |last1=Chapman |first1=Stephen |title=Selby & Goole |date=2002 |publisher=Bellcode Books |location=Todmorden |isbn=1-871233-14-3}}
- {{cite book |last=Tomlinson|first=William Weaver|title=The North Eastern Railway, its rise and development|date=1915|publisher=A Reid and Co|location=Newcastle|oclc=854595777}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Railway yards in Great Britain}}