Doncaster railway station was situated in the Hexthorpe

Hexthorpe

Hexthorpe is a small village located on the edge of the town of Doncaster. Hexthorpe lies in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The area's shape resembles a rhombus, with borders with Balby and Doncaster Town Centre, separated by railway lines and the river separating...

 district of Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and was the original terminus of the South Yorkshire Railway

South Yorkshire Railway

The South Yorkshire Railway was a railway company which was based in the south of the former West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Its first section of line opened on 10 November 1849 between Swinton Junction and Doncaster...

.

The station, later to be known simply as "Cherrytree", was used for the first time, when a special train, for the inspection of the line to Swinton where it joined the Midland Railway

Midland Railway

The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

, on 29 October 1849 and it was scheduled to open for public use on 3 November of the same year, however this was not to be as some work required to be completed. The actual public opening took place on 10 November.

The station was closed when running powers were agreed between the South Yorkshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway which allowed the SYR to run their passenger trains into the GNR station.

In order to accommodate excursion traffic an island platform

Island platform

An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...

 station known as St. James' Bridge

Doncaster (St. James' Bridge) railway station

Doncaster railway station was situated in the Hexthorpe area of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England and was accessed from St. James' Bridge, the main road link between Doncaster town centre and the railway community of Hexthorpe...

 was built on a site between Cherrytree and the GNR station by the LNER

London and North Eastern Railway

The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...

.