Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway
Encyclopedia
The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway was a joint railway
owned by the Great Northern Railway
and its rival, the Great Eastern Railway
. It was established in the early 1880s, and the joint company built a new, primarily freight, route between Cambridge
and Doncaster
, a distance of about 123 miles. The main purpose was to move Yorkshire coal into East Anglia, a highly profitable enterprise.
The route survives except for the section between March, Cambridgeshire
and Spalding, Lincolnshire
. Since its closure in the 1980s, it has been necessary to travel via Peterborough
.
The LNER Encyclopedia]
Dearne Valley Railway (Section south of Doncaster)
Joint railway
A joint railway is a railway operating under the control of more than one railway company: those companies very often supplying the traction over the railway.-United Kingdom:There are many examples of joint railway working in the United Kingdom...
owned by the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
and its rival, the Great Eastern Railway
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
. It was established in the early 1880s, and the joint company built a new, primarily freight, route between Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and 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"...
, a distance of about 123 miles. The main purpose was to move Yorkshire coal into East Anglia, a highly profitable enterprise.
The route survives except for the section between March, Cambridgeshire
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely, a separate administrative county between 1889 and 1965, and is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council.The town was an important...
and Spalding, Lincolnshire
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....
. Since its closure in the 1980s, it has been necessary to travel via Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
.
Other Reading
E.L. Ahrons Locomotive and train working in the latter part of the nineteenth centuryThe LNER Encyclopedia]
Dearne Valley Railway (Section south of Doncaster)