Hallam Line
The Hallam Line is a railway connecting Leeds and Sheffield via Castleford in the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England. It is a slower route from Leeds to Sheffield than the Wakefield line. Services on this line are operated by Northern Trains. Services from Leeds to also use the line.
West Yorkshire MetroCards are available on trains between Leeds and Darton, north of Barnsley and South Yorkshire Travelmaster tickets are available in the South Yorkshire area.
Origin of name
The line is named after the manor of Hallam which included Sheffield at the time of the Domesday Book. At this time the local area was known as Hallamshire—the names Hallam and Hallamshire are still used today by many local companies and organisations.History
Before the 1923 grouping the route followed by the line was owned as follows:- Leeds–Methley: Midland Railway
- Methley–Normanton: Midland Railway
- Methley–Castleford–Normanton: North Eastern Railway
- Normanton–Barnsley: Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
- Barnsley, Jumble Lane to Quarry Junction: Great Central Railway
- Barnsley, Quarry Junction to Sheffield: Midland Railway
The route that now exists as the Hallam Line was not possible until 1960 when BR added a connection at Barnsley to allow trains to use Exchange station and reach the Midland line to Sheffield.
Route details
Trains on the line serve the following places; some stations may no longer be open: Leeds railway station: in MR days trains would have operated from Wellington station. Here there is a triangular junction with the line to Bradford. The line from here to Castleford is also served by Pontefract Line services.- Hunslet
- here was the junction with the East & West Yorkshire Union Railway joint: it was a direct connection to Wakefield via Rothwell'
- Methley: station closed
- between here and Castleford there were several junctions: with the Methley Joint Railway ; with the NER line Leeds to York; and with the Swinton & Knottingley Railway to Pontefract
- Either goes to a branch towards ' where it then reverses towards Normanton which stopping trains use or alternatively goes a more direct route bypassing Castleford and past the former Altofts railway station which closed in 1990 towards Normanton station that Leeds–Sheffield fast trains use.'
- here the MidR main line to Sheffield branched off: our route now uses the L&YR metals
- '
- Horbury Junction for the L&YR main line to Manchester
- Crigglestone
- A pair of parallel single-track tunnels, Woolley Tunnels, which take the line directly under Woolley Edge services, a motorway service station on the M1 motorway, and under the motorway itself'
- here was Silkstone Junction for the freight line to Silkstone. Barnsley: formerly, traffic arrived not only from Leeds but via the Great Central Railway line from Penistone. This is nowadays known as the Penistone Line.
- Swaithe Viaduct – carries the line over the Worsborough Branch of the Great Central.
- ' was Elsecar & Hoyland
- – also known as Wentworth & Hoyland Common and Wentworth & Tankersley. : formerly Chapeltown South to distinguish from Chapeltown Central on the former South Yorkshire Railway, later G.C.R. line. Chapeltown station was rebuilt nearer to the town centre roundabout in the 1970s as the first railway project of the, then, new South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority. Much of the original remains.
- Ecclesfield – known as Ecclesfield West to distinguish from Ecclesfield East on the former South Yorkshire Railway, later G.C.R. line. Meadowhall: partly built on the site of Wincobank and Meadow Hall
- '''Sheffield Midland station'''