Pontefract Baghill - Least Used Station in West Yorkshire
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- Time to tick off another county and another least used station! This time, to Pontefract in West Yorkshire to also catch up with my friend Ian, oh and pay a visit to the parkrun there too ...
Pontefract has three stations - Monkhill, Tanshelf and Baghill. If you know why any of them are named that why (because neither Ian or I do!) then please let us know.
You can see the ORR statistic for Station Usage are here: dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statist...
Funnily enough, this was the only one of the three Pontefract stations NOT listed for closure in the Beeching Report. Tanshelf closed in 1967 and then re-opened in 1992, and Monkhill never closed despite being listed in Beeching's report.
Had Beeching's plan been fully implemented Baghill would likely be far more well-used today
@@zeddessell So close Monkhill and restore the curve so that trains can get onto the Castleford/Leeds line.
that building at the station is actually used as the local driving test centre
This was the station I used to travel to Scarborough as a child and also the one I left to go to University in 1983, waved off my grand parents who have now sadly passed away. So it's a very nostalgic and sad video for me but thanks for making it. Sniff.
Geoff , in reply to your request for the reasons for the station names, as a local, the following is what I know:
Monkhill - The station is on a ridge which is only about 1/2 a mile from Pontefract castle, hence 'hill' as back in the day it would have been a point of reference from the castle. There used to be a cluniac priory there called St Johns until it was
destroyed in the dissolution of the monastries by Henry VIII. Hence the Monk part, hence Monkhill. The hillocks of the outline of the priory can still be seen but there's no ruin's to see.
Tanshelf - Tanshelf was the original Anglo-Saxon settlement prior to pontefract. The shelf coming from saxon 'scylf' meaning escarpment, this makes sense as pontefract is
the first place when you come in from the humber that has any elevation, and, although it's not so visible now with urbanisation has some prominent escarpments , I can imagine the first settlers using it as a good place to use for shelter etc. As it happens the escarpments are a striking tan colour but that must be a co-indicidence as tan the colour comes later from tanning of leather etc.
Baghill - Just along from the station where you were is a steep hill onto elevated ground, it's exactly the opposite side to the castle from Monkhill and therefore would have been a noticeable
feature hill from the Castle back in the olden times. Why 'Bag' I'm not really sure! It may be as dull as been from anglosaxon 'baelg' meaning bulge
I laughed so hard at the car going backwards at 11:22 😂
Why?
Why not?
Thankyou for this, life at times life can be 'interesting' and your video's just make me smile.
Pontefract cakes at utterly delicious, but if you eat that full bag you'll be more regular than a toddler on laxatives...
Ideal preparation for a run!
A vastly different situation from the mid-1960s with (in the winter 1964-65 timetable) around a dozen weekday departures in each direction comprising a mix of both local York/Sheffield trains and long-distance services to Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol, Swindon, Bournemouth, and Newcastle.
Great video! I was watching all the least used station series this morning!
Least used but very long platforms! A reflection of the service it once enjoyed including long distance trains.
Baghill service level is tech the parliamentary service for West Yorkshire.
However, in the May 2019 timetable change, it was increased on Mondays to Saturdays from 2 services to 3. There were plans to see a potential service increase at one time by XC which would have seen one of the services between York and Sheffield diverted via Pontefract Baghill (or the 'S&K route as it's known (Swinton & Knottingley) - however that never happened and the route remains a tranquil backwater for now, however, plans are again floating around to increase the service.
All services operated as out-and-back diagrams from Northern's Sheffield depot.
The portaloos are not railway and belong to whichever building company is doing the station renovations .
The inclusion of the GC service on the WY network map was also my doing in a former employment life ;-)
Ohh, thanks Lee, Used to intend travelling from Swinton (S Yorks) up to York but tended to go via Doncaster.
One of your best guests ever!! He totally ran with your sense of humour!!! Cheers!!!
I commute through this station 5 times a day on my commute from York to Swinton. The 5:15pm train is incredibly useful and saves going via Doncaster whenever there's issues. I just wish their was a late evening train from York.
Wow you commute 5 times a day?! Must be exhausted!
@@shymike yeah it's hard work but I think it'd be much easier if I did say, five times a week.
Interesting fact; a line called the 'chord' linked all three Pontefract stations. Now it's abandoned, but telltale signs are still around.
I never knew that... I live just near Monkhill station :)
It's weird watching this video when I've lived round Pontefract all my life!
Lovely to see you in my neck of the woods, hopefully you go around South, East & North Yorkshire too, some lovely out of the way stations up here!
Loving the videos, Keep up the work and have fun :)
Laughed through the entire video. Great craic! Never did see that freight train go through.
Brilliant licorice sequence!
I remember when Alex (my girlfriend) had an interview for a new job, this being the week before I officially moved up north, I decided to make my way to this station and all I could think of was "I'm looking forward to seeing Geoff come here". I live near a station on this line but I never got on this train because it's always at work hours. I'll have a go on a day off
Happy to say that as of 2023, Baghill Station is back in service after around a year of rail-replacement only services. (And is my closest station!) It gets 3 trains a day in both directions and working in Sheffield, I try to take one whenever it makes sense for my timetable - it's the quickest and most convenient way there.
The fencing's gone, but the station is still in a bit of a state. Hopefully people will use it a bit more now, and it'll get some work or more trains.
Interesting to hear you got the Grand Central service to Doncaster, it is worth staying on to Bradford Interchange as it twists its way around West Yorkshire through some beautiful scenery and, near where you were, a little bit of a freight line!
Love the series, so much so that I'm planning on making a few least visited style videos in Texas, though only 20 or so of our 254 counties have any stations.
This will probably be replaced by Ravensthorpe in a couple of years. The addition of a third return working last May now gives passengers the chance to spend some time in Meadowhall and Sheffield which wasn’t really possible before without taking a different route in one direction to/from Pontefract Monkhill.
Tanshelf is better for going to Sheffield or meadowhall in my experience
Reasons for station names, as a local, this is what I know about Tanshelf
Tanshelf was the original AngloSaxon settlement prior to Pontefract. The 'shelf' part coming from saxon 'scylf' meaning escarpment, this makes sense as although not as visible now due to being built up pontefract has some prominent escarpments which I would imagine would have attracted early settlers for shelter etc.
Good old Ponte Carlo - got some fond childhood memories of this town and neighbouring Cas Vegas
Stations like these makes you know why there needs to be a guard on every northern train
Haha it's not too bad but I wouldn't want to be there at night
Wakefield Kirkgate is probably on a par with Baghill, though I’ve not been to either in years
@@martynelse6121 Kirkgate is quite a bit better, it was renovated a bit about 5 years ago
@@Ulleskelf It was definitely much needed
Does anyone realise how special that br livery class 66 on the freight is? Theres only one in that livery! Pacer and class 153 together?! I believe that is quite rare! Excellent video!
Otherwise known as GBRf 66789 BR Logo
@@Steggs Yes - the way I put it was specifically so people who aren't very interested in trains might understand.
Pacer and 153 combo happens on the Cumbrian Coast a lot
@@OlanKenny Oh, ok!
@@ILikeTransport goes down to P2 at Lancaster, uncouples the 153 which is then coupled to a 156 which comes in from Morecambe and goes back to Barrow.
I live in West Yorkshire love your channel. I live in huddersfield xx
I live in Pontefract
At 11:38 it looks like Geoff and Ian will become bracelet buddies of a different kind 😂
Long distance cross country services used to go through Monkhill - it was the old Midland Railway route from Sheffield to York - but were diverted many years ago to serve Doncaster.
Just came home from filming a least used station myself, and watching one of the original ones is a great way to relax.
Where do we see it?
Still editing it now, but it should be on my channel sometime next week.
This comment aged well...
one of the other stations, Monkill. has 100s of people using it every day. From Knottingley to Leeds/Wakefield
The main reason that nobody wants to use this line to travel between York and Sheffield is that it takes ages. About 1h25 on the Northern service, compared with XCountry that does it in 0h50 via Doncaster or 1h10 via Leeds, both running every hour.
The Sheffield to York via Pontefract used to have an excellent service until 1993, the service has actually increased from 2 trains a day to 3 Monday to Saturday.
Pontefract Baghill station is the nearest to the town centre.
The services can get exceptionally busy when the York races are on.
Pontefract has a racecourse!
Coincidentally Geoff I'm heading to Pontefract this week to present about Rage Against The Machine's first album and my No.1 campaign. I've never been there before and literally today was sorting my train route...then this video appears like magic
Was extremely busy when I was a child, used to fish in the little stream at the back of the opposite platform from the entrance (don't know which number platform) baghill rocks it was called. Also the liquorice factory used to be called Dunhills and was bought by Haribo, Haribo have a factory in the town and a newly built bigger one in a nearby industrial estate.
Geoff , in reply to your request for the reasons for the station names , as a local , the following is what I know
Tanshelf - Tanshelf was the original angle-Saxon settlement prior to pontefract. The shelf coming from saxon 'scylf' meaning escarpment, this makes sense as pontefract is the first place when you come in from the humber that has any elevation, and, although not so visible now with urbanisation has some prominent escarpments, I can imagine the first settlers using it as a good place to use for shelter etc.
I enjoy your series of "least visited" and live in West Yorkshire so was looking forward to you popping up here. However, I was somewhat disappointed that, when you asked the question about why there were three stations in Pontefract, we didn't get a bit more history of the station, the lines in the local area and the present day situation as I think it is quite interesting for those of us who like this sort of thing. Someone has already mentioned Beeching, for example. An opportunity missed, I feel, particularly as many of your videos include really interesting local facts and history.
I live in Pontefract
love these videos, so random and entertaining, must one day travel to the uk and actually go to one or more of these stations
Glad to see you went to my hometown of Pontefract. Where you bought your liquorice was only a few hundred yards from where I lived. Baghill & Monkhill run services7 days a week unlike Tanshelf which is nearest to Pontefract Park & the racecourse and doesn’t have a Sunday service. Hope you went to the castle and saw the dungeons?
I live here too by the bus station
I don’t know if that Tanshelf Sunday service is false because I got a Sunday train from Monkhill to Leeds and back (albeit later on that evening) that stopped here (along with Featherstone, Streethouse, Wakefield Kirkgate, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds) in November 2018 (it was on Rememberance Day in fact as I went with my Dad and his mate to watch England vs New Zealand rugby league at Elland Road)
@@jackcrawford3921 I’ve looked and there is a service on Sunday. I know when I used to Go and se my parents there 10yrs ago I could only get a train from Monkhill to Leeds or Baghill to Sheffield. Glad to see things have improved.
@@christopherfox735 yes, on the other train to Leeds (the one via Wakefield) it goes past Elland Road as well
Back in the 1960's my school friend and i used to travel from Baghill, on our Train spotting trips to York. There was a human being selling tickets and a wonderful coal burning fire ( winter months only!) in the waiting room. It was steam trains of course and more carriages than you could count!! Sad to see the state of it now . How different it was in the sixties!
Part of the problem with Baghill is that it is in West Yorkshire, but the railway only runs to one other station (Moorthorpe) in the PTE's area. The PTE therefore does not give a toss about this particular line, as it is not interested in encouraging travel outside its area. The prospects of development are zilch.
I live 12 miles from Pontefract it’s a quaint pleasant town. Hidden gem! Nicer than other nearby towns including Wakefield, Doncaster, and Barnsley.
Since ponte is the ablative Pontefract actually means "of the broken bridge" (ponte fracto)
ablative would make it "by the broken bridge", it should be locative "pontis fractis", but corruption from some other form makes all grammar readings irrelevant really
I’ve heard more trains are planned for this station. Gonna be five or six a day and four on a Sunday. Can’t wait!
I've always thought Pontefract sounds like it should be in Wales. Maybe somewhere near Pontypridd.
There's a Ponteland in the North East near Newcastle. It always makes me chuckle; I'm imagining a liquorice themed fun park. 😁
Spelling would have to be Pontyffract.
Parents moved to Pontefract a couple of years ago after living in Wakefield all our lives
Geoff , in reply to your request for the reasons for the station names , as a local , the following is what I know:
Baghill - Just along from the station where you were is a steep hill onto elevated ground, it's exactly the opposite side to the castle from monkhill and therefore would have been a noticeable feature from the castle back in the olden times. Why 'Bag' I'm not really sure! It may be as dull as been from anglosaxon 'baelg' meaning bulge
....and the bird reported the platform was how many pigeon feet long?
I once saw a scotrail sprinter class 158 attached to a turbostar class 170. It was wowzers.
East Pavilion-er happens regularly, 170 plus 156 can happen and 156 plus 158
I LOVE licorice! Never heard of Pontefract cakes before. Don’t live in Britain. And as always an entertaining video Geoff!
I took the train to Pontefract (from Essex) literally a week after Geoff was there. I did a speaking gig at the Tap & Barrel, then ate Pontefract cakes on the Pacer back.
Nice! Ponte Carlo!!
The closest train station to me that's operational (my local one was turned into an art studio for kids), which is like 50-60 miles away gets more passengers per year and its in a town of 300 people AND it's in the USA.
OK it maybe because I'm tired but was that car reversing or was the camera just put on rewind 😂? Cracking video again
Watching this today and yesterday I was actually on this line! 😂 but got off at Rotherham Central
Pontefract Baghill is actually home to the Pontefract driving test centre, where I passed my car test. I didn't know until recently that the station is used still!
When you going to do the least used station in Cumbria or Lancashire? I imagine the Cumbrian one being one of the request stops such as Nethertown or Green Road on the Cumbrian Coast Line
I've used this station about 4 times, it does often get complained about by people in Pontefract because years ago, like when my grandad was young there would be a half an hour to 40 minute wait each way for the trains and HSTs would run through the station which is why the platforms are massive, it also used to be connected to Monkhill and Tanshelf via the old viaduct, just some random facts 😂 the trains are often packed at 9 am for the York train
What happened to Bolton on Dearne station?
@@1258-Eckhart Its in South Yorkshire ? - Is it one that was closed - is it near Wath ? Do you mean its the station with only 2 of the three trains calling at it ?
@@highpath4776 My dad had an office in Wath. There was a station at Bolton, but now (on the timetable) they seem to have replaced it with one at Swinton, right? I.E. closed one and reopened t'other.
You are now going to have to go from Taunton to Bishops Lideard for every station because they are now running Saturday services during the Summer, making it a main line station. One more to add. At least you could then take a trip along the West Somerset Railway at the same time.
No surprise, the only Pontefract station I knew about prior to this was Monkhill
there used to be an old wrought iron glass roof senario on the station. a shelter i mean, on the platform. noticed thats been knicked
Really does feel almost abandoned if it wasn't for the timetable and maps.
It was one of the only 2 stations I didn't visit by train on my day around West Yorkshire. I just walked from Pontefract Monkhill and back again.
If anyone wants to read more about visiting all West Yorkshire stations in a day then see here: kammak743.cf/2019/04/27/all-the-stations-in-west-yorkshire-in-a-day/
damnit if I had known I could have come down and met you and got my book signed! >.
Is it just me that thinks Ian looks a bit like Elton John? 😂
To me he looks like a mixture of Hollyoaks actor Richard Linnell and former Football player Zoltan Gera
Odd that this has randomly popped up in my feed today.
Nice glimpse of 66789 passing through!
Ponte cakes yum 😋 it’s use to be a busy place years ago
I live near here! And my parkrun PB is 18:45 Geoff!
Fun fact since you included Haribo: The BO in it stands for Bonn, which is Beethovens birthplace, western germanys former capital and also my hometown
Sir John Betjeman - The Licorice Fields at Pontefract.
The station's(I think) are named this was because of surrounding roads, Monkhill Avenue and Tanshelf Drive
Went there on a trip to York from Keighley with my son the other week, all 3 Pontefract stations are fairly utilitarian, but Baghill is disgraceful. Could easily get a better service going if there was the will but I'm guessing capacity at York and Sheffield could be an issue. Nice views of Ferrybridge power station a little way north too
Geoff! Have you seen the new pocket tube maps in central london? They've got quite a few mistakes in them
They also turn to mush now they are printed on that paper and it rains
How about hourly Derby - Scarborough trains, Derby-Chesterfield-Sheffield-Pontefract Baghill - York - Malton - Scarborough? (and return, of course!) I think that would be feasible.
ive only ever been to baghill to video steam railtours, i use tanshelf once a year for the model show at the new college and have never used monkhill
Makes Shippea Hill look like Liverpool Street!
Can't wait to see the back of those pacer trains. They're buses on tracks essentially; literally coach chassis bolted/welded onto train wheels.
yup i used to refer to them as bus trains because at one point they even had bus type seats with out full length backs and metal bars just like on old busses. only things missing was a stop button to ring the bell lol.
@@onlineamiga lol?
No: they are bus bodies (modified) mounted on a frame derived from an existing railway goods van.
@@allenwilliams1306 I think I was close enough. 😉
It’s actually the kids who use that “unofficial entrance” used to use it all the time when we where younger. Baghill doesn’t get used cos wakey and Leeds are easier to get to if there was more trains it would be used more
went there once in the 70s ; no trains on sundays
I wish I'd known you were doing it. I'd have got someone to get me there, in a wheelchair if necessary
I once had to take the train from Pontecarlo to Sheffield. Dreadfully slow... It's when I realised that I absolutely HATE Pacers.
But it's a pacer, you can't hate em
geoff i work for Tangerine Co here in Blackpool where we actually make the Licorice too, i can send you some if you want :D
Great video Geoff but how the hell did you get Sir Elton John to appear???
My guess is that the intercom help point has power but no longer a phone line. It is a simple beast which is programmed to attempt to dial without checking for a dial tone. It's not "like dial-up", it IS dial-up.
I live in sherburn-in-elmet, should come visit our station
It was hot and horrible that day in t'Pennines, you have my sympathy. Rating Northern Fail a zero is a big improvement for them.
Dammit! I was in Featherstone the last 2 weeks, I could’ve come and said hello.
I was in holiday in Plymouth and I missed him but I walk past baghill every day
Oh crud, in the titles at the beginning you've spelt Baghill with two h's.
And Yorkshire with no S!
Yep, it's a joke - watch the Betchworth video for details...
Go check out the comments on Hoscar. 😂
God, the station has the same problem as Ayr with all the scaffolding and fencing. Ayr’s station hotel is falling down and the station entrance goes through it but now they can’t use it or the station building.
5:26 it looks like there's been a fire at the station, or at least in that one window...
This is one of the worst lines i know. Its the only direct service from Sheffield to York. 2 large cities. My local station is Meadowhall (Meadowhell if your from the local area) and getting to York by rail means a pacer to Doncaster and then a fast service to York because of how infrequent the trains are (3 a day)
when my dad lived in Ulleskelf we would get a bus from Normanton and go down to Pontefract Baghill and get a stopping service to Ulleskelf
Will you ever be doing dilton marsh or beaulieu road I live near beaulieu road and dilton marsh is a station I always go past and I’d love to join you when you do one of these
He's already done both, in January and November 2017
Can't believe your where I live
For those curious - The help-point literally dialed 01234567
Are you sure about that? I agree that it dialled eight digits (which isn't a valid phone number in that area) but the tones didn't sound like they were all rising.
I wonder that if this station had trains to Wakefield/Leeds like the other two, it would be used more often?
Why is there a car going backwards at 11:22?
@Geoff Marshall what is your favourite station in surrey in the dorking / epsom area