South Yorkshire Lost Railway - The Waleswood Curve, Great Central Railway

South Yorkshire Disused Lost Railway - The Waleswood Curve of the Great Central Railway
In todays video, we head to the outskirts of Sheffield and Rotherham to look at part of the former Great Central Railway, which linked two main lines on the GCR.
The disused Waleswood Curve originated near the town of Killamarsh on the shores of the Rother Valley Country Park in South Yorkshire. The majority of the line in the present day has disappeared beneath former mining and regeneration, however the westerly portion of the route is still evident.
We start this video on the main Great Central Railway - the London - Nottingham - Sheffield - Woodhead and Manchester line. At Killamarsh Junction, with the brickwork of it's now demolished signal box still left clearly visible in the woods, we see the GCR curved towards Sheffield and the Waleswood Curve branch to the right. The line was a few mile curve to join up with the Sheffield to Lincoln GCR line, still in use today. The curve prevented trains having continue up the GCR in to Woodhouse, only to then have to reverse back towards Lincoln.
After a look around the remains of the signal box, we can fight our way through the overgrown trackbed and cutting that carried the once double line. After only a short while, we meet the abandoned viaduct and girder span carrying the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway (LDECR) Beighton Branch over our curve. It is here where we lose what remains of the Waleswood Curve. In the cutting, as well as the signal box, we can see old sleepers, concete installations and several felled telegraph poles. All degrading in to the leafy undergrowth.
In 1976, the area now known as Rother Valley Country Park began it's transformation from meadows to open cast mining. This lasted until around 1981 when the land was reclaimed as a country park, which we know today. This erased the route of the railway line from here.
On the east side of where the park is now, the line crossed the River Rother on the Bedgreave Viaduct. We can also see photos of a former short tunnel under Waleswood Road.
If we fast forward a few hundred yards again, we join the Lincoln line at what was Waleswood Junction. Situated near the former Waleswood Colliery and station. Evidence of the junction can still be seen by disused abuttments on the A618 Mansfield Road bridge near Wales.
The line was opened in 1893. Although the curve proved a valuable stretch of line for many years, declining traffic saw it close in 1967. The lines were lifted in 1968, a few years before open cast mining began in the area.
Some interesting links:
www.killamarsh....
www.kivetonwale...