On 22 May 1934 a zenith of locomotive construction in the UK was reached when an enormous new locomotive entered traffic for the London & North Eastern Railway Company. The impressive engine was P2 Class no. 2001 Cock o’ the North and it was painstakingly erected to the designs of eminent locomotive engineer H.N. Gresley (later Sir) at the company’s sprawling Doncaster Works. Cock o’ the North was equipped with a number of new and experimental features and this cr...

The South Yorkshire town of Barnsley first described as ‘Berneslai’ in the Domesday Book has an illustrious history and has long been associated with the glass-making and coal-mining industries. There are no longer remnants of the previously ever-present Barnsley British Co-operative Society instrumental in aiding the area’s growth as a mining community. Much of the town centre was reconstructed in the 1960s and development continues to this day. Some attractive older buildings still survi...

Wakefield city centre has undergone a complete makeover during the twentieth century, something that still continues today as it tries to come to terms with modern building regulations, commercial and consumer needs, and the requirements of the motorist. Dubbed the ‘Merrie City’ in the Middle Ages, the city has a long history as a prominent market town and epicentre for the wool trade. Wakefield then developed further in the eighteenth century, thanks to its links with the corn, coal minin...

Doncaster has always benefited from its location. It stands on the Great North Road, superseded by the A1, the primary route for all traffic from London to Edinburgh, and due to its strategic geographical importance it emerged as an industrial centre in the mid-nineteenth century. Beneath the town lies a huge coal seam and it was this that prompted Doncaster’s exponential population growth. In the early part of the twentieth century Doncaster became one of the largest coal-mining areas in ...

In this second and final volume, the whole of the East Coast Main Line between King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley stations is examined closely, with a particular emphasis on the ways and structures: the line, stations, connections, yards, and other physical features.Interposed are accounts of the traffic at the principal stations – including connecting and branch line services – with observations on changes over the period 1939 to 1959. Some emphasis is placed on freight traffic o...

The majority of South Yorkshire's twenty-first century residents are oblivious to the unique and fascinating Sand House that graced Doncaster from the mid-1850s until the Second World War. It was created by excavating the ground from around a massive block of sandstone and then hollowing out rooms within, in order to create a 40-metre-long, 12-metre-wide residence equipped with all the mod cons that a wealthy Victorian businessman would want. And yet there is nothing to be seen now of this...