Track diagram from Ted:

4 drawings here from Ted, he will explain them.

To continue:-

Reg. Smith, Assistant Operating Supertintendent, Nottingham made the comment `Once a Midland man, always a Midland man' when welcoming me back from `foreign' parts (the L&Y) at the interview for the Hasland job. Little did he think that some 40 years later I would choose his quotation as the title for my series of articles in the LMS Journal. Certainly, at that time, one found a difference in practices dating back to the pre 1923 amalgamation days. I suppose having been brought up on the `Premier Line' , one is always likely to be content with the `Midland' methods of working. For instance, the Midland's use of `routing' bell signals was likely to result in trains being dealt with more expeditiously than the L&Y and GN who seemed to rely far more on telegraph and/or telephone reports.

Hasland Motive Power Depot was located some two miles south of Chesterfield Station with Avenue Marshalling Sidings a further half mile beyond. The North Midland had opened its Derby-Leeds line as far as Rotherham on 11th May 1840, extending it to Hunslet Lane on 30th June 1840. Hasland was located in a most strategic position, being midway in the critical five mile, four lines of way, stretch of the main line between Tapton Junction and Clay Cross South Junction. Tapton Junction gave access to the `New Line' to Sheffield and the `Old Road' to Rotherham, whilst Clay Cross South Junction was where the main line split for Derby and the Erewash Valley  line to Nottingham. As was to be expected with a main line depot, most of the men had extensive route knowledge extending from St. Pancras/Bristol ,to the south, and Leeds/York/Manchester Central/Garston (Liverpool), in a northerly direction, with a few hardy souls even `signing' to Morecambe. This latter knowledge was to cover a summer S.O. service from Chesterfirld. The withdrawal of the passenger services on the Tapton Junction - Rotherham Masborough line on 5th July 1954 had resulted in a loss of work at Hasland MPD. Apart from a few relief jobs and summer Saturday trains, the only regularly rostered passenger work was on a few of the local services plying between Sheffield and Nottingham/Derby. History records that Hasland Engine Shed was built to accommodate the passenger traffic consequent upon the opening of the `so called'  Erewash Valley Branch. The Shed, of the standard roundhouse type, was opened in 1875, a coaling plant being installed in 1935. Just before I arrived, subsidence had become such a problem that much of the roof had been removed. In 1959 the shed was dismantled apart from the surrounding walls. At the same time it was decided that it would not be possible to replace the roof as the walls were not considered safe enough to stand one. Things were not helped when a LNW engine went straight over the turntable and shot through the wall beyond. From a figure of 70 locos allocated to Hasland in the 1920s, the number had dropped to 55 by 1947 and, by the time I arrived there was only around 40. Sad to say, rumours of possible closure were already circulating. This resulted in a lowering of morale and quite a few of the younger locomen were transferring to what were considered to be `safer' depots, or leaving the service altogether. The axe was finally to fall on 7th September 1964. On the freight side in my time all the work on the Grassmoor Branch was performed by Hasland men and they also covered trains out of Avenue Sidings each weekday to the extent of six Gowholes, three Totons, and Earles Cement, a Rowsley, a Wodhouse Mill and a Dronfield. In addition there were rostered relief jobs, a few on Ashwell-Frodingham services and some through fitted trains. Most of the special trains out of Avenue Coking Plant were also worked by Hasland  men. The Ashwell-Frodingham trains gave me my first sight of ironstone, affectionately known to staff as `monkey muck'. I was to make a more close acquaintance with this traffic at Grantham some ten years later. In the 1950s the complement of Beyer-Garratt locomotives were concentrated on Hasland for use on the iron ore trains between Wellingborough and the North East, although they often strayed onto the Gowhole services. The last Garratt was withdrawn a few weeks before I arrived in 1958.

Comrade, Ted will have a more detailed knowledge but I read somewhere that there was a Grassington branch of the railway from Skipton running passengers and goods and it was for this that the track was originally built for and only in later years did it become a mineral line. Nolic

I've just found this on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway website

"A branch line diverged from the Skipton to Ilkley railway, at Embsay Junction, striking out into the Dales and terminating in the village of Grassington or, rather, Threshfield for Grassington. This branch was originally promoted by the Yorkshire Dales Railway Company, opening for traffic in July 1902, and served several small villages together with Spencer’s quarry and limeworks at Swinden, near Cracoe. 
Grassington lost its’ passenger service in September 1930 but was served by goods and holiday excursion traffic for many years afterwards. In August 1969 the final passenger-carrying train ran into Grassington station. This excursion, promoted by the Yorkshire Dales Railway Society, ran some 67 years after the opening of the line and brought a chapter in story of the Grassington Branch to an end. The line was dismantled beyond Swinden limeworks but the Swinden to Skipton length continued in daily use for the carriage of freight, in fact limeworks products - a situation that prevails up to the present day.
Having provided both a local passenger and freight service for many years, as well as valuable use as a diversionary route, the Skipton to Ilkley route itself succumbed to Dr Beeching in March 1965, being closed from Embsay Junction to Ilkley and leaving the Grassington Branch as a truncated line serving only the limestone quarry. "

There were various proposals for rail connections into Upper Wharfedale. The earliest, I think, being in 1845 when a company called Lancashire and North Yorkshire Railway proposed a line leaving the Leeds & Bradford, Colne Branch around Broughton to Richmond  and running via Gargrave, Kettlewell, Buckden and Middleham. The Railway mania era produced many more, none of which got off the ground, until the mid 1890s when the Yorkshire Dales Railway came up with a somewhat over ambitious plan (wern't they all)  of a line to join the NER near Darlington from two junctions on the MR lines around Hellifield and Embsay which would come together at Rylstone forming a rather elongated triangle. Colonel Maude, one of the group backing the project approached the Midland who eventually agreed to support a line from Skipton (north of Haw Bank tunnel to Threshfield. A passenger service ran between Skipton and Grassington, with an intermediate station at Rylstone from 1902 until it was withdrawn in 1930. Although the station being a mile from Grassington village didn't help, the half hourly bus service from there to Skipton was the final nail in the coffin. Some buses ran into and out of the station approach at Skipton as a sweetener  for the closure and the West Yorks Road Car still continued to run a few, certainly well into the 1950s, and probably beyond. Apart from the Second War years, excursions ran to Grassington (see my earlier postings) So far as I know the last passenger train to use the branch was a dmu hired by the Embsay and Grassington Railway Preservation Society in July 1969 and the guard was a Thornton lad by the name of George Hartley. The line beyond Swinden Lime Works finally closed in August of that year.

The line was very open in places and , from time to time, snow was often so deep that ploughs were called into play. The line may have appeared unfenced from the road, Stanley, but this would be an optical elusion as a post and wire fence was insitu at that point, even in my time.      

To continue:-

Until the early 1950s, the Goods Guards, in keeping with Midland practice, had been located at the Loco Shed uner the supervision of the Motive Power Superintendent. They were then transferred to the Traffic Department. This., more or less, coincided with the building of the Avenue Coking Plant at Wingerworth. As a result the lowly Class 3 Yard Master was reclassified Yard Master/ Goods Agent (a rare title) Special Category A, and he was given a Class 2 Assistant.

When I arrived Mr. R.C. Muggleton was the YM/GA. Bob was a sound practical railwayman and one of lifes real gentlemen who always got the best out of his staff. During the war he had been a rear gunner in Lancasters flying from RAF Scampton but rarely spoke of his experiences. His unpretentious nature was borne out by the fact that it was not until his funeral in the mid 1990s that Ilearned of his heroic exploits.

The Administration Offices, Guards's Room etc. along with one Head Shunter were located at the south end of the sidings. The Yard Ispector, one Head Shunter, two Shunters, C&W Examiner and Oiler with `Jocko' (Shunting loco) were to be found at the north end, all in new modern accommodation. The Yard was manned continuously 6am Monday to 6am Sunday. In addition, a yard Foreman 7am to 3pm and two Shunters round the clock, were allocated to the Grassmoor Branch. The Avenue Coking Plant Exchange Sidings were open 6am to 10pm Weekdays, manned by one Had Shunter. Just over 40 Goods Guards were allocated to the Depot. Avenue Sidings and Hasland Sidings signal boxes were manned continuously by Class 1ignalmen and Grassmoor East, 6am Monday to 6am Sunday, by a Class 4 Signalman. Relief Staff (general purpose and rest day0 were, of course, provided in the Yards. On the signalling side we only `sported' one Special Class G.P. Relief, RDR being located at Clay Cross.

The YM/GA was responsible for servicing the Avenue Coking Plant, Alma Opencast Site and grassmoor, Williamthorpe and Holmewood Collieries. The collieries were also serviced from the G.C. by the SM at Heath. A fair assessment of daily average of loaded wagon originating traffic passing by the Midland route at that time would be 150 from Holmewood (including Coke Ovens), 250 Williamthorpe, 50 Grassmoor Washery (coal came up at Williamthorpe), 50 Alma Opencast, and 200 ACP (including tank traffic such as benzine, tar etc.). The vast majority of the coal for the Coking Plant came from the Staveley area, from collieries such as Markham and Glapwell. Normally four or five trains a day ran into Exchange Sidings worked by barrow Hill men, returning with empties. Shunting in Avenue Sidings itself was performed by a Class 1 shunting loco (replaced by 350hp diesel in early 1959), whilst a Class 4 trip engine (Target No. 118) shunted the Exchange Sidings and tripped between the two yards as well as tripping to Staveley and back.

The Grassmoor Branch had originally extended from the north end of the sorting sidings through to Morton Sidings (just under 1.5miles south of Danesmoor Sidings) on the main line but had, for many years, been severed at what was known as Pilsley Dead End. For some years the Branch had been worked under the `Electric Token'  block system between Avenue Sidings and Grassmoor East and `Pilot Guard', without tickets beyond that point. Some delay was being experienced on the pilot guard section and this, coupled to the desirability of the Grassmoor Signalman having control of the acceptance of trains before they entered onto the heavy falling gradient from Alma Junction, led to an improved method of working. In October 1959 electric token block working was brought into operation between Alma Junction and Grassmoor East. The following extract from the Special Instructions to the Signalman at Grassmoor East Token Station covered the new working:-

Working of single line between Alma Junction and this token station

A key token instrument of the `No Signalman' type is provided at Alma Junction and a train must not be allowed to proceed onto the single line between this station and Alma Junction unless the driver is in possession of a key token or he has seen one in the possession of the driver of an engine to which his train is attached, except as provided in Regulations 14B,14C and 25 of the Electric Token Block Regulations. When all the key tokens are in the instruments at this station and Alma Junction, the instrument at this token station will show "Token In" and when this indication is given the Signalman at this token station may, if necessary, with draw a key token. If a key token has been drawn from either instrument, the instrument at this station will show 2Token Out". A train must not be allowed to approach from Alma Junction until the Signalman at this token station has obtained a token for the Grassmoor East - Avenue Sidings section, and, in the event of such a train not proceeding towards Avenue Sidings, the key token must not be replaced in the instrument until the train from Alma Junction has come to a stand at this station.

Should a mishap occur which fouls the single line the Person in Charge at Avenue Sidings or at Alma Junction will immediately advise the Signalman at this token station by telephone."

The AWB (apply wagon brakes) regulations applied between Alma Junction and Avenue Sidings but the gradient down the bank from Alma Junction to Grassmoor was so severe that a fully loaded train could not reasonably be guaranteed to stop at Grassmoor East. Another AWB board was provided 160 yards on the Avenue side of Grassmoor No.1 Ground Frame for the benefit of trains out of Grassmoor Colliery Sidings. It was the practice with all trains for half of the brakes to be released at the end of the single line and the remainder on arrival in Avenue Sidings it self. Normal practice was for trains from Avenue, mainly empties, to be `banked' as far as Alma Junction, the leading engine working forward to Holmewood while the bank engine serviced Williamthorpe and./or Alma Sidings.