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The Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway was a British railway company formed to connect the Midland and Great Central lines at Swinton, north of Rotherham, with the North Eastern Railway at Ferrybridge, near Knottingley, a distance of 16 miles (26 km), opening up a more direct route between York and the Sheffield area.
Contents
Ownership
It was jointly owned by the North Eastern Railway and the Midland Railway, and later was jointly worked by their successors the London and North Eastern Railway and the London Midland and Scottish Railway.
Opening
The line was opened on 1 May 1879, with intermediate stations at Ferrybridge (1882), Pontefract Baghill, Ackworth (1 July 1879), Moorthorpe, Frickley and Bolton-on-Dearne (1 July 1879).
The route today
The route today forms the central section of the Dearne Valley Line from York to Sheffield, operated by Northern. The section from Swinton to Moorthorpe also serves as the main route from Sheffield to Leeds, known as the Wakefield Line, since the closure of the North Midland route via Cudworth due to mining subsidence in 1985.