Elsecar Mining Memorial(Cortonwood Station)

Just did a search and came up with this article:

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/whats-on/mystery-barnsleys-much-loved-thomas-18569331

 

A great shame if the railway has closed as Elsecar itself is something special with its village and the Newcomen engine. Plus the government gave a big old grant to Wentworth Woodhouse last year so I would expect to see it develop as a significant visitor draw over time, if the railway doesn't survive to capitalise on that, the area will be much the poorer.

 

Elsecar is a lovely site, and is woefully poorly promoted and under utilised- its mostly a retail facility in historic buildings with a small museum and the railway- which, again is woefully under promoted and aside from the Santa type events when we have visited tends to be very quiet.

The days the venue tends to be busy are the large antiques fairs, the model collectors fairs and the vintage fairs.

Its a shame, it has real potential to be a fantastic site and a real draw for the area.


Chris

 

I went about three years ago and had a ride in their break vans. Good fun, and although a short ride I did feel that there was a bit of potential there - they have been on the brink of an extension for quite some time IIRC.

Hopefully they can restructure and make their way back.

Sent from my SM-J330FN using Tapatalk

 

Could be the end....... https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news...B7fNNv5q_ga0PidNUrEa93-V8YiUnfdOizSlf7gjCcLMo

 

Are the elsecar heritage railway even doing a covid 19 fundraising appeal surely if they are that would keep cash flowing in so they may be able to reopen for 2021? If the world including the U.K. can find a way to pull through the covid 19 pandemic

 

Or would the elsecar heritage railway still be allowed to raise money to cover them during been closed in the covid 19 pandemic if they have given their lease back to the local council

 

I guess that would depend whether they and/or the Council have a plan to revive it in some way. Website and FB etc haven’t been updated for months and a surrender of the lease sounds pretty terminal to me - not a good background to launching any kind of public appeal. Since they weren’t expecting it, the Council might need/take a long time to decide what to do next since they’ll have other priorities and no budget. I hope some sort of arrangement will be in place to enable members or other rolling stock owners to access or retrieve their own property.

 

Are south yorkshire Barnsley district councils even in the heritage scene for vintage steam and diesel locos even completley turning their back on anything to do with the coal mining industry by letting the Elsecar heritage railway slip away like this, seen as though Drax power station converts to bio mass and stops burning bitoumus coal in 2022 and the last deep coal mine in our area shut in 2015? And the only place industrial in yorks and lincs is the steelworks at scunthorpe only burning solid fuel coke in their blast furnaces and the odd few rural folk in yorks lincs who still burn coal coke and dry wood on their open fires and stoves also how peoples attitudes in the world are changing on fossil fuels for electric generating and steel making. Or is the situation at the E.H.R. that due to the covid 19 pandemic they have not made enough gains to keep the heritage centre open and railway operating at elsecar?

 

My understanding is that Barnsley council are keen to see the railway survive and will do what it reasonably can to facilitate this. I believe that they hold the TWO and are allowed to let others operate the railway, subject to government approval.

 

Thanks- good to hear there may be more than a glimmer of hope.

 

The heritage centre is more than just the railway with other business units leased out to small local businesses/cottage industries. The railway was certainly one of the big draws to the centre.

The council also has a long history of supporting other historical sites such as Worsborough Mill a shot distance away and Canon Hall. All of which certainly used to have regular school trips to them from local schools. At least they did when I was at school.

 

Does anyone know what is happening here? Three Mk1's appear to have left for pastures new.

 

I volunteer at Kirklees Light Railway now Whistlestop valley and our new operations manager who is from Sheffield said a buyer was interested in buying the E.H.R. but would need new carriage stock since the old carriage stock was sold, but at the moment since Barnsley council was handed the Lease back from the Elesecar heritage railway the site has been fenced off and the railway lines have been mothballed but I'm not sure myself whats happened to the remaining rolling stock such as diesel shunters and other industrial tank engines that could still be possibly on site at rockingham station, but Elsecar heritage centre remains open.

 

The railway was in fine fettle and thriving at the end of 2014, having been extended by a mile to Cortonwood, after which a new board of trustees took over and took their eye off the ball, leading to non covid related bankruptcy in 2020. Weak management and the allegedly improper sale and subsequent disappearance of flagship loco Mardy Monster precipitated the collapse.
This coalfield line, nevertheless, is an important one, with a very important heritage message.
A group possessing the requisite expertise and proven heritage credentials is waiting in the wings, but for now, the stock clearout continues, as does the dialogue between the Council owners and the failed Board about reopening.

 

Davo, where did the Mk1's go to? Was the sale very recent as the VCT database still shows them as being at Elsecar?
Ray.

 

Not sure where their carriages were sold to the only reason I was keeping a eye on the Elsecar railway is to see if there is any hope of this railway ever reopening but by the looks of the mess the board of trustees left it in I'm very doubtful but never say never, Elsecar railway was a late comer to the heritage railway scene in the mid 2000,s and very significant to the mining history of west and the south yorks coal fields cos its where the 1st miners strike took place at Cortonwood colliery and it just seems to me that nowadays no more coal mines are active in yorkshire or England they have given up the ghost at Elsecar heritage railway and also due to financial difficulty and as been a yorky lad it's like as if to say if the last coal mine shuts in England we shut too in a true yorkshire sense cos one of Yorkshire's famous Georgian and victorian industry was coal mining and thus the line to Rockingham station Elsecar was connected onto the G.C.R. Doncaster to Penistone Line which passed through Wath goods yard where coal from various pits was stored ready to be taken up the Worsborough incline to Lancashire or to Sheffield to the steel mills or G.C.R. Loco sheds. And if someone were to rekindle the Elsecar coalfield railway the lease would have to be handed back to the new trustees and a cash funding to reopen which in Barnsley S. Yorks the council dont have alot of, and besides the carriages been sold I think maybe the shunters and other rolling stock could be up for sale but there again I'm not one of the trustees so I'm not sure on that marshall5.

 

A photo posted in a Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway Group on Facebook last night showed 4903 arriving there yesterday and the comments said its the first of 4... VCT shows 4 Mk1s being at Elsecar so assume they're all heading in the same direction.

 

Apparently, Avonside 'Earl Fitzwilliam' (aka 'Pitsford') has been sold and will be moving on shortly.
Does anyone have any idea where its heading?

 

Moved to Ribble Steam Railway this week