English
Français
Hexthorpe
Hexthorpe is a suburb of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the area's shape resembles a rhombus, with borders with Balby and Doncaster city centre, separated by railway lines and the river separating the area from the villages of Sprotbrough and Newton. The Hexthorpe House was a well known pub in the area. Following a fire, the pub remained derelict for a few months and the remains were demolished in 2009. The old pub sign was saved and has now been erected in Hexthorpe Flatts Park.
Nearby Places View Menu
77 m
Hexthorpe & Balby North (ward)
Hexthorpe & Balby North—consisting of Hexthorpe and the northern part of Balby—is one of 21 electoral wards in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Doncaster Central parliamentary constituency. It elects 2 councillors.
418 m
Hexthorpe rail accident
The Hexthorpe rail accident occurred on 16 September 1887 at Hexthorpe railway platform some 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of Doncaster on the South Yorkshire Railway line to Sheffield and Barnsley. The platform was situated within a block section between Hexthorpe Junction and Cherry Tree Lane and so had no signals of its own. The railway platform was a simple wooden structure on the Doncaster - bound line usually used for the collection of tickets from the many trains arriving in the town for the St. Leger race meeting.
The usual method of working the 1+1⁄2-mile (2.4 km) section of line was to pass trains from Hexthorpe Junction under a 'permissive' block ruling, not usually used on passenger lines, with additional control by two flagmen spaced between the junction box and the ticket platform. On this day two trains were in the section, the first, a Midland Railway train, stood at the platform, the second, another Midland train waiting just to its rear. As the first train moved off the second moved onto the platform so that tickets could be checked.
The third train was a Liverpool to Hull express worked by a MS&LR crew and probably the crew who should have understood the working of the line better than any other. This train came over Hexthorpe Junction with, first the 'distant' signal and then the 'home' signal at danger. With speed down to a crawl the 'home' signal was lowered, the driver assumed, wrongly, that with no other fixed signals to Cherry Tree Lane his route was clear and speed gradually rose. In the official report it was said that the first of the flagmen gave no indication and the second gave an ambiguous signal which was seen by the fireman but not properly understood. The express was reported travelling between 35 and 40 miles per hour (56.3 and 64.4 km/h) when they rounded the curve and saw the Midland train still in the platform. The driver applied the 'simple' vacuum brake and threw the locomotive into reverse but could not stop within the short distance of less than 250 yards (229 m).
The trial of the driver and fireman at York, before the Lord Chief Justice was the first big legal case in which the newly formed trade union A.S.L.E.F. were part and for which they engaged eminent counsel to defend their members. The jury returned a verdict of 'not guilty' and the Lord Chief Justice said in his summing up that ".....he could not but think that the railway company was seriously to blame for having had in use a brake which not only was not the best in existence, but which was known to be insufficient and liable to break down". The management were "thick skinned" over all safety matters and in this case Sir Edward Watkin, the company chairman, said "....it was a misfortune that the Lord Chief Justice should have exonerated the driver and fireman". Regardless of Sir Edward's thinking the Hexthorpe accident, closely followed by the Armagh rail disaster in Northern Ireland sounded the death knell of the 'simple' vacuum brake.
418 m
Hexthorpe railway platform
Hexthorpe railway platform was a short, wooden railway platform on the South Yorkshire Railway line about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of Doncaster in the area known as Hexthorpe Flatts, just on the Doncaster side of the road bridge. The platform was situated on the Doncaster – bound line and was normally used for the collection of tickets particularly on the days of the St. Leger race meeting.
700 m
Doncaster (Cherry Tree Lane) railway station
Doncaster (Cherry Tree Lane) railway station was situated in the Hexthorpe district of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England and was the original terminus of the South Yorkshire Railway.
The station, later to be known simply as "Cherrytree", was used for the first time when a special train, for the inspection of the line to Swinton where it joined the Midland Railway, ran on 29 October 1849 and it was scheduled to open for public use on 3 November of the same year, however this was not to be as some work required to be completed. The actual public opening took place on 10 November.
The station was closed when running powers were agreed between the South Yorkshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway which allowed the SYR to run their passenger trains into the GNR station.
In order to accommodate excursion traffic an island platform station known as St. James' Bridge was built on a site between Cherrytree and the GNR station by the LNER.