'THE BLACKBERRY LINE'

By Mark Waudby

Part One - Pre Preservation

This article is reproduced with permission and was first published in 'The Railway Magazine' October 1999

The Derwent Valley Light Railway came into existence as a result of the Light Railways Act of 1896 which made it far easier to promote schemes by reducing legal red tape. The farming communities southeast of York found existing railway lines inconvenient for the transporting themselves to the markets at York and Selby, so a number of land owners approached Escrick and Riccall rural district councils to see whether it would be possible to build a light railway.

On March 21st 1898, Riccall Council agreed to support the idea and the following year Escrick followed suit, but it was not until 1912 that construction began. The delay was due to difficulties in raising the capital required - both local authorities backed out as the costs rose, leaving landowners to bear the financial brunt through share subscription.

The line ran from Layerthorpe, on the eastern side of York, to Cliffe Common, which was a small station on the North Eastern Railway's line between Selby and Market Weighton. The northern terminus at Layerthorpe connected into the NER's Foss Islands branch, and was also the administrative headquarters of the DVLR.

By the end of 1912, nearly five of the line's sixteen miles had still to be laid, but pressure put upon the shareholders by local farmers meant that the southern end of the line - between Wheldrake and Cliffe Common - was opened to goods traffic on October 29th, 1912.

On July 19th, 1913 the whole line was opened officially by Lady Deramore (wife of the chairman of the company) and a train full of local dignitaries, including the shareholders, local MP's and the Lord Mayor of York, traveled the full length of the line. Two days later, a daily (Sundays excepted) passenger service began, with three trains a day each direction plus an extra service between Layerthorpe and Wheldrake.

There were eleven stations on the line, starting with Layerthorpe and continuing south with Osbaldwick, Murton Lane, Dunnington Halt, Dunnington (For Kexby), Elvington, Wheldrake, Cottingwith, Thorganby, Skipwith and finally Cliffe Common. All stations handled goods as well as passenger traffic and all had their own sidings.

There was however, just one signal for the entire line! This was at Wheldrake, where a sharp bend just before the station obscured the vision of the level crossing and called for some kind of warning to the driver. The signal was operated by the opening and closing of the level crossing gates, so the line never had any signal boxes.

At first, passenger traffic was encouraging and during the First World War, the NER ran some of it's Selby - York trains over the line instead of the East Coast Main line. During the 1920s, however, passenger numbers dropped rapidly from 49,000 at the end of the First World War to just 18,000 in 1925 as bus services spread into the countryside. In 1926 passenger services ended, although special excursions did run from time to time.

Goods traffic prospered throughout the 1930s and expanded from the usual farm produce to include chemicals and minerals. As the threat of war loomed again, several Government departments began to make use of the line; especially at Elvington - where an aerodrome was built, and at Wheldrake, which became a store for motor spirit. It has come to light that mustard gas was stored at Cottingwith station during the war.

The line was heavily used during the war due in part to the large number of military bases in the area and partly to the fact that the line was difficult for the Luftwaffe to find.... because a lack of track maintenance had left it overgrown with weeds so it did not show up on aerial photographs! The Second World war proved to be the lines busiest period for, in addition to the munitions and mustard gas, the amount of agricultural traffic also rose. This large amount of goods traffic was to continue after the end of the war.

The DVLR escaped not only the Grouping in 1923 but, surprisingly, Nationalization in 1948 too and continued to prosper until the Beeching Report closed the Selby - Market Weighton line in 1964. This had the effect of cutting off the southern end of the line, as by then most of the traffic was carried over the northern section, the line from Cliffe Common to Wheldrake was closed. In retrospect, this was a mistake and triggered the railways decline. It might have been more sensible to try and buy the three miles of line between Cliffe Common and Selby.

On February 22nd, 1965 the line south of Wheldrake closed as the first of a number of cutbacks: Elvington to Wheldrake followed on June 19th, 1968 and Dunnington - Elvington on January 19th, 1973.

Despite nearly half the line having closed during this period, the northern section managed to soldier on, with industrial estates being built along the line, notably at Dunnington and Osbaldwick.

The word 'light' was dropped from the companies name in 1973, due, it is said, to the heavier loads being carried along the line, although of course this would have had no bearing meaning of the word 'light'.

The transition from commercial to preserved railway didn't follow the usual pattern; following the opening of the National Railway Museum in 1975, the DVLR shareholders sought to tap the growing interest in steam by running steam hauled passenger trains along the line during the summer season. After a successful test run in September 1976, and a number of publicly-advertised excursion runs on October 9th, 1976, a daily (Mondays excepted) passenger service ran from May to October 1977. Although this consisted of only one train either way and despite poor weather, the experiment was repeated in 1978 and 1979.

Those were the days when the ex-BR green liveried J72 0-6-0T No 69023 Joem was a regular sight on the line. Even LNWR 'Precedent' class 2-4-0 No 790 Hardwicke ran on the Derwent Valley with the former Duke of Sutherland's saloon in 1976. Steam hauled Santa Specials were also ran during December 1977 and 1978, but the 1979 summer season saw fewer passengers and it was decided not to continue with the experiment.

Freight traffic continued but this too declined and by 1981, Yorkshire Grain Driers Ltd, at Dunnington, was the only regular freight customer. By now far more money was being made from the rents of the properties the company owned than from freight carried on the line. The railway was also in need of major overhaul - some of the rails were originals from 1913 - so the shareholders voted to close the line and become solely a property company ( a situation which continues to this day)

The last train to run was a farewell special on September 27th 1981.............