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British Oak
British Oak was an open-cast coal disposal site at Crigglestone near Wakefield, operated by Hargreaves on behalf of the British Coal Opencast Coal Executive. It was linked to the Sheffield to Leeds via Barnsley line at Flockton Sidings Ground Frame, but (certainly by the late 1980s) rail traffic was very sparse. (Some of these notes also appear on the '90s railtours' page).
A view of the British Oak site taking in November 1990. Resident shunter 08016 sits in its usual place, performing its usual activity - nothing! Normally, coal arrived and departed by road.
However, a trip to the exchange sidings at Calder Grove showed that all the lines had a shine on them, so rail traffic had passed recently. This view is looking from the mainline end of the sidings towards British Oak.
And thus a midweek visit a couple of weeks later proved much more worthwhile. 08016 is seen propelling a rake of 8 loaded MGR wagons up to the exchange sidings. It has just passed the truncated link to the former staiths on the Calder and Hebble Navigation, seen curving off to the left.
As it continued, the line passed under the disused Crigglestone Viaduct and then the double track forked into 4 exchange sidings, from where the wagons would be collected by a BR loco.
Following the trip, 08016 returns to the British Oak site, crossing Blacker Lane underneath the bridge carrying the Horbury Station Junction to Crigglestone Junction BR spur. Despite appearances, 08016 had not been a British Rail loco for over 10 years at this point.
On Monday 28th October 1991, the Branch Line Society organised a riding visit to British Oak, and the remaining photographs were taken on that day. Here the resident Class 08 shunter 08016 is seen at the far end of the branch line, where the tracks entered a small wood. The view is looking back to the processing site.
Looking in the opposite direction, the tracks were very overgrown and although the track continued a short distance further, the driver was not prepared to risk going beyond this point. At one time, the line had continued via zig-zags and rope-worked inclines to Caphouse Colliery (now the National Mining Museum).
The tour participants travelled in the loco cab in 2 parties of 5. Here 08016 is seen at the other extremity of the line, at the catch-points at the mainline connection at Flockton Sidings Ground Frame. As we stood there, a Class 142 pacer (in original 'Provincial' livery) passed on a Leeds to Sheffield via Castleford, Wakefield Kirkgate and Barnsley stopper. At that time there was only this one train per hour in each direction.
On the return, we stopped under the disused Crigglestone Viaduct. At one time this carried the ex-Midland Railway line from Royston Jn to Dewsbury. Once intended to be a part of an express route to Scotland, the last remaining stretch from Dewsbury to Bradford was never built, and it remained under-used until closed in 1968.
A further stop was made between 2 level crossings - one over a private road and one over the public Blacker Lane.
At this point there had once been a branch to staiths on the Calder and Hebble canal, once famously worked by an ex-BR Jinty. By 1991, only the pointwork and a short stub of line remained, as seen in the foreground. In the background, the substantial bridge carrying the Crigglestone mainline spur is visible.
Back at the depot, the view from the cab shows the interesting triple crossing at the site entrance. The line has an open level crossing with Blacker Lane, immediately below the bridge for the Crigglestone Junction to Horbury Station Junction chord line. At the time of the visit, this British Rail line was intact, but only usable from the Crigglestone Junction end.
After the visit, 08016 is parked up in one of the lines leading to the loading screens. Coal was brought here from various open cast mining sites for processing (and occasionally dispatch by rail). The 08 had been withdrawn from British Rail service in 1980. It then worked at British Oak until 1993. A number of photographs taken in 1993 (the last year of rail operations at British Oak) show other NCB and BR shunting locos in use, impying that 08016 was out of use by that time. It has subsequently been preserved by the Heritage Shunters Trust, and is now at Rowsley. The site at British Oak was closed in the mid 1990s, and was quickly demolished and the site landscaped.