Victoria Dock Branch Line

Victoria Dock Branch Line
to Paragon Station York and North Midland Railway Hull and Selby Railway Botanic Gardens Stepney Sculcoates Hull and Barnsley Railway until 1885 Wilmington Southcoates Hull and Hornsea Railway Hull Victoria Dock

The Victoria Dock Branch Line was a branch line within the city of Kingston upon Hull that connected the Hull and Hornsea Railway to the east and the York and North Midland Railway and Hull and Selby Railway to the west, terminating at Victoria Dock Station.

History

Botanic Gardens Railway Station Hull 1967

Prior to 1850, the city of Kingston upon Hull had one dock area to the west of the River Hull. This was served by the York and North Midland Railway by the goods station on Railway Street. The new Victoria Docks were opened in 1850 to the east of the river where Victoria Park is now located. Victoria Station and a connecting branch line was built to connect the new docks to the rest of the rail network. Having received the necessary permission in 1852, the line was opened for freight traffic on 16 May 1863 and for passenger traffic on 1 June 1863. Passenger traffic ceased a year later due to lack of numbers.^[1][2][3]

Victoria Station was the terminus for the Hull and Holderness Railway when it opened and Hull and Hornsea Railway trains terminated at Wilmington until both lines used the Victoria Branch Line to run all the way to Paragon Station. In 1964 those two lines closed and forced the closure of the intermediate stations that had been re-opened after its initial closure. Freight traffic continued to run the Victoria Docks until 1968. The new Ring Road meant that the trackbed from Wilmington to Southcoates was removed. There is no trace now of the Victoria Station.^[4]

Route

The semi-circular line ran for a little over three miles from the junction of the Hull and Selby line near Anlaby Road northwards. As the line was at ground level, it was necessary to have level crossings across major roads. Travelling east from the Junction the line had stops at Botanic Gardens, Stepney, Sculcoates, Wlimington and Soutcoates before terminating at Victoria Docks. The line crossed Spring Bank, Beverley Road, Wincolmlee and James Reckitt Avenue.

References

Railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber
Primary	To London East Coast Main Line Midland Main Line To Exeter Cross Country Route
Others	Inter-regional Hallam Line Hope Valley Line Leeds to Morecambe Line Doncaster to Lincoln Line Sheffield to Lincoln Line Settle–Carlisle Line Intra-regional Airedale Line Askern Branch Line Barton Line Calder Valley Line Dearne Valley Line Esk Valley Line Harrogate Line Huddersfield Line Hull to Scarborough Leeds-Bradford Lines Leeds-Northallerton Railway Northallerton–Eaglescliffe Line Penistone Line Pontefract Line Selby Diversion Selby Line South Humberside Main Line Swinton to Doncaster Wakefield Line Wharfedale Line York to Scarborough
Defunct	Barnsley-Doncaster Brockholes-Holmfirth Dearne Valley Railway Gilling and Pickering Harrogate-Church Fenton Hull-Barnsley (Cudworth) Hull and Holderness Hull and Hornsea Knaresborough-York Leeds-Harrogate Malton-Driffield Middlesbrough-Guisborough Middlesbrough-Guisborough-Normanby Huddersfield-Bradford Lockwood-Meltham Nunthorpe–Battersby Otley-Ilkley Pilmoor-Knaresborough Queensbury lines Rosedale Railway Scarborough-Whitby Seamer-Pickering Selby-Driffield Selby-Goole Shipley Windhill Line Sowerby Bridge-Rishworth Skipton-Grassington Skipton-Ilkley Thirsk and Malton Line Wetherby-Cross Gates(Leeds) Whiby-Loftus Woodhead Line York-Market Weighton-Beverley York-York (Foss Island)
Heritage	Derwent Valley Light Railway Elsecar Heritage Railway Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Middleton Railway North Bay Railway North Yorkshire Moors Railway Wensleydale Railway
Light Railways	Nidd Valley Light Railway North Holderness Light Railway Sand Hutton Light Railway