Mexborough and Swinton Times June 24, 1892
The Development of the Railways
Railway development is going on largely all around us, and the general result must inevitably be rapid progress of a commercial kind to Mexborough and the district.
It is recognise that the coal trade is a unmistakably tending more towards Mexborough and Conisbrough and with such shrewd gentlemen at the head of the Denaby Main Colliery company and the proposed new Cadeby Colliery, the fullest possible advantage be taken of these signs of the times.
Thus it is that in addition to the extensions in the neighbourhood, an important line is expected to run direct from our midst to join the Hull and Barnsley Railway. The great value of this line is self-evident, particularly so far as the Denaby and Cadeby collieries are concerned.
The company was incorporated by the South Yorks Junction Railway Act 1890 and Mr J Buckingham Pope (chairman of the Denaby Main Company) and Mr Edward Pope, of Loversall Hall are two of the directors.
Apart from the ordinary traffic of the railway, the line will the Denaby and Cadeby pits with the Hull and Barnsley Railway at Wrangbrook, by way of the Brodsworth estate. The rail constituting the separate undertaking and the construction of which the present issue of shares is made, is between 11 and 12 miles in length, the Barnsley coal underlying the whole of it.
It is significant, as testifying to the activity at Denaby Main, to note that the company have found themselves for 21 years to send or pay for the minimum traffic of 310,000 tons annually over the line for all, and the following letter from Mr WH Chambers, the manager of the Denaby Main Colliery, shows how needful it is that the new line should be constructed local mineral traffic:
“The Cadeby Colliery pits are now 386 yards deep ; the Shafton coal and various other seams have been already sunk through, and the Barnsley seam will be reached about February next. The Cadeby Colliery Estate extends from Coninborough to Doncaster. These collieries will probably be about the most extensive in England, plant being calculated for an output of 5,000 tons per diem.
The Denaby Main Colliery, which is also connected with your railway, erasing annually between 500,000 and 600,000 tons, and the company are for many years been by far the largest coal exporters in England from the Port of all. The Cadeby and Denaby estates join one another, and give together an unbroken coalfield extending between seven and 8 miles. When the Cadeby collieries are developed, the total output from them and the Denaby College together may be taken as 1.6 million tons annually, and a large proportion of this quantity will be available for your railway, which provides by far the readies means of export.
I estimate that there is sufficient coal in these estates to last for more than a 150 years. The Barnsley seam now being worked at Denaby is 10 feet in thickness, and under that lie the Swallow Wood, Parkgate and Silkstone coal seams, all of which are worked in the district. There are also many other workable seams, and the all of these underline the full extent of your railway.
With regard to the means the Denaby Company possessed of dealing with the above-mentioned traffic, I may add that they own 3573 railway trucks, of which 2948 and now in use, and the remainder in course of construction. They also own powerful screw steamers, purchase for the express purpose of dealing with their coal at the Alexandra Docks, whole, belonging to, and only to be reached by means of the Hull and Barnsley Railway.
I believe it is intended to purchase others on the opening of your railway.”
This letter speaks for itself indeed, and it is not at all likely that any difficult will be experienced in getting shares taken up, especially as it is guaranteed that the dividend from the date of opening the line shall never be less than 3 ½ percent per annum.
Arrangements have been made for the construction of the line at a cost of £210,000, the work to be completed in two years.