OUR ALBERTS, THEN ON TO BARNSLEY

Our first stop today is the village of Blacker Hill, just north of Hoyland. You can see our route on this map. Here we could once find the wonderful Royal Albert ("Our Alberts"), which I first visited as a Ward's pub. It's seen here in 2003, when it sold Wentworth Ales. Sadly it has since closed, a great loss.

Here's a much earlier photo of Blacker Hill and the Royal Albert.

Blacker Hill was once home to a bus scrapyard. A former Wilts & Dorset Bristol LS is awaiting the torch.

Several former Doncaster Corporation buses met their end here.

We're in an area once littered with coal mines. Beside the GCR line was Rockingham Colliery.

To the north was the freight only line through Worsbrough, seen here through the camera lens of the late Ben Brooksbank. Electrification is imminent, but steam was still in use at both ends of the train (Creative Commons License).

There were several level crossings on the line through Worsbrough. Here's an early view of the one at Worsbrough Dale,

And this is Glasshouse Crossing signal box in the late 1970s.

Barnsley's trams had termini at Worsbrough Bridge and Worsbrough Dale. This is the latter.

The Red Lion pub, at Worsbrough Bridge, seen here in an old photo, is still serving decent beer.

The Edmunds Arms at Worsbrough is a Samuel Smith's house.

Into the Barnsley suburbs now, once reached by this Barnsley & District bus, seen at Kingstone.

The Keresforth Hall was a pub in Kingstone, serving some real ale. It has since closed and become a private residence.

We pass through an area called Pogmoor on our way into Barnsley, noting Yorkshire Traction Leyland Leopard no. 375 on service.

Now we've arrived into Barnsley town centre. We start with the rail facilities serving the central area. The surviving station is what was called Barnsley Exchange, until the 1960s, a single platform affair. The loco shed, seen here in LNER days, was alongside.

At the south end of Exchange station was Jumble Lane level crossing and here, in 1967, Yorkshire Traction rebuilt Leyland Tiger no. 787 is waiting for the gates to reopen (Les Flint).

Maybe that crowd was here to see "Flying Scotsman", though this is a later occasion (1969). No. 4472 is about to depart from the new southbound platform.

Here's Jumble Lane signal box in 1980, with a Cravens DMU in the station.

Some more DMUs at Barnsley.

A "Pacer", in brown and cream colours, calls at the station, before the buildings were rebuilt.

An earlier railbus, a class 141, at the rebuilt Barnsley station in 1994.

At the north end of the station was Barnsley Station Junction signal box, of L&YR design.

Both signal boxes shown here were replaced by this new affair.

Today's services are provided by Northern Rail.

Barnsley's other station was called Court House and was situated at height over the bus station, within spitting distance of Exchange railway station.

58075 is seen inside Court House station, on the shuttle service to Cudworth (Ben Brooksbank - Creative Commons License).

The Court House itself was adapted to become the station offices. Long after closure of Court House station, the building became a Wetherspoons pub called the Courthouse, though they've since sold it on.

That's where I'll leave you for now. Next time, more about Barnsley's beer and its buses.

WE'RE GOING TO JUMP!

We now leave the Upper Don Valley and head in an easterly direction to a village called Thorpe Hesley, where the Horse & Tiger (the only known UK pub with this name) is situated.

Almost an "about turn" finds us (see the map here) in the small town of Chapeltown, on the former Midland Railway route from Sheffield to Barnsley. Here's the station in MR times.

That station was still extant and well used in 1977.

A new station, closer to the centre of things, opened in 1982.

There's a regular service through Chapeltown.

The Great Central Railway also had a station at Chapeltown. The tracks have long gone but the building still survives as a private residence.

Yorkshire Traction subsidiaries Andrews-Sheffield Omnibus and Yorkshire Terrier both served Chapeltown.

There's an excellent free house in Chapeltown that's not to be missed - the Commercial.

On the way out of town is the Wharncliffe Arms.

On another road into Chapeltown, a Richardson's AEC Reliance on service in 1986.

On the Midland line, the south portal of Tankersley Tunnel, with the line to Newton Chambers over the top.

Newton Chambers had a large facility at Thorncliffe and a fleet of steam locos.

Not far away is the settlement of High Green.

On the GCR line, the station at Birdwell & Hoyland Common.

Another of the small towns south of Barnsley is Hoyland. Here's the town hall.

Some ex Yorkshire Traction Group buses in Hoyland just after the Stagecoach takeover.

The Furnace Inn, Hoyland, now has no cask beer.

We move on to Elsecar. This is Hill Street.

Holy Trinity Church, Elsecar (Creative Commons License).

Elsecar was a coal mining village. Here's the manager's residence.

A branch of the Dearne & Dove Canal was built to serve Elsecar's pits. The basin was a busy place.

Here's what remains of Elsecar Lock in 1994.

The colliery had an extensive rail system, mainly served by the GCR branch from Wath.

Part of the branch was taken over by a preservation society, but all seems lost today.

One version of "Barnsley Brewery" was established here, though this one has now gone. Others survive.

Elsecar was served by a station on the Midland Railway.

BR ran a regular DMU service, but Elsecar also saw occasional excursions.

The Fitzwilliam Arms in Elsecar is no longer in existence.

Never mind, the Milton Arms still serves real ale.

A lovely Elsecar pub is the Market, a great place to drink Barnsley Bitter.

To the north east is Hemingfield, a quiet village.

There are two pubs in Hemingfield, both of which don't have real ale now. The Elephant & Castle and the Lundhill Tavern.

Yes, we are going to Jump! It's a mining village south of Barnsley. Sadly the former John Smith's pub here, the Clothiers Arms, has closed.

So, if you want another pint, you'll have to await the next post, as we continue towards Barnsley.