A FEW PINTS OF DARLEY'S

We now enter the county of South Yorkshire (once part of the West Riding) and cross Hatfield Moors, a large peat bog. Until recently, this was harvested by a factory just off the Sandtoft to Hatfield Woodhouse road. A narrow gauge railway brought the product from the moors. Here, around 1968, a Simplex diesel shunts by the works.

This is how the peat was unloaded.

A couple of colour photos of locos at the works in 1983.

There were some sharp curves on the line out to the moors.

At the loading site, there was a little Lister loco to shunt the wagons.

This strange machine was used to cut the turf.

Another mechanical device was used to load the wagons.

We now head for the town of Thorne and cross the GCR Doncaster - Scunthorpe line at Kirton Lane.

To the east is Thorne South station. Here it is in GCR times and (below) in 1997.

Just outside is the Victoria Inn. Be warned, there may not be any cask beer.

The Stainforth & Keadby Canal passes through Thorne.The town has a history of boat building.

Thorne Lock, with a boatyard beyond.

A new swing bridge has recently been built.

The Rising Sun was situated by the canal bridge. It was a good Darley's pub, sadly now closed.

Luckily, the nearby Canal Tavern is still serving pints.

A few yards away is Thorne Park, with a miniature railway.

Now for some pictures of old Thorne town. Here's the Market Place.

Church Street.

The Electric Picturedrome cinema.

The Black's Head pub has long gone.

The Red Lion has also vanished.

The White Hart is still going, but has no real ale.

Wilfreda Beehive was operating a town service in 2008.

Thorne is overlooked by the tower of Darley's Brewery. Here it is in its heyday.

Darley's was taken over by Vaux and closed. Here it when still brewing.

A good free house (not serving Darley's) is the Windmill.

On the way to Thorne North station, an Old Mill Brewery tied house, the Punch Bowl.

Thorne North station in NER times.

Now we're in BR days.

A class 158 DMU arrives in 2008.

Cadman's Coaches was a local operator; here's the yard in the mid 1970s.

Beyond the town is Moorends, where there was a long vanished peat works, served by rail and its own internal canal.

The present day settlement called Moorends was built to serve Thorne Colliery.

Here it is, from the air, in 1928.

Moorends is pictured here in two old postcards.

That's where I'll leave you for now. Next time, we'll head north, then veer to the west. Don't forget, there's a map of the route so far here.