IF I WAS GOING TO WAKEFIELD, I WOULDN'T GO THAT WAY!

Time to leave Pontefract, following the West Riding tram route towards Castleford.

 

Soon, we come to Prince of Wales Colliery. Steam was still in action in 1971.

There was a diesel loco too.

A Hunslet 'Austerity' was dumped, out of use.

To see where we're going next, one can look at the map here (it opens in a new window). Two views of Pontefract Road, Purston, near Featherstone.

Now, here's Featherstone Lane in Featherstone itself.

Station Lane.

Featherstone railway station, L&YR.

Nearby Featherstone Main Colliery had a considerable rail network.

A Bullock & Sons bus photographed outside the Jubilee Hotel in Featherstone.

A firm called Gra' Cars had a yard in Featherstone. This old West Riding Leyland Tiger was to be found there.

There were some more contemporary coaches too.

Another colliery not far away, at Ackton Hall. Here's an 'Austerity' in steam there.

Time for a pint now in the Cross Keys at Old Snydale.

We now follow the L&YR route through Streethouse station, which has since reopened.

Next is Sharlston station.

Here's Crofton L&YR station, which didn't reopen.

Nearby was Hare Park & Crofton station on the WR&G Joint Doncaster to Leeds line.

To the northwest is Thornes Park. A vintage vehicle rally is taking place.

The intention is to approach the city of Wakefield along Westgate. This is the bottom end, with a West Riding tram.

This particular area is prone to flooding.

Alomg this section of Westgate is the White Hart, formerly the Tap & Spile. Whatpub reports that it has no real these days.

Henry Boons was just up the road, the tap for Clark's Brewery. The brewery has since closed, as has the pub - it's now an Indian restaurant.

In 1990, Crookham Travel paid a visit to Clark's Brewery.

That's where I'll leave it for now. Next time, we'll visit Wakefield Westgate station and a few nearby pubs.

PONTEFRACT PART 2

 Returning to the town centre, here's an old postcard view of Ropergate.

Pontefract Parish Church in 1990.

The Valley Gardens.

A view of Beast Fair and Corn Market, late 1930s (at a guess).

The first tram (operated by West Riding) in Pontefract, 29th October 1906.

Car 29 seen in Corn Street.

West Ridng later became a bus company. Here's an old Guy Arab at the bus station.

A Leyland Panther takes a rest.

The later livery, on a Leyland National.

Arriva took over the West Riding operations.

South Yorkshire Road Transport was a major presence in the town.

The company had a fleet of modern double-deck buses.

There was also the odd second hand purchase.

Another large operator into Pontefract was Yorkshire Traction.

Ford's used to run out towards the company's home in Ackworth.

Abbey Coachways ran an infrequent service into Pontefract.

Since deregulation, various operators have emerged. Ross Travel is one of them.

BL Travel is another.

M Travel didn't last too long.

Stringer's, based in the town, had a variety of vehicles for school contracts, etc. The company runs some stage carriages services.

The main business of Poppleton's Coaches is contract work.

Beer time! Let's start at the town's Wetherspoons, the Broken Bridge.

The Malt Shovel was always a "go to" pub, firstly for Darleys, then Wards. Sadly, no real ale these days.

The Tap & Spile was once a great source of cask beer. It's no longer a pub.

Another one that's gone - the Tap & Barrel.

The Golden Ball also no longer exists.

The Golden Lion is another casualty.

Reports recently tell us that the historic Counting House is getting ready to reopen soon.

Ah well, back to the 'Spoons maybe. That's it for now, we'll explore further into the area in the next post.