Pontefract Baghill railway station

Pontefract Baghill railway station is one of the three railway stations that serves the town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. The other stations, Monkhill and Tanshelf, both lie on the Pontefract line, while Baghill lies on the Dearne Valley line 21+1/4 mi south of York towards Sheffield.

History
The station was opened together with the Ferrybridge to Moorthorpe section of the Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway. Public passenger train services began on 1 July 1879, freight traffic had already started by then. The design of the station followed basic principles of the North Eastern Railway, it was, however, larger than the other stations opened on the line at the same time. Pontefract Baghill was also once linked to the Wakefield, Pontefract & Goole main line by means of a short chord to Pontefract Monkhill near the intersection of the two lines as shown on the accompanying RCH map. This connection closed in November 1964, but the bay platform it once used at the northern end can still be made out. Two short curves north of the station near Ferrybridge connect the Dearne Valley Line to the western end of Knottingley station westbound and the eastern end of Monkhill station (both on the Pontefract Line), but are now only in use for freight and diverted passenger services.

In the Strategic Rail Authority's 2002/3 financial year, only 15 people bought tickets for journeys from Pontefract Baghill station, and 21 bought tickets for journeys ending there, making it the sixth least busy station in the United Kingdom at that time. The annual usage in recent years is still considerably lower than that of Monkhill and Tanshelf stations.

Facilities
The station has very basic amenities – it is unstaffed and has no ticketing provision of any kind, so anyone travelling from here needs to buy their ticket on the train or in advance of travel. The only other facilities offered are bench seating, a public telephone and timetable information posters (the old main building still stands but is in private use). Step-free access is available to both platforms. Neither platform has any shelter; though it is possible to wait under the passage in the former station building on the York bound platform.

Services
All services at Pontefract Baghill are operated by Northern Trains.

As of May 2023, the station is served by a limited service of three trains per day in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays only which run northbound to York and southbound to Sheffield.

No train services call at the station on Sundays and the station is instead served by a single rail replacement bus service in each direction between York and Moorthorpe.

Literature

 * Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides – Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1