Look at these old Oaks Viaduct photos off Facebook.

Great pics. We used to have similar, but wooden bridge on the Hull Barnsley line at Hemsworth, which is long gone, but sadly I don’t think any pics are available.

 

Fantastic structure that should have been saved as a cycle/walking route. I suppose money was the issue - too much to repair it first, and preserve it for long term use. It would have been a far better symbol of the town’s history than more recent erections .

I don’t remember seeing trains going over it but I did walk on it a few times after the lines had been removed. This area around the canal and the hill leading up to Rotherham Road was very much my playground in the1960s.

 

Fake; they didn't have colour back in them days.

 

Same for my dad and my uncle they all played around there. My dad told me stories about watching and hearing the demolition

 

Found this one on wiki. When I go to Oakwell I usually park at Hoyle Mill but I never knew this was right there. When I used to go with my dad in the 60s, we went on the bus so would never have gone past it. A fine structure, pity its gone.

 

They're off the Barnsley in Colour YouTube site? There's a guy also on YouTube called Wetdog that walks the old rail routes

 

There's just the remnants of one of the columns left, possibly the nearest one of the arch.
Edit. Just seen the latest picture, it's the stump of the far stone column.

 

Over done it a bit with the whispy clouds on that one.

 

Never knew it ever existed to be honest. Fantastic structure of its day by the looks of those great photos.

 

It was marvellous, it really was, but I suppose its days were numbered when that line from the old Court House station closed. Shame it couldn’t have been listed as a structure worth saving.

 

The old Barnsley to Cudworth pull and push used to run over it.

 

I remember the bridge with the right-hand bend but not the viaduct. Great picture.

 

Yes I know

 

Hmm also my playground in the 60's. up to back of Oakwell too. Also Mill of Black Monk and Sunny bank area...

 

Dangerous structure had to come down affected by severe subsidence

 

I didn’t get down that end where the Mill is but I do remember playing at Monk Breton Priory now and then. I have a vague memory of crawling through the old drain ducting which was dry but very narrow. Stupid really but I was very thin then so could manage it.

Thinking back it’s amazing how much ground you could cover during the school holidays, all on foot, out all day and nobody worried about your safety. I certainly didn’t when I was climbing up the Barnsley Main muck stacks. I could have fallen into one of the cracks with the noxious gas coming out of them. Crazy days, but I survived!

 

When the railways first came to Barnsley, the main station was at Cudworth on the North Midland Mainline. The topography of Barnsley meant it was difficult to build a fast railway with sweeping curves and minimal gradients that went through the town centre. Eventually the line through Court House Station was built and they constructed a line to connect Court House with the main station at Cudworth. This viaduct was part of that short line.

 

It was a dangerous structure by the end. You can see in the picture how badly it’s been affected by subsidence and there was no appetite back then to save things that served little purpose.

It’s mad how much railway infrastructure has been lost around Barnsley. A lot of which would be useful today. Such a shame.