Cawood, Wistow and Selby Light Railway
were passed authorising an extension to Selby and the Church Fenton, Cawood, and Wistow Railway Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict.
[12] The North Eastern Railway (NER) gave "generous assistance", which appears to have amounted to moral support, advice and lack of opposition, but no cash.
[13] Construction began on 11 July 1896, following the ceremonial cutting of the first sod at Cawood, performed by Mrs Liversidge, the chairman's wife.
[16] The NER did not allow through passenger running onto their metals, so the CW&SLR built a single platform halt next to Brayton Gates junction, about a mile from the main Selby station.
[18] In 1899 the company's board of directors decided to pursue building an extension west from Cawood to Church Fenton.
No clear junction with the railway there was specified, but the effect, deliberate or otherwise, was to unnerve the NER, who saw a potential threat should the Cawood line revive a venture along the lines of the 1879 scheme, which would allow the Hull and Barnsley Railway to penetrate the NER's fiefdoms of York and Harrogate.
[20] The Cawood company was formally wound up on 27 February 1900, having, unusually for such ventures, paid a dividend to shareholders throughout its short life.
[21] Thereafter the NER operated the line as a branch, as did its successors, the LNER then finally the North Eastern Region of British Railways.
An early passenger benefit from the NER's takeover occurred on 1 July 1904 when Cawood branch trains were diverted to run through to the main Selby station.
[10][29][30] The very last train, sent out to collect a stranded van and Cawood station's office equipment, ran on 23 May 1960, hauled by a diesel shunter.
It was soundly built as a "heavy" line, but with a route availability of "two", which severely restricted the axle weight of locomotives and rolling stock which could be used.
[32] Being almost dead level and single track throughout, with a terminus at the country end, the line lent itself to one engine in steam working.
The journey time remained 17 minutes despite the extra mile to reach Selby's main station instead of Brayton Gates.
Passenger traffic was encouraged on occasions such as cheap tickets to visit the Wistow Show and Sports day.
[47][48] The next twenty nine years of passenger working appears quixotic, but it was ultimately dictated by the line's very low route availability, mainly caused by the Selby Dam bridge.
The NER had no problem with providing very low axle-weight goods locomotives, but very light locos fitted with continuous brakes and reasonably capacious water tanks were rare.
3170 was re-engined, renumbered as 3170Y and sent to work in the Harrogate area, but this lasted only for the 1923 summer season, after which there is no published evidence of it being used until it was withdrawn in 1931.
[57] This ran a wide-ranging diagram including the Cawood branch[58][59] which came to a sudden end on 11 November 1926 when the railbus was destroyed by fire while refuelling at Selby.
[63] The arrival of the Sentinels followed by closure to passenger traffic reduced then removed the need for small locomotives with continuous brakes to act as backup, so they were moved away from Selby between 1929 and 1932.
By 1945 declining traffic, except in the "Campaign", i.e. harvesting time for key crops of potatoes and beet, meant a handful of 0-6-0Ts were regularly in charge, notably J71s 68285 and 68286 and veteran "Ironclad" J77 68406,[64][65] being replaced by a J72 towards the closure of Selby shed on 13 September 1959.
Despite the land's rich and rising productivity the decline in traffic came about almost entirely due to road competition[70] on price, convenience and quality.
By rail the produce had to be double-handled at farm then siding, incurring extra cost, time, loss and damage.
