John Brown's railway was a line constructed in the Rotherham area of South Yorkshire, England, in order to link Silverwood Colliery to staithes situated alongside the River Don.
John Brown and Company were also the owners of other collieries in South Yorkshire, including Rotherham Main, which was served by a Great Central branch line.
The line was opened in 1901 and its main engineering work was a girder bridge crossing the River Don which was built by Newton, Chambers & Company.
Slippery rails covered with natural evening moisture together with water dripping from the wagonloads of 'slack' were blamed.
The signal box, Thrybergh Junction, was saved, although it did suffer in a later accident and fell backwards into the river.
In 1959, a platform was constructed on the line, near to Whinney Hill in Thrybergh, to serve the "Children's Outings" organised by local Working Men's Clubs.
The line from Don Bridge East Junction to Roundwood was closed in the 1960s but a single track was retained as a 'trap' for runaways.
"The Silverwood Branch" by Geoff Royston and Roger Milnes, Forward, the journal of The Great Central Railway Society, November 1991, No.84.