, and there were branches to Swinefleet and Luddington. of road were needed to provide access to the railway. The maximum speed was restricted to , and locomotives with tenders were not allowed to run tender-first. The Isle of Axholme Light Railway was proposed in 1897, running from to Crowle via and . At Haxey, it would join the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, while at Crowle it would pass over and also connect to the Great Central Railway, and would join The Goole and Marshland Light Railway at . Two branches, to Hatfield Moor and Newlands, were proposed. Like its northern neighbour, the plans had strong local support, and a Light Railway Order was granted on 11 March 1899. A request by the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company that the swing bridge over the Canal near Crowle should be maintained in the open position to allow free passage of boats, rather than in the closed position to prefer the railway, was refused, as was an application for running powers over the line by the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway. Neither railway remained independent for long. Both were negotiating with the North Eastern Railway by January 1900, and agreement was reached that the larger railway would run both of the new lines, also representing them at the Railway Clearing House. As well as the agricultural traffic, the route would provide access to coal from the South Yorkshire coalfields. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway also needed routes into the coalfields, and the two companies agreed with the two new railways on a takeover plan. The North Eastern Railway Act of 31 July 1902 dissolved, transferred to and vested both companies in the North Eastern and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway companies jointly, with three directors appointed by each company. They paid £73,500 for the Goole and Marshland line, which had been completed, and £27,500 for the Isle of Axholme Light Railway, which was still in the early stages of construction. Construction Construction of the Goole and Marshland Light Railway began on 22 September 1898 at Eastoft, where the first sod was cut by the chairman, William Halkon. There was some initial disagreement with the North Eastern Railway over Marshland Junction, but this was resolved in December, and the first section of the virtually flat railway was opened from Marshland Junction to Reedness Junction on 8 January