the drainage works, the unrest was finally resolved in 1719, and the agriculture of the area prospered. The Stainforth and Keadby Canal cut across the region in 1802, providing some transport facilities, but the coming of the railway age resulted in calls for railways to be built to carry the agricultural produce to market. Precursors The South Yorkshire Railway built a line which ran broadly parallel to the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, passing through . Two plans for railways from London to York, which would have crossed the Isle, were proposed but not built, while the more local Isle of Axholme Extension Railway would have linked Haxey, Epworth, Crowle and Thorne. In 1846, the railway financier George Hudson proposed a line from Goole to be called the Isle of Axholme, Gainsborough and York and North Midland Junction Railway, which failed to obtain an Act of Parliament, but much of its route was used by the railway which did eventually get built. In 1882, the Isle of Axholme and Marshland Steam Tramway was proposed. It would run from Haxey to Crowle, and would use a gauge of . However, in 1883 the company joined forces with, and was then taken over by, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway to resist a proposal for the Goole, Epworth and Owston Railway. The defeat of the rival scheme was resented by local businessmen. Under an Act of Parliament obtained in 1885, the tramway was abandoned and the Isle of Axholme Railway was authorised, but this too was abandoned three years later by another Act. Nothing more happened, until the passing of the Light Railways Act in 1896, which meant that rural railways could be authorised by an order from the Board of Trade, rather than having to obtain a costly Act of Parliament. Proposals The Goole and Marshland Light Railway was one of the first to take advantage of the new Act. A public enquiry held in Goole on 8 October 1897 showed that the plans, which would cost £59,602 to implement, had local support, and the farmers club estimated that the railway would carry 51,625 tons of agricultural produce per year. An order enabling construction to proceed was issued on 16 August 1898. It sanctioned four railways and a road. Leaving the Doncaster to Goole main line (Hull and Doncaster Branch), a line composed of two of the railways ran to Adlingfleet via