 The Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway had been opened in 1857, and was worked by the Great Northern Railway; this gave the GNR a direct line from Wakefield to Leeds, but the gap from Doncaster to Wakefield remained, necessitating running on the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.The GNR had repeatedly submitted Parliamentary Bills seeking authorisation for its own Doncaster to Wakefield line, and these had repeatedly been thrown out; the most recent was in 1861.Now in that year a new company was promoted, to be called the West Riding and Grimsby Railway, and in the 1862 Parliamentary session it was authorised, on 7 August 1862.