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Royston to Thornhill line
A track leading into the distance, fringed with tress on both sides and with an overbridge
Dismantled railway near Notton.
Overview
Other name(s)West Riding Lines
StatusClosed
OwnerMR (1905 – 1948)
BR (1948 – 1968)
LocaleWest Yorkshire, England
Stations4 (all goods-only)
Service
TypeHeavy rail
History
Openedsee below:
Royston to Thornhill Midland1905
Middlestown Junction to Dewsbury Savile Town1906
Mirfield to Huddersfield Newtown1910
Closed1968 (completely)
Technical
Line length15 miles (24 km) total:
    • Royston – Thornhill 8 miles (13 km)
    • Middlestown Junction – Savile Town 2.5 miles (4 km)
    • Mirfield – Newtown 4.5 miles (7.2 km)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Royston to Thornhill line was a Midland Railway venture constructed in West Yorkshire, England, that had the intent to allow trains to travel from Sheffield to Bradford without going through Leeds. The scheme, which was promoted as the West Riding Lines, would have travelled underneath Bradford city centre in a long tunnel and ended up in the Aire Valley providing a through line across Bradford. In the event, only the section from Royston to Thornhill, a smaller branch to a goods station at Dewsbury Savile Town, and a longer branch from Mirfield to Huddersfield were ever built. By the late 1960s, the lines had all been closed, however, the viaducts at Bradley, Crigglestone, and Horbury still remain.

History[edit]

The line was promoted by the Midland Railway with a view to shortening the distance needed to travel from London St Pancras to Bradford,[note 1] and also to allow the Midland to make inroads into the Huddersfield, Halifax and Dewsbury areas.[2] The proposal received assent from Parliament in 1898, with a estimated cost of £2.1 million.[3] The length of the entire line between Royston and Bradford was listed as 24 miles (39 km), and the extension would put Bradford on the main line to London.[4] However, only 15 miles (24 km) of the proposed length was ever built; 8 miles (13 km) connecting Royston with Thornhill Junction, 2.5 miles (4 km) connecting to Dewsbury Savile Town, and a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) branch from Mirfield to Huddersfield Newtown.[5]

Construction started in 1902 starting from Royston Junction, and was open from there to Thornhill Junction by November 1905, and into Dewsbury Savile Town by March 1906.[6][7] Major engineering efforts on the line include viaducts at Horbury Bridge and Calder Grove (Crigglestone), and a 250-yard (230 m) tunnel at Crigglestone.[8][9] After the Dewsbury branch had crossed the L&YR main line, the line dropped down a 1-in-40 gradient and passed through a 188 yards (172 m) tunnel before arriving at the terminus.[10] The only major structure on the single-track Mirfield to Huddersfield Newtown Branch, was a 15-arch viaduct across the River Colne at Bradley.[11] Had the scheme been carried out to the full plans, a new line would have been constructed along the Spen Valley, and a tunnel would have been required under Bradford for a length of 5,000 yards (4,600 m), which would have started south of Bradford and emerged at the Midland Line from Forster Square[note 2] just 150 yards (140 m) north of the platform ends at Forster Square.[7] After the initial sections of line were constructed, the Midland Railway halted any further construction stating that the engineering difficulties of building the line in Bradford were proving too costly.[12] The plans for a line through Spen Valley were shelved when an agreement with the L&YR was reached regarding running powers over the line between Thornhill and Low Moor, thus allowing the Midland into Bradford without the need to build a new line.[13]

One of the conditions attached to the 1898 bill was that the Midland Railway were legally responsible protect the water rights for a water-powered mill in the Ripley area of Bradford. When tunnelling through hills, the normal approach is to drain all water away to the nearest watercourse, but this would have deprived Ripley's mill of its water, preventing it from operating.[14] Consideration was given to a viaduct across Bradford instead of a tunnel, but by 1907, a West Riding Lines Abandonment Bill was being tabled in Parliament.[15] By 1910, three express trains per day were leaving Bradford for St Pancras, but using the L&YR lines to Thornhill Midland Junction, and the lack of a through station at Dewsbury (Savile Town was a terminus), led to the Dewsbury Town Council opposing an amended scheme that used running powers of the other lines than a continuation of the line through Dewsbury.[16] The whole project was shelved at the start of the First World War, and never resurrected, with the scheme being formally abandoned in November 1919.[17][18]

Although the line was furnished with three stations, no passenger traffic called at these, and only the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ran local passenger trains over the formation of the line as through trains, with the L&YR possessing running powers over the Midland line as far south as Sheffield.[19] Longer-distance services, such as The Yorkshireman, saw a direct Bradford to London St Pancras (avoiding Leeds) using the line, but this only ran between 1925 and 1939, the service being cut back during the Second World War.[20][21] Most passenger services continued until 1948, but the last services ran over the line in 1968.[22] Middlestown and Crigglestone East stations had goods yards, and they were built with two platforms each, both of these aligned along the main running lines.[23] Dewsbury Savile Town closed in 1950, however, the line was open from Middlestown Junction to Dewsbury well into the early 1960s as a wagon storage facility.[24]

The line was transferred from the London Midland Region of British Rail, to the London North Eastern Region in 1957.[25] The bulk of the line was closed in 1968, though the section between Thornhill and Crigglestone Viaduct was kept open to provide materials for the building of the M1 at the eastern end.[26]

The eastern section of line through Notton is now bridleway and cyclepath, connecting with the Trans Pennine Trail in Royston.[27]

A further Midland branch extended from Mirfield to Huddersfield Newtown. The Midland built this line from Mirfield to Huddersfield as the LNWR would not allow the Midland running rights over their Line between Heaton Lodge Junction and Huddersfield.[28] However, the original plan was to extend the line from Middlestown Junction all the way to Huddersfield, but the L&YR consented to allow the Midland Railway to use the section between Thornhill Midland Junction and Mirfield, before the Midland's own branch left southwards at Mirfield station. This benefitted the Midland in reduced costs of a longer line. The line ran for 4.5 miles (7.2 km) and was built as a double track formation, though only one running line was ever laid.[10][29] Newtown Goods Yard, and the line opened on 1 November 1910.[30] As the LNWR was amalgamated into the Midland at the Grouping of 1923,[31][note 3] the longer line was deemed unnecessary, and so a connection was made with the main Huddersfield to Heaton Lodge line in 1923 at Red Doles Junction.[33][34] Thereafter, goods trains from Newtown Yard propelled backwards up the line, so that they were facing the correct way to connect with Hillhouse Yard, and the line to Mirfield from Red Doles Junction closed completely in 1937.[35] This produced a shorter branch of 1 mile 286 yards (1.871 km) between Red Doles and Newtown.[11] Newtown Goods Yard closed in August 1968.[36]

Stations[edit]

  • Dewsbury Savile Town - The Midland intended this to be a passenger station (Dewsbury's fourth passenger station) and that the line would extend northwards towards Low Moor and Bradford.[37][38] It opened in 1906 and closed in December 1950 - it was the last of the four goods stations serving Dewsbury, and the first to be closed.[39]
  • Middlestown [and] Crigglestone East - both Middlestown and Crigglestone were goods-only stations; no passengers used the stations, even though they intent had be to provide for passengers, even so far as passengers trains being run along the line. Middlestown was also listed as being the station "for Horbury".[9]
  • Huddersfield Newtown was opened in 1910 and closed completely in August 1968. In 1956, it was listed as being able to handle coal and minerals, with the yard being equipped with a 10 tonnes (11 tons) crane.[40] The line to the gasworks was completed in 1923, and then closed in 1966.[41]

The viaducts[edit]

Crigglestone Viaduct

Horbury Viaduct is 333 yards (304 m) long, 26-foot (7.9 m) wide, and has 17 arches.[42] The viaduct is lower than at Crigglestone as it only reaches a maximum height of 50 feet (15 m), and each span is 45 feet (14 m) across.[43] Crigglestone Viaduct spans the Hallam Line and the A645 road, and used to also run over old colliery workings, and the west to south Horbury curve railway line which closed in 1991. Crigglestone has 21 arches, spanning 1,270 feet (390 m) and is over 82 feet (25 m) high. From west to east, the first 16 arches are 50 feet (15 m) across, the next two are 64 feet (20 m), and the final three are 57 feet (17 m) across.[44]

Crigglestone straddled the coal workings for British Oak and Flockton collieries, the Horbury Curve (also known as the Crigglestone Curve) - a railway line connecting Horbury to the line going south from Wakefield to Barnsley, the A645, and finally, the Wakefield to Barnsley Line itself.[45] Both Horbury and Crigglestone viaducts are built of of blue brick, and designed by J. A. McDonald.[44] In 2023, Crigglestone was renovated with repointed brickwork, vegetation cut back, and new bat boxes and bat tubes installed after it was found that pipistrelle bats were living within its structure.[46]

Bradley Viaduct is 255 yards (233 m) long, 90 feet (27 m) high, and has 15 arches.[47] Bradley Viaduct now forms part of the Calder Valley Greenway, and the section of the greenway between the viaduct and Mirfield, is on the former railway trackbed.[48]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The Midland Railway estimated that the distance between London St Pancras and Bradford would be shorter by 11 miles (18 km).[1]
  2. ^ At that time, the terminus of the Midland Railway at the Northern end of the city centre was known as Market Street. The station was renamed as Forster Square in 1924.
  3. ^ As a preparation for the grouping to take place, the L&YR had already been amalgamated into the LNWR in 1922.[32]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Batty 1989, p. 91.
  2. ^ Thornhill 1986, p. 39.
  3. ^ Joy 1984, p. 97.
  4. ^ "The Midland Railway in the West Riding". The Railway Times. No. 3, 118. 9 October 1897. p. 492. OCLC 642446180.
  5. ^ Joy 1984, pp. 260–261, 263.
  6. ^ Batty 1989, p. 91–92.
  7. ^ a b Thornhill 1986, p. 41.
  8. ^ Taylor, Kates (2005). Not so merry Wakefield. Barnsley: Wharncliffe. p. 107. ISBN 1-903425-72-7.
  9. ^ a b "The Thornhill and Royston Line, Midland Railway". The Engineer. 108. London: Office for Publishing and Advertisements: 27. 1909. ISSN 0013-7758. OCLC 230064438.
  10. ^ a b Anderson 2000, p. 7.
  11. ^ a b Anderson 2000, p. 96.
  12. ^ Thornhill 1986, pp. 41–42.
  13. ^ Flowers, Andy (August 2023). "Junctions in profile: Heaton Lodge". Today's Railways. No. 258. Sheffield: Platform 5. p. 29. ISSN 1475-9713.
  14. ^ Batty 1989, pp. 92–93.
  15. ^ "Private bills in Parliament". The Guardian. No. 18, 864. 24 January 1907. p. 3. OCLC 697762507.
  16. ^ Batty 1989, p. 94.
  17. ^ Bairstow, Martin (2004). Railways through Airedale & Wharfedale. Farsley: Bairstow. p. 37. ISBN 1-871944-28-7.
  18. ^ Batty 1989, p. 96.
  19. ^ Gough 1989, p. 158.
  20. ^ Joy 1984, p. 99.
  21. ^ Batty 1989, p. 117.
  22. ^ Suggitt, Gordon (2015) [2007]. Lost railways of South & West Yorkshire. Newbury: Countryside Books. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-84674-043-5.
  23. ^ Gough 1989, p. 343.
  24. ^ Wild, Jack; Chapman, Stephen (1998). Railway Memories No. 11: Halifax and the Calder Valley. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. p. 77. ISBN 1-871233-10-0.
  25. ^ "Regional & Other Boundary Changes". s-r-s.org.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  26. ^ Batty, Stephen (1987). British Rail at work: West Yorkshire. London: Ian Allan. p. 36. ISBN 0711017034.
  27. ^ "Chevet Branch Line" (PDF). cycling-wakefield.org.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  28. ^ Batty 1989, p. 92.
  29. ^ Bairstow 1984, p. 18.
  30. ^ Gough 1989, pp. 158–159.
  31. ^ Bairstow 1984, p. 42.
  32. ^ Pixton, Bob (2024). The Railway Grouping 1923 to the Beeching Era. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-39908-828-2.
  33. ^ Anderson 2000, p. 17.
  34. ^ Bairstow 1984, p. 9.
  35. ^ Anderson 2000, pp. 18, 96.
  36. ^ Gough 1989, p. 159.
  37. ^ Thornhill 1986, p. 40.
  38. ^ Joy 1984, p. 127.
  39. ^ Anderson 2000, p. 8.
  40. ^ Anderson 2000, p. 98.
  41. ^ Bairstow 2000, p. 18.
  42. ^ "Horbury Viaduct". forgottenrelics.org. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  43. ^ Biddle, Gordon (2003). Britain's historic railway buildings: an Oxford gazetteer of structures and sites. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 437. ISBN 0198662475.
  44. ^ a b Biddle, Gordon (2003). Britain's historic railway buildings: an Oxford gazetteer of structures and sites. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 436. ISBN 0198662475.
  45. ^ Newton, Grace (8 June 2023). "Crigglestone Viaduct: Edwardian railway viaduct in Yorkshire that has been disused for over 30 years is restored". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  46. ^ Highways, National (22 May 2023). "Project profile: Crigglestone Viaduct - National Highways". National Highways. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  47. ^ "Bradley Viaduct". forgottenrelics.org. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  48. ^ "Calder Valley Greenway". sustrans.org.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2024.

Sources[edit]

  • Anderson, Robert (2000). Huddersfield, Dewsbury & Batley. Todmorden: Bellcode Books. ISBN 1-871233-13-5.
  • Bairstow, Martin (1984). The Leeds, Huddersfield & Manchester Railway (the Standedge Line). Pudsey: Bairstow. ISBN 0-90243830-1.
  • Batty, Stephen R. (1989). Rail Centres: Leeds/Bradford. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1821-9.
  • Gough, John (1989). The Midland Railway : a chronology. Leicester: Railway and Canal and Historical Society. ISBN 0901461121.
  • Joy, David (1984). South and West Yorkshire: the industrial West Riding (2 ed.). Newton Abbot: David Charles. ISBN 0-9465-3711-9.
  • Thornhill, John (1986). "All Change - Bradford's through railway schemes". The Bradford Antiquary. 3 (2). ISSN 0955-2553.

External links[edit]


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