A look at the LNWR line opened in 1900 through Mirfield, The Spen Valley, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton, Gomersal and Gildersome to Farnley Junction near Leeds.
If you want to see some fantastic photos of the the Leeds New Line go on to Britain from the Air, the collection of aeorofilms there you will see liversedge station and goods yard, heckmondwike station the tunnels and the eighty houses,1939,all complete and so clear.Batteyford goods, Mirfield viaduct,and views going up the valley in 1935,all in clear detail that you can enlarge,and thats only the tip of the iceberg,there are so many views of railways in this area in the 20s,30s,fifties its a great site for a railway enthusiast and its free i highly recomend it,i never thought i would see a view of the midland line going over the l&y at thornhill but there it was ref no EAW023545 taken in 1949,if you want to see the railway brought back to life instead of blurry photos give it a go its so good
Thanks for this. My grandparents lived near the line near birstall town station. Seeing it disused depressed me and got me into railway preservation. Should never have closed
Heaton Lodge junction was one of my favourite train spotting haunts in the early 1960s. I recall the Transpennine units well and travelling on them from Huddersfield to Leeds.
Great to watch this video it was very well presented. In January 1961 until May I used this line regularly travelling in the cab of the class forty locos that had just been introduced on this line. With the ten coaches behind it was a fantastic sound climbing up the incline to Birstal station from Holbeck Junction over the Farmley flyover. Sad it had to close after only sixty five years.
@@kennethstill5945 For fantastic sound go to Hebden Bridge on evenings when the big American locos are hauling the ballast trains up the grade towards Manchester!
The view from the air shows that much of the trackbed hasn't been built upon. The tunnel under the motorway is essential. It could be possible to reopen this line I think.
Good film but the dates stations closing is wrong. Gildersome closed to passengers on the 9th of July 1921 ,Upper Birstall (late renamed Birstall Town) closed to passengers on the 1st of Auguest 1951, Ceckheaton Spen closed to passengers on the 3rd of Jan 1953 and the rest (Battyeford, Northorpe Higher, Heckmondwike Spen, Liversedge Spen and Gomersal) closed on the 5th of October 1953.
An excellent history. My former house used to look at the old site of the Birstall Town station. It's a real shame this line closed as it would be very useful for relieving the painfully congested A62 nowadays.
Presumably all, or most of the non stop express trains use the New Line from Huddersfield to Leeds after 1953 ? Beeching had an obsession with 'duplicate routes'.
Amongst many old photos my mother left me, there was one of a train stabled at Cleckeaton Spen, taken from the viaduct over Mann dam, I occasionally wondered why she would have taken such a nondescript picture but when you said Winston Churchill slept in a train there it made me wonder if that may be the actual one, it was the sort of soppy thing my mother would have done.
One of beechings infamous shut downs a line that should not have been closed if it was still open to it would have given more capacity between Leeds and Manchester and a valuable commuter line I’ve often seen the end of the line at farnley junction from the motorway
You can’t blame this all on Beeching. Most of the stations on the line were closed in 1953 a full ten years before the Beeching report was published. Even in the 1950s increasing numbers of buses, cars and lorries were taking business of the railways. Closed stations were the result.
@@andrewlong6438 All intermediate stations on the line closed on 3rd January 1953. At the time it was not a consideration to have unstaffed halts so the stations were closed to save money. Huddersfield to Penistone intermediate stations were saved from closing about 9 years later because DMUs were used and the train guard collected the fares.
The LNWR Gildersome station on the Leeds New Line was just off Rooms lane, which is off the A62 Gelderd Road. This is quite a way from Gildersome, but could be no closer due to the tunnel. For this reason the station closed as early as 1921. This station should not be confused with the GNR station on the east west line which was situated much more conveniently at Gildersome crossroads.
Point taken sir. The vernacular was always the long form pronouncing the 'ford', and maybe I should have used this, but we don't say Brad Ford - it is shortened. Peter pedantic Darley
And, Mr Darley, you were man and boy in Battyeford from 1953 to 1990. As a linguist, I accept that both are correct. For instance, pronouncing Bradford as it is today is because it was abundantly spoken as a word during the Industrial Revolution or British Empire but, Battyeford, as a spoken word, was not used in such abundance and therefore the people born and raised at Battyeford such as yourself, Mr Darley, pronounced it as its original name Battye FORD until I came along and started talking about Bradford!!!! That's wives for you!
If you want to see some fantastic photos of the the Leeds New Line go on to Britain from the Air, the collection of aeorofilms there you will see liversedge station and goods yard, heckmondwike station the tunnels and the eighty houses,1939,all complete and so clear.Batteyford goods, Mirfield viaduct,and views going up the valley in 1935,all in clear detail that you can enlarge,and thats only the tip of the iceberg,there are so many views of railways in this area in the 20s,30s,fifties its a great site for a railway enthusiast and its free i highly recomend it,i never thought i would see a view of the midland line going over the l&y at thornhill but there it was ref no EAW023545 taken in 1949,if you want to see the railway brought back to life instead of blurry photos give it a go its so good
Extremely interesting and informative. Thank you.
(What a terrible waste of a route which would be immensely useful now).
A very nostalgic history of the line, accompanied by some lovely music. Thank you
This line should never have closed!
Fascinating and superb video. Many thanks
Thanks for this. My grandparents lived near the line near birstall town station. Seeing it disused depressed me and got me into railway preservation. Should never have closed
Lovely video, thank you. Love the taxi's number plate at 23:47 !
Thanks for this. I had not even noticed this myself! It was not intentional - H8 UBR. Will this become another LMW 28IF as on Abbey Road?
Heaton Lodge junction was one of my favourite train spotting haunts in the early 1960s. I recall the Transpennine units well and travelling on them from Huddersfield to Leeds.
lots of us did that back then.
I saw Bihar and Orissa!
Great to watch this video it was very well presented. In January 1961 until May I used this line regularly travelling in the cab of the class forty locos that had just been introduced on this line. With the ten coaches behind it was a fantastic sound climbing up the incline to Birstal station from Holbeck Junction over the Farmley flyover. Sad it had to close after only sixty five years.
@@kennethstill5945 For fantastic sound go to Hebden Bridge on evenings when the big American locos are hauling the ballast trains up the grade towards Manchester!
The view from the air shows that much of the trackbed hasn't been built upon. The tunnel under the motorway is essential. It could be possible to reopen this line I think.
Good film but the dates stations closing is wrong. Gildersome closed to passengers on the 9th of July 1921 ,Upper Birstall (late renamed Birstall Town) closed to passengers on the 1st of Auguest 1951, Ceckheaton Spen closed to passengers on the 3rd of Jan 1953 and the rest (Battyeford, Northorpe Higher, Heckmondwike Spen, Liversedge Spen and Gomersal) closed on the 5th of October 1953.
An excellent history. My former house used to look at the old site of the Birstall Town station. It's a real shame this line closed as it would be very useful for relieving the painfully congested A62 nowadays.
Presumably all, or most of the non stop express trains use the New Line from Huddersfield to Leeds after 1953 ? Beeching had an obsession with 'duplicate routes'.
Thank you for your comment.
Amongst many old photos my mother left me, there was one of a train stabled at Cleckeaton Spen, taken from the viaduct over Mann dam, I occasionally wondered why she would have taken such a nondescript picture but when you said Winston Churchill slept in a train there it made me wonder if that may be the actual one, it was the sort of soppy thing my mother would have done.
This is very interesting, but how would she have known? I would imagine this would have been kept very secret.
One of beechings infamous shut downs a line that should not have been closed if it was still open to it would have given more capacity between Leeds and Manchester and a valuable commuter line I’ve often seen the end of the line at farnley junction from the motorway
You can’t blame this all on Beeching. Most of the stations on the line were closed in 1953 a full ten years before the Beeching report was published. Even in the 1950s increasing numbers of buses, cars and lorries were taking business of the railways. Closed stations were the result.
@@andrewlong6438 All intermediate stations on the line closed on 3rd January 1953. At the time it was not a consideration to have unstaffed halts so the stations were closed to save money. Huddersfield to Penistone intermediate stations were saved from closing about 9 years later because DMUs were used and the train guard collected the fares.
@@elizabethdarley8646 Dates are not correct, see my comment above
Very interesting thanks 👍🏻 What a shame it got pulled up like most of are railways in the 60s 😩
Heckmondwike Old Hall was occupied by Joseph Priestley the scientist. JB Priestley was a novelist from Bradford?
Yes, I realised my blunder after I had published the video on TH-cam.
Where was Gildersome station at again?
The LNWR Gildersome station on the Leeds New Line was just off Rooms lane, which is off the A62 Gelderd Road. This is quite a way from Gildersome, but could be no closer due to the tunnel. For this reason the station closed as early as 1921. This station should not be confused with the GNR station on the east west line which was situated much more conveniently at Gildersome crossroads.
What is the piece of lovely music between 12min 45 sec and 14min 40 sec please? I can't identify it from the list at the end of the video.
It is the second movement of Grieg's Holberg Suit.
@@elizabethdarley8646 Thanks very much. Obviously I didn't listen to enough of it!
Good informative film about the lost railway, spoilt by unnecessary special effects
just to think what it could be today
Battye FORD FORD not fd.
Great video, shame about the silly Helicopter sound.
Point taken runnerthemoose. I still had my video making L plates on, back then.
Can't fault it (except for your pronunciation of Battyeford).
Point taken sir. The vernacular was always the long form pronouncing the 'ford', and maybe I should have used this, but we don't say Brad Ford - it is shortened.
Peter pedantic Darley
And, Mr Darley, you were man and boy in Battyeford from 1953 to 1990. As a linguist, I accept that both are correct. For instance, pronouncing Bradford as it is today is because it was abundantly spoken as a word during the Industrial Revolution or British Empire but, Battyeford, as a spoken word, was not used in such abundance and therefore the people born and raised at Battyeford such as yourself, Mr Darley, pronounced it as its original name Battye FORD until I came along and started talking about Bradford!!!! That's wives for you!
What a lack of forward thinking closing the lines down
An interesting film with some nice music. Could gave done without the attempted comedy effects.