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Contributors :
Ralph Rawlinson / Nigel Callaghan / Phill Davison |
The Route
From Beeston Junction (SE296293) on the GNR main line into Leeds)
the line turned east passing over the Middleton Railway and the Midland
main line. After crossing both the canal (the Aire & Calder Navigation
Company insisted on a swing bridge as they had aspirations of turning it
into a ship canal) and the River Aire the line turned NW to terminate at
Hunslet goods station a mile from the city centre. A connection was made
to the adjacent NER goods branch from Neville Hill which opened the same
year.
NB Between the Middleton Railway and the canal it followed the alignment
of a 1755 tramway taking coal from Middleton New Pit to the River Aire.
Opening 2nd January 1899
Closures 3rd July 1967 Beeston - Parkside Junction.
3rd
January 1966 Parkside Junction - Hunslet
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|
 Crowther Os Map 1947 1-ins OS
1947 os 1 ins map showing the Hunslet area of Leeds. |
 Crowther
Atlas
Extract from the West Yorkshire volume of the Crowther Atlas. |
 Buffer
stops 02-12-07 : Phill Davison
buffer stops perched high above the river just before the swing bridge
used to be..
You can see how precarious the line is there due to the fencing. |
Tarmac company complex 02-12-07 :
Phill Davison
 Looking
up the complex from the buffer stops. You can see the road stone
facility in the distance. The line has been retained as a headshunt for
the Tarmac company but nothing has ventured this far for many years. The
bridge in the distance crossed the old Waterloo colliery line ran. The
Waterloo colliery line then curved round & connected with some coal
staithes opposite Hunslet mills. The staithes and embankement are still
there but heavily overgrown. |
 Tarmac
company complex 02-12-07 : Phill Davison
Looking down the complex towards the river. There
are 3 tracks in situ but only one is still in use.
The old leeds oil refinery was to the right were it had rail sidings in
the loading area. The road stone complex is on the left. |
 Knowsthorpe
swing bridge : Nigel Callaghan
The Aire & Calder Navigation Company insisted on a
swing bridge as they had aspirations of turning it into a ship canal. |
 Knowsthorpe
swing bridge :
http://www.geograph.org.uk/
The bridge was demolished in 1977 only a stone pier
remains. |
 M621
Junction 7 Hunslet Carr : Richard Thomson
The first half a mile to Ring Road Beeston Park is a footpath but
the next mile has been lost to redevelopment. At Hunslet Carr three
quarters of a mile of the formation was built over by the M1 (Now M621).
The section between the motorway and the canal has again been built over
but from the north side of the canal the track is still in situ and
operational with the sites of the former goods yards occupied by Tarmac
stone terminals. This line joins the Leeds - York line at Neville Hill
West Junction. |
See
Railway Ramblers gazetteer
