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Meltham Branch
1869 - 1965
Lancashire & Yorkshire railway
Contributors:  © Reproduction prohibited / Andrew Stopford / Rob Lewis / Andrzej Miczyk
                      Julie Knowles / Craig Kellett / Carbootnut / Dave Pattern / David Webdale
The Route
From Meltham junction the Huddersfield Penistone line just before the north end of Lockwood viaduct (GR133149) to Meltham,
via Beaumont Park Halt (Woodfield), open only 1 month, Netherton & Healey House to the terminus at Meltham (GR100108).
The single platform station located in Station Road (B6107) was at a much higher level than
the large goods yard.

Length
3 1/2 miles, single track.

Original Company
Opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire railway company.

Openings 
5th July 1869.

Closures
Passengers - 23rd May 1949.
Freight - 5th April 1965.
Railway Ramblers gazetteer
See also the Railway Ramblers gazetteer -  Kirklees : L&Y Meltham jn (Lockwood) - Meltham
Back Track : Paul Holroyd   website - www.vintagecarriagestrust.org
A 9-page feature on the Huddersfield & Sheffield Junction Railway route to Penistone appears in Back Track Vol. 4 no. 2, March-April 1990
Meltham Junction (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Lockwood end of Lockwood Viaduct. The trees centre shot mark the junction for the Meltham Branch.
Meltham Junction (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Old guard rail along first few feet of the branch as it goes into Beaumont Park.
Beaumont Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Recess in retaining wall.
Beaumont Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
looking towards Meltham.
Beaumont Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Cutting through part of the park.

Woodfield (Beaumont Park Halt)
Opened & closed in  June 1874.
Beaumont Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Beaumont Park Halt: there was once a halt for passengers to use for Beaumont Park - I wonder if it was near here.
Note the big gates into the park through the bridge. (track went over the bridge)
Beaumont Park Halt (24-08-10) : Andrzej Miczyk
Note :
I can answer your question about the location of Beaumont Park halt.
I lived just above the park, as a teenager between 1957 and 1969 and saw the line in its last years of use and then closure.
At that time the the Beaumont park halt was still clearly identifiable to the east of the park gates.
A platform of Yorkshire stone slabs (more a high kerb) was still there then, on the park side of the line.
There was also a steep stone staircase which started at the other end of the platform from the park gates and climbed up to Beaumont Park Road along the edge of the park. I suppose this was built to serve the halt when the park was closed at night and the gates locked (a practice which ceased after the war when most of the park railings were taken away as scrap). This staircase was a really substantial affair and it must still be there - totally overgrown today.
Beaumont Park (04-09-18) : Dave Pattern
I did some research into Woodfield Station on the Meltham Branch Line a couple of years ago which might be of interest:     https://huddersfield.exposed/p/8f7


I'm afraid the stone steps mentioned by Andrzej Miczyk are a red herring.
They were built a decade after the station closed at the time Beaumont Park was being laid out.
The fact that the park would be closed at various times meant that historic rights of way through Dungeon Wood were lost.
The steps were built just outside the boundary of the park and provided a replacement right of way which linked up with a footpath previously diverted by L&YR. I'm unsure what the platform was that he recalls, but the track was doubled up to that location and used as a siding.

Both the diagram submitted to the Board of Trade and the map drawn by the Borough Surveyor (who lived locally in Lockwood) in 1879 show the station to have been on the other side of the line to the location mentioned by Andrzej and the platform was actually situated just to the southwest of the bridge photographed by Andrew Stopford. The area where the platform was is now overgrown by dense vegetation, but there seems to be large pieces of stone under the vegetation.

Please note that this was never a halt for Beaumont Park, as the park opened 9 years after the station closed.
However, there was a tramway terminus below on Meltham Road for park visitors.

There doesn't appear to be any surviving L&YR records relating to the station, but fortunately some items remain in the Board of Trade archives. Why the station was ever built in the first place remains a mystery to me, but its sudden closure was due to the Board of Trade revoking permission to open the station after Col. Hutchinson inspected it and found it to be on a dangerous incline. Seemingly L&YR decided it was cheaper to abandon the new station rather than close the single-track line to carry out the required remedial work. That does beg the question as to why the station was built on an incline in the first place!

If the station and platform hadn't already been removed by 1879, I'm certain the gifting of the wood that year to be used as a park may have forced L&YR's hand.
If they left both in place, there would likely be local pressure to re-open the station to service the new park (which would of course require the remedial work to be carried out first).

Personally, I suspect both were removed prior to 1879 as I failed to find any reference whatsoever to either whilst researching the laying out of the park.

Butternab tunnel (256 yards)
Beaumont Park Butternab tunnel north portal (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Beaumont Park Tunnel (North Portal).
Butternab tunnel north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut    Bygone Lines UK Yahoo groups
Butternab NEP.
Butternab north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab NEP view NE.
Butternab tunnel (07-09-10) : Julie Knowles
Interior from north portal. See more here - http://julie-knowles.fotopic.net/

Butternab tunnel : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut    Bygone Lines UK Yahoo groups

The 256 yard Butternab Tunnel at SE127138 has long been on my 'most wanted' list, not least because the NE portal has always been like Fort Knox each time I've visited & the SW end languishes at the back of someone's garden although I did manage to sneak a picture of this elusive beast back in 1993.
The new owners of the property were more than happy to show us their fine tunnel once our intention had been made clear & we were not prepared for what followed.
Several years ago I saw a very poor quality image showing the SW portal as being converted to an apartment but it was generally accepted to be a Photoshop trick, ahem, no-it's real! Not only is it real but they have done an absolutely first class job as you can see from the pictures & they also were very happy for me to publish the photos of their most excellent additional living space on these forums.
Behind the full-height glass frontage is the living room & games area & beyond this is the bedroom on the balcony above the kitchen.
The access to the rest of the tunnel is via the laundry area. Once inside the tunnel proper it curves slightly & the NE portal has some standing water about a foot at it's deepest going several dozen yards back from the wall.
You can see just how much infill has been piled on the outside here by comparing the old doorway from in & out views.

Butternab tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab SWP.

Butternab tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab from games room view SW.
Butternab tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab bedroom from games room view NE.
 
Butternab tunnel south portal : (23 -01- 1993) Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab SP 23rd January 1993.
Butternab tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab SWP renovation undated.

Butternab (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Overbridge between Beaumont Park & Netherton.
Netherton (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Overbridge just before the southern portal of Netherton Tunnel.
Netherton (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
BRB marker for above bridge.

Netherton Tunnel (333 yards)
Netherton tunnel north portal (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Netherton Tunnel (North Portal).
Netherton tunnel north portal (20/03/2013) : Craig Kellett
The tunnel mouth from Netherton to Beaumont Park Halt.
Netherton tunnel (07-09-10) : Julie Knowles
Interior from north portal. See more here - http://julie-knowles.fotopic.net/
Netherton tunnel (07-09-10) : Julie Knowles
Interior from south portal.
Netherton (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Netherton Tunnel (South Portal) - close as I could get.
You can just about make out a bit of the red bricked up tunnel mouth in the middle of the shot.

Netherton tunnel : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut    Bygone Lines UK Yahoo groups
Saturday 3rd August found a group of dubious individuals scouring darkest West Yorkshire beginning with a visit to the L&Y's Meltham branch which left the still extant Huddersfield to Penistone line near Lockwood.
There are 3 tunnels on this branch: Butternab, Netherton & Healey House.
Having all done Healey House previously this was omitted moving swiftly along to Netherton. Netherton Tunnel is 333 yards long,
situated at SE123132 & changes profile from horseshoe at the NE end to circular at the SW probably due to geological reasons.
Apart from some water ingress at the SW end it is dry thoroughout & in very good condition.

Netherton tunnel north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton NEP view NE.

Netherton tunnel north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton NEP.
Netherton tunnel interior : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton refuge near centre view N.
Netherton tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton SWP view SW.
Netherton tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton SWP.

Netherton station
Netherton station (20/03/2013) : Craig Kellett
Photo of the old platform which is still intact.
Its just sad to think that a rail link existed from Meltham to Huddersfield town centre all them years ago and no longer in use.

Healey House Tunnel (30 yards)
Healey House Tunnel (18-11-07) : Andrew Stopford
Slightly better view of Healey House Tunnel.
Healey House Tunnel (12-10-06) : Andrew Stopford
The south portal, very hard to reach, down a steep and muddy cutting side, very wet at the bottom.
Healey House (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Abutment.

Healey House Station
Healey House Station (18-11-07) : Andrew Stopford

The 'wilderness' shot is in fact the exact site of Healey House Station!
Netherton (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Occupation bridge - the parapet wall is cracked down the middle - you can just make this out.

Meltham station

Opened 05-07-1869. Closed 23-05-1949. Freight 05-04-1965.
Meltham station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Now Morrison's Supermarket. Abutement of sloping overbridge which came down from the town and crossed the track & platform.
Meltham (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
looking towards the station from the site of the goods yard (station was approx 200 yds after the yard).
Meltham station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
David Brown Tractors relic at goods yard site.
Meltham station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Goods yard site - concrete surface. This looks like a turntable of some sort. Any suggestions?
Note : (29-04-08) : Rob Lewis
According to my partners grandfather who worked at the David Brown plant this was a test track for David brown tractors.
Meltham station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Concrete occupation bridge about half a mile from station site - not original!
Meltham station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Looking towards Meltham from bridge above.

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