Leeds New Line 2

Heaton Lodge - Farnley Junction (Leeds New Line)
1900 - 1965
London & North Western Railway Page: 2 of 6 [ <<Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> ]

The route Divided into a series of six maps following the route northwards from Heaton Lodge junction Huddersfield to Farnley junction Leeds (north is up)
	You are here: Map 2 Northorpe Dunbottle lane - Walkley lane

Map 2 Northorpe (Dunbottle lane - Walkley lane)
L.N.W.R Leeds New Line shown in red Lancashire & Yorkshire shown in blue (North is up)

L.N.W.R Northorpe 1908 & L.M.S Northorpe Higher 1930 map
Northorpe L.N.W.R - 1st October 1900 - 11th July 1921 (burned down)
Both old & new stations shown on same map. Built on the North side of Shillbank lane. Timber Platforms & buildings.
Northorpe Higher (L.M.S) 1921 - 5th September 1953
Built to replace the old station at a cost of £15000. Situated on the south side of Sillbank lane. Timber construction & small goods yard with two sidings. Goods yard closed 16th July 1951.
Fire at Northorpe station 11th July 1921.
A fire was caused by a passing Huddersfield bound freight train at around 6pm. The summer of 1921 was one of the hottest, with temperatures of 86F in the shade. Shortly after the train had passed a grass fire started on the embankment on the Leeds side, some distance from the station. the fire spread quickly, and soon engulfed the platforms. Unable to reach the hydrants situated between the platforms, the fire brigade gave up after half an hour. Firemen concentrated on the row of houses on Eastfield road, in which windows were broken & woodwork damaged. It seemed as though the burning station would fall backwards onto the houses. Fortunately the station canopy dragged the burning buildings forward onto the tracks. The fire was extinguished at around 10 pm. The damaged rails were replaced by 8am Wednesday.

Bank Lane facing West (14-07-02)
The 1921 Northorpe Higher station built by the L.M.S, (after the original burned down), was up on the left,
now a garden. (station entrance just out of shot down to the left).
An iron bridge spanned the road here & the pub in the background is the Plough Inn.

Bank lane facing North (14-07-02)
At the other side of the road is the site of the original station.
Entrances were at each side. Eastfield road, just down to the right (out of shot) had windows broken & woodwork damaged when fire destroyed the original wooden station buildings in 1921.

Footpath facing West (14-07-02)
Found this by accident, hidden by trees, must have used extra blue bricks for this,
provides footpath access to Northorpe lane through the railway embankment, (see main map).

Jill lane facing South (14-07-02)
The embankment, taken from Jill lane facing back towards Northorpe station.

Jill lane facing West (14-07-02)
Remnants of the bridge over Jill lane. nice stone, I think it looks like fireplace.
I assume it carried an iron deck.

Jill lane facing West (14-07-02)
On the other side of the road only sleepers remain, used as fence posts.

Ponderosa facing North (08-09-02)
Further North, taken from the track bed on the embankment.
Piles of bricks dumped here from demolished houses.
The Ponderosa animal sanctuary is just down on the right.
Park Colliery
Situated between Finching dyke & Lodge lane (to west side of new line) Park colliery was accessed via a branch from the L & Y Mirfield line. The New Line crossed this branch on a 3 arch bridge with a span of 25 feet. This bridge is long gone now, Park colliery was closed by 1907. The bridge was demolished & a continuous earth embankment formed in its place.

L & Y Mirfield Heckmondwike crossing facing East (08-09-02)

Maybe I should come back in autumn. Taken from the L & Y Mirfield branch track bed
(now a road leading to the animal sanctuary). This brickwork must have looked quite tasty in its day.
Here the line crossed the L & Y branch on a 150 ft lattice girder bridge.
Supported on blue brick & stone pillars, it was built to the same design as the Battyeford girder bridge.

Heckmondwike viaduct South end facing North (08-09-02)

This remaining section of Heckmondwike viaduct stands about 50ft high from the road side, the photo doesn't do it justice. Taken from Smithes lane, Originally an 80 yards long iron deck supported on brick pillars. This Spanned the valley over Spen Beck. Originally planned to be 261 yards long.
Instead an earth embankment & plateau was formed on the North side of the valley, using material excavated from the deep cuttings through Heckmondwike. This enabled the construction of a shorter viaduct.

L.M.S Heckmondwike Spen Goods 1930
Due to the terrain, the goods yard (opened1st of November 1900), was situated further south from Heckmondwike station, between Walkley Lane & the L & Y Ravensthorpe branch.
(North is to the right on this map).

Heckmondwike Spen signalbox sign (23-01-07) : Paul Nigel Kirkup website www.ingrowrailwaycentre.co.uk
An original sign from Heckmondwike Spen signalbox rests on a bogie from Bulleid-designed carriage no. 1469
at the Museum of Rail Travel, Ingrow, prior to being placed on display.

B.R Spur Facing south c1987 (Photo K Evans)

In 1966 B.R made this new connection at Heckmondwike Spen Goods yard, between the L & Y Ravensthorpe branch on right & The Leeds New Line to Liversedge Spen on left. This was to supply the Charrington Hargreaves oil terminal at the former Liversedge Spen Goods Yard. see page 3
This enabled the closure of the Heaton Lodge to Liversedge Spen Goods section of line.

Walkley facing North (08-09-02)
Next to Heckmondwike Spen Goods found no evidence at all of bridge 21 (originally constructed of stone pillars with an iron deck). the whole area seems to have been landscaped.
Heckmondwike Spen signal box stood just to the right of the bridge.

Walkley lane bridge facing South (15-09-02)
Looking back towards Walkley lane bridge from in the cutting.
Part of the under side of the bridge has been filled in.

Walkley facing North (08-09-02)
The view from Walkley lane, looking towards Heckmondwike. The 48 foot deep cutting looks reasonably intact. Excavations from here were used to create a massive plateau between bridge 21 & Heckmondwike viaduct.