Newtown Goods 1

Newtown Goods
1910 - 1937
Midland Railway Page: 1 of 2 [ 1 2 Next >> ]

Contributors: Simon Green

The Route
From Newtown Goods yard 1/2 mile North of Huddersfield station. To Mirfield junction 1/2 mile West of Mirfield station.

Length 5 miles
Opening 1st November 1910
Closures (2 stages) Between Mirfield & Red Doles 1937* Between Red Doles & Newtown August 1968.

Note*
The newly formed London, Midland & Scottish Railway connected the Newtown branch to the Heaton Lodge - Huddersfield line at Red Doles in 1923.
The Mirfield - Red Doles section was hardly used & was closed altogether in 1937.

Midland Railway Main Line (Midland Railway Extension)
The branch from Mirfield to Huddersfield was originally part of a bigger scheme.
The Midland planned to build its own mainline between Sheffield & Bradford, to avoid the congested areas around Leeds.
The Lancashire & Yorkshire eventually gave the Midland running powers on its lines so the scheme was never completed.
The line only got as far as Dewsbury, where it terminated at Savile town goods yard, opened in 1906. see routes map & Royston - Savile town
Despite this the Midland still built the Huddersfield branch between Mirfield & Newtown goods yard. It was designed for two tracks, but only one was ever laid. It spent its whole life used only for local goods traffic.
The original plans were for Newtown to have a big passenger terminus & a hotel.

The Route Divided into a series of two maps following the route northwards from - Newtown Goods, 1/2 mile north of Huddersfield station. To Mirfield Junction, 1/2 mile west of Mirfield station (north is up)
	You are here: Map 1 Newtown Goods - Fieldhouse Bridge

Map 1 Newtown (Newtown goods - Fieldhouse bridge)
Midland Newtown to Mirfield line shown in green (North is up)

North Eastern Gas Board
Bradford Road Huddersfield Examiner (09-12-04)

A rail connection was made from the goods yard to the gas works situated down on the other side of Leeds road. The route took it under the L.N.W.R Huddersfield to Dewsbury line, across Bradford road & down Beaumont street. For street working, the steam engines had guard rails fitted over the wheels. (Newtown goods yard visible in background under the viaduct).

Entrance to The gas works. (12-04-04)
The rails can be seen to the left of the building, where they came through the gate & crossed the road to the other side of the works. From the points in front of the kings mill carpets sign, a section of track does a circular route around the gasometer.

Looking back towards the entrance. (12-04-04)
From the points (behind the Kings mill carpets sign) the track can be seen to veer off to the right, where it looks as though there were some sort of coal drops. Further to the right the line crossed the river, the bridge is no longer there.

1 Newtown & Birkby maps 1918
Left hand map south, right hand map north.

2 Newtown Goods (Ringway trading estate) facing East (31-05-03)
Boring, nothing to see here. The site of Newtown goods yard, taken from Willow lane
facing towards Huddersfield. The original route track route ran somewhere down this road.
It veered off to the left to cross Willow lane bridge. (see next photo)

3 Willow Lane facing South (31-05-03)
One of my favourite remnants this. I like those ceramic bricks, reminds me of the London underground. The brick & stone archway spans Clough house mill beck. (see Newtown map) Probably an iron deck bridge spanned Willow lane.

4 Halifax Old road facing North (31-05-03)
Taken with Willow lane just behind, facing toward Mirfield. Its all gone a bit cycle path now on here,
an attempt to copy the Spen Valley Greenway I think. The bridge in front carries Halifax Old road.

5 Honoria street facing North (01-06-03)
All this areas been filled in, but access under the bridges has been maintained.
In this cutting was a siding just to the right. (see Birkby map 1918)
The bridge in front carries Honoria street.

6 Back Honoria street facing North (01-06-03)
Another one of my favourite bits this, look at that brickwork. Taken from beneath Honoria street.
Back Honoria street crosses in front.

7 Bradford road facing East (01-06-03)
Taken from Cobcroft road. The bridge in front carries Bradford road. The bridge under here has been filled in & the remaining stone work has been completely destroyed by over complicated cycle path gates & stuff, but at least the route has remained open.

8 Bradford road facing East (01-06-03)
Close up of Bradford road bridge, solid or what.

9 Alder street facing East (01-06-03)
A bit further on is Alder street bridge, almost completely filled in.

10 Steam Navvy, Fartown cutting (c1902) : Simon Green
This shot kindly donated by Simon Green, showing line under construction. From a postcard, post dated 1902. Writing says "Midland Rly extension Huddersfield Steam Navvy Fartown Cutting"
see Simon Green horses mouth section

11 Red Doles facing West (c1980)
The site of Red Doles junction Taken from Fieldhouse bridge, facing towards Huddersfield. A picturesque 1980s photo of a 47 hauled passenger on its way to Leeds. The Newtown goods track bed can be seen on the right. The bridge over Red Doles road is just visible in top left.

12 Fieldhouse bridge facing East (c1980)
Facing back towards Leeds, a 47 passenger on its way to Huddersfield. Fieldhouse bridge in background. To the left of photo can be seen the bit where it crosses the Newtown goods line.
(see next photo).

13 Fieldhouse bridge facing East (01-06-03)
Fieldhouse bridge, facing towards Mirfield.
Cycle path provides good access to the council estates for stolen cars to be torched.