Spen Valley Magazine Spen Valley Magazine (draft) | Page 9

FULL STEAM AHEAD
The Railways of Spen Valley
Railways were big business in the Spen Valley for over a century. Travel to
all parts of the UK was possible, powered by steam almost to the end.
Cleckheaton Line
Spen Valley entered the railway age when this route up
the west side of the valley was opened in 1848 (see map
on centre pages). It connected Low Moor, Cleckheaton,
Liversedge and Heckmondwike with the Leeds line at
Mirfield. In 1869 a branch from Heckmondwike to the
Wakefield line via Ravensthorpe was added. Urban growth had made the Leeds Line a challenge to
build through Heckmondwike where 126 houses stood
in the way of a planned deep cutting. All residents were
re-housed within 1 mile, with Eighty Houses built for
displaced families at Church Street (at a cost of
£20,267 10s 0d).
Constructed by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Co.
the Heckmondwike station and goods yard (no. 1 on
centre spread map) was at Railway Street and is now
occupied by housing. A station and yard at Liversedge
off Halifax Road (2) is now a small business park. Part of
the cobbled yard there and a platform building remain. Liversedge Station was accessed from Listing Lane and
the goods yard from Leeds Road.
The large goods yard at Cleckheaton (3) was next to the
station, now occupied by Tesco. At Moorend there were
two sidings; one to deliver coal to the council’s gasworks
and the other to Ellison’s Tar Distillers.
Accidents were few. But in 1882 carriages being shunted
at Low Moor broke loose and didn’t stop until Cooper
Bridge – 10 miles away. And on 22nd June 1928 several
goods wagons were shunted off Westgate bridge,
Cleckheaton, falling onto a butcher’s shop below.
Mercifully no-one was injured.
A house by the name of “The Royds” which stood at the
top of what is now Royds Park was dismantled and
rebuilt in Whitechapel Road, Scholes. In a nice twist, the
location is now occupied by Spen’s only rail track, the
Royds Park Miniature Railway.
The cobbled viaduct running from Bradford Road,
Cleckheaton to the Leeds New Line station at Spen Lane
was built for pedestrian access from the town centre.
This survives. In 1952 during his general election
campaign Winston Churchill slept in a carriage in the
station siding.
Cleckheaton (Spen) is now used for warehousing. The
goods yard and station at Gomersal is occupied by
Summerbridge Crescent.
The last passenger train was the service from Bradford
on 12 June 1965 arriving at Cleckheaton at 11.21 pm.
The station closed to freight traffic four years later.
In 1971 the disused station at Cleckheaton was stolen
in its entirety by a demolition contractor who took three
weeks to carry everything away. It is said that the police
in all innocence stopped the traffic to allow long vehicles
to exit Tofts Road.
The track was initially retained in the hope of establishing
a tramway down Spen Valley in the 1980s. But when this
idea was abandoned the track was lifted. Now there are
fresh ideas about relaying the track.
Spen Line / Leeds New Line
To relieve congestion on the Huddersfield - Leeds line
the London & North Western Railway Co. decided to
build a separate line from Heaton Lodge near Mirfield, to
Leeds, with stations at Heckmondwike (4), Liversedge (5),
Cleckheaton (6) and Gomersal (7). This line crossed over
the Cleckheaton line near Smithies Lane, Heckmondwike
and followed the east side of the valley. It was opened
in 1900. Leeds New Line services ceased in 1965. But Charrington
Hargreaves had a rail supplied oil depot at Liversedge
goods yard. To maintain access a rail link was constructed
at Heckmondwike Smithies Lane to transfer oil trains
from the Ravensthorpe – Low Moor line. When the depot
closed in 1986 the track was taken up. Thornleigh Drive
was built there.
Due to lack of space at the station off High Street the
Heckmondwike goods yard was built at Walkley Lane,
now occupied by Huws Gray (formerly Wilbys) builders
merchant. There was a siding into the adjacent chemical
works. The Ravensthorpe-Low Moor track bed is now the
Greenway. The Leeds New Line section from Walkley
Lane to Cleckheaton is also identified as a cycleway
called the Ringway but has still to cross Spen Lane and
connect into Cleckheaton.