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Pudsey: Lowtown.1908.
Pudsey: Lowtown.1908.

The line from Leeds to Bradford was opened in 1854, with stations at Armley Moor, Bramley, Stanningley, and Laisterdyke, the terminus being Bradford Exchange. By the 1870s Pudsey was doing very well in the trades of coal mining, stone quarrying and textile manufacture, unfortunately the surrounding area supported a hilly terain, goods having to be carted or carried on foot to the nearest station at Stanningley, consequently pressure mounted on the railway to build a link into the town to provide goods & passenger facilities. A single line branch was constructed, opening in 1878 approximately 2 miles in length, curving away from the main line at Stanningley, but only accessible from the Bradford direction, the line terminating at Greenside in the Fartown area where a station and extensive goods sidings were built, the Lowtown platforms and buildings not being completed until some months later.
When the line opened in 1878 fourteen trains a day ran in each direction, the first leaving Stanningley early in the morning at 6.10 am.
In 1883 the line was extended from the terminus at Greenside to Cutlers Junction in the Dudley Hill area, providing a connection with the Wakefield, Ardsley, Gildersome, Bradford route, this extension involved the construction of the 610yd Greenside Tunnel and the massive Smalewell embankment over Tyersal beck. This new line placed Pudsey on a Leeds - Bradford loop, and gave access to Halifax and the Spen valley.

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Taken on: May 23, 2009
Groups appears in:   • Leeds & West Yorkshire/Riding railway group    • Beeching Axe    more » • Old Leodis    • Yorkshire Rail    « less
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Pudsey: Lowtown.1908.

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