Greenside Tunnel is a former railway tunnel in

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Greenside Tunnel was built when the branch line from

Stanningley Stanningley is a district of Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Leeds city centre on the A647 road, the original main road from Leeds to Bradford. The appropriate Leeds Metropolitan Ward is Bramley, Leeds, Bra ...

to Pudsey Greenside was extended towards

Laisterdyke Laisterdyke is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, situated to the east of the city on the border with City of Leeds and located in the Bradford Moor ward and in the Bradford East parliamentary constituency. Laisterdyke borders Bark ...

, resulting in the line known as

Pudsey Loop The Pudsey loop was a railway line in the former West Riding of Yorkshire, England, which served the town of Pudsey and later offered a second connection between Bramley in the east and Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill in the west, in addition to t ...

. The tunnel was opened in 1893 as an extension to the railway from the former

Pudsey Greenside railway station Pudsey Greenside railway station is a closed railway station in Pudsey in the former West Riding of Yorkshire England, located about west of Leeds station. It served the central part and western parts of Pudsey. It was opened to passengers o ...

which was originally built as a terminal station. Since the railway line closed on 15 July 1964, it has been out of use and has been fenced off. Around 2006, planning permission had been granted to fill in the tunnel and the adjoining cuttings, but work has not started yet. Partial landfill has begun as of spring 2018. An application has been made to Leeds city council for complete full landfill as of October 2018

Description

The tunnel is located west of the site of Pudsey Greenside railway station and of the bridge leading Carlisle Road across the former line, and east of a bridge of Smalewell Quarry track, beneath the Fox and Grapes public house. It is long, according to some sources , and led a double-tracked railway beneath a hill on the western side of Pudsey town. The tunnel has not been built in a straight line, but with a slight S-shaped curvature that nevertheless allows to keep at least one entrance in sight at any point of its route. A

ventilation shaft In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air. In architecture, an airshaft is a small, ...

had been built about from its western portal. Its opening was located near today's junction of Westroyd, Windmill Hill, and Smalewell Road, beneath an access road to some garages, but is now capped off. The eastern portal is located below steep

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

s on the south side of the approach

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

. Since closure of the line, it has been partly blocked by tipped spoil. The lining consists of

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

side walls with a height of about , the roof

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

has been constructed from

engineering brick Engineering bricks are a type of brick used where strength, low water porosity or acid (flue gas) resistance are needed. Engineering bricks can be used for damp-proof courses. Clay engineering bricks are defined in ''§ 6.4.51'' of ''British Sta ...

. Throughout the tunnel, amply-sized refuges in brick have been provided at regular intervals. The western portal is built from stone with

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es and wing walls to each side.

References

Photos of Greenside tunnel and its surroundings {{Tunnels in Yorkshire Tunnels in West Yorkshire Rail transport in West Yorkshire Railway tunnels in England