Horbury and Ossett railway station formerly served the town of

Horbury Horbury is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated north of the River Calder about three miles (5 km) south west of Wakefield and two miles (3 km) to the ...

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 ...

. It was located on the Manchester and Leeds Railway (later the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

), which ran along the

Calder valley Calder is a Scottish name and may refer to: People *Calder (surname) *Calder baronets, two baronetcies created for people with the surname Calder *Alexander Calder (1898-1976), the American sculptor known for his mobiles, son of Alexander Stirlin ...

establishing a key link between

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to the west, and Leeds, York and Kingston upon Hull, Hull to the east. The station was opened with the inauguration of the line in 1840, on the west of the Horbury Bridge Road, to the south-west of the town. Later a new, more substantial structure was built just to the east. In 1850 the Lancashire and Yorkshire added a new line, from Wakefield to Barnsley, and the town acquired a second station, Horbury Junction, about a mile to the east, where trains from the new Barnsley branch joined the existing line. But it was not as convenient for the centre of the town, so trains on the east–west line continued to stop at the original station instead. A connecting curve to the Barnsley line from the Horbury and Ossett side was added in 1902, completing the triangle; but it attracted little traffic after 1939, and passenger services from the west were suspended in 1962. The chord continued to be used by some freight traffic, and occasionally used for parking the British Royal Train, Royal Train, but was eventually severed in 1991. The eastern side of the triangle continues to be used by Hallam Line trains from Leeds to Sheffield. The original Horbury Junction station closed in 1929; although for a time a third station was open, on the main line a little closer to the town, to service the large Charles Roberts and Co., railway wagon works of Charles Roberts and Co. which grew up in the land between the two lines. British Railways developed a large marshalling yard in the 1960s at Healey Mills Marshalling Yard, Healey Mills immediately to the west of the original station. Horbury and Ossett station itself closed in 1970. Almost all that remains is the old subway which ran under the tracks.Phill Davison
Horbury abandoned railway station subway
flickr.com, 31 January 2009 Ossett is now the largest town in Yorkshire without a railway station. Proposals to open a new one are periodically canvassed, perhaps on part of the Healey Mills site.

References

{{reflist Disused railway stations in Wakefield Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970