The Heaton Lodge and Wortley Railway was constructed by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

, to provide a duplicate route between and , leaving the existing line at Heaton Lodge junction, east of Huddersfield and rejoining it at Farnley junction, south west of Leeds. During construction it became known as the Leeds New Line and following nationalisation it was referred to as the Spen Line. Passenger services ceased in the 1950s with full closure in stages between 1960 and 1990.

History

An early casualty of the construction of the railway was Mirfield Cricket Club, who stated in the Report and Balance sheet of the Annual General Meeting held at the Black Bull Hotel on Wednesday 18 December 1895: The line was opened on 1 October 1900.

Route

Leaving the existing LNWR Huddersfield to Leeds line at Heaton Lodge junction, the line curved north, crossing the River Calder and Huddersfield Road on overbridges, to where was reached. The line then crossed

Mirfield Mirfield () is a town and civil parish in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road between Brighouse and Dewsbury. At the 2011 census it had a population of 19,563. Mirfield f ...

viaduct before entering a cutting crossed by a series of road overbridges. The next station was which was originally built of wood, north of the bridge over Shillbank Lane. This station burnt down in 1921 and was replaced by a new station south of the overbridge. The line then ran parallel to 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 ...

Mirfield Branch, crossing it and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Ravensthorpe Branch before entering

Heckmondwike Heckmondwike is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is mostly in the Batley and Spen pa ...

in a series of cuttings and a short tunnel. was itself in a cutting and was followed by a section of walled cutting with many overbridges, before passing through another cutting and reaching . The line then began a gentle curve to the east, passing through before reaching shortly after exiting Gomersal Tunnel. The line then passed through and Gildersome Tunnel before reaching .

Spen Valley Ringway

In 2007 the Spen Valley Ringway was a greenway route linking two schools at Littletown and Millbridge. In 2010 it was extended along of the old Leeds New Line into Heckmondwike. This was part of a diversion of the Spen Valley Greenway whilst it was closed for water main construction and was financed by

Yorkshire Water Yorkshire Water is a water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company has its ...

References

{{reflist Closed railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber London and North Western Railway Disused railway stations in Kirklees