The Leeds and York Railway was a proposed railway line, promoted in the mid 1840s, intended to connect York and Leeds. The line lost a significant promoter, the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1845/6 as a result of a non-competition arrangement between that company and the York and North Midland Railway. The York and North Midland Railway successfully promoted a rival line in the same session of parliament, and obtained an act for its construction in 1846. The only part of either scheme that was ever constructed was the Tadcaster Viaduct, built by the Y&NMR on a short spur from the Y&NMR's existing Church Fenton to Harrogate branch. This was completed by 1848 before the Y&NMR decided to abandon construction of the line.

History

Leeds and York Railway

The Leeds and York Railway was promoted in the 1840s, during the

Railway Mania Railway Mania was an instance of a stock market bubble in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, speculators invested more money, which further incre ...

; the line formed an alternative route from Leeds to York, starting in Wellington Street (Leeds), passing Seacroft, Thorner,

Clifford Moor Clifford is a village and civil parish in West Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,662. The village is south of Wetherby. Many of the older buildings are built of magnesian limestone. Etymology The ...

, and crossing the River Wharfe near

Thorp Arch Thorp Arch is a village and civil parish near Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It sits in the Wetherby ward of Leeds City Council and Elmet and Rothwell parliamentary constituency. The village is on ...

continued via Walton, Syningthwaite, Bilton,

Hutton Wandesley Long Marston is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the B1224 road from Wetherby to York, west of York. The civil parish inclu ...

Rufforth Rufforth is a village in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England. It lies about west of York. The village is mentioned in the '' Domesday Book''Acomb Acomb may refer to: *Acomb, Northumberland Acomb is a village in the south of Northumberland, England. The population at the 2001 Census was 1,184 increasing to 1,268 at the 2011 Census. It is situated to the north of Hexham,York and North Midland and Leeds and Selby lines). An associated scheme the York, Hull and East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway was also proposed, connecting towns in the East Riding of Yorkshire; together they represented a potential strong competitor to George Hudson's railway network in Yorkshire. In 1845 the Leeds and York company gained the support of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, which decided to take up shares in the company on the condition that the line would use the station of the proposed

West Riding Union company West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

; the company also determined to support the Leeds and York in their obtaining an act of parliament. In late 1845 the York and North Midland Railway company and the Manchester and Leeds company entered into a non-competition arrangement as part of an agreement between the two firms on the leasing of the Hull and Selby Railway. Part of the agreement was that the M&L would withdraw its support from both the York-Leeds and York-Hull schemes. The new agreement with the Y&NMR was contradictory to the previous one with the proponents of the Leeds and York and York and Hull schemes, and the board of the M&L withdrew their support and connection to the scheme in November 1845. The Leeds and York refused an offer to return the shares, and the M&L was required to take up 5,000 £25 shares. Rival schemes between Leeds and York were also proposed in the same period, including the Leeds, York and Midland Railway, and the Leeds Extension of the York and North Midland Railway, both of which followed a route via Aberford and

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...

a few miles to the south of the Leeds and York company's plans.

York and North Midland Railway Leeds extension

The Y&NMR applied for an act for a railway over its proposed route in 1845, starting from a junction with the Leeds and Selby Railway near Cross Gates and continuing roughly north-east to make a connection with the Y&NMR's

Church Fenton to Harrogate line Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

south of

. The route then ran north for approximately 1 mile, before bearing east across the River Wharfe to meet the York and North Midland's main line at Copmanthorpe, and thence to York. The Y&NMR's line was successful in parliament over the rival Leeds and York Railway scheme. An act, the "York and North Midland Railway (Leeds Extension) Act" (Victoria 9/10, Cap.89) was obtained in 1846, for a line of with power to raise capital of £360,000 and a further third in loans. John Towlerton Leather was contracted to build the Tadcaster-York section, a viaduct at Tadcaster was completed before the work was abandoned after the end of the

. (See §Viaduct.) In its 1849 report to shareholders the company reported: In 1849 the Y&NMR applied for deviation of and abandonment of the original section from Tadcaster to York (Copmanthorpe), passed as part of the "York and North Midland Railway Act" of 1849. No line was completed along the route, either by the Leeds and York, York and North Midland or other companies. A shorter route from Leeds to York was opened in 1869, via a cut off from Micklefield to Church Fenton .From the Leeds and Selby Line to the former York and North Midland Railway Line to York.

Tadcaster Viaduct

The Tadcaster Viaduct (also known as the Virgin Viaduct, or Virgin Bridge) was constructed as part of the northern section of the Leeds-York Line. The viaduct was constructed of 11 arches, 7 west of the river, 2 east of the river, and 2 wider arches across the River Wharfe; made of magnesian limestone with millstone grit arch voussoirs. Earthworks were constructed for a triangle junction connection to the Harrogate-Church Fenton line immediately northwest of Tadcaster railway station; the viaduct crossed the river upstream and north of the town. From 1882 or '83 to 1955 there was a siding across the viaduct which was used to supply corn and later coal to Ingleby's Mill on the east bank of the river. After 1901 the Mill was converted to a power station for the Tadcaster Electricity Company. The siding, known as the Ingleby's Mill branch closed in 1959. In 1980 the viaduct was acquired by the town council from

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

. The structure was listed in 1985.

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

{{coord, 53.8885, -1.2645, display=title Abandoned rail transport projects in the United Kingdom Rail transport in West Yorkshire Rail transport in North Yorkshire Railways authorised but not built in the United Kingdom