The Abbey Light Railway was a

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struct ...

in Kirkstall,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

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 ...

. Built by enthusiasts, the Railway ran from the nearby Bridge Road commercial area into the grounds of

Kirkstall Abbey Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded ''c.'' 1152. It was disestablished during ...

, operating most Sundays.

History

In 1974, local engineer and lecturer at Kitson College Peter Lowe applied for

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

to build a railway at Kirkstall. From 1976, the line was built from scratch by a group of local enthusiasts, most of whom were members of the

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park. The railway is roughly long a ...

. Second hand rail was acquired from the Ffestiniog and the line was built over a number of years, eventually extending to from Kirkstall Abbey to Bridge Road, Kirkstall. Initially the line ran purely as a private railway, but in 1986 it received permission to start public passenger services. These ran from Spring to Autumn, every Sunday and most Bank Holidays. The highlight of the year was the weekend Kirkstall Festival. In 2006 plans were made to extend the line to the

Armley Mills Industrial Museum The Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills is a museum of industrial heritage located in Armley, near Leeds, in West Yorkshire, Northern England. The museum includes collections of textile machinery, railway equipment and heavy engineering ...

nearby. This would have involved crossing both the

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...

and the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

. The project was never realised. After Peter Lowe died in October 2012, the railway closed. Proposed to reopen in the Spring, without its Chief Engineer insurance became difficult to secure. The decision was reluctantly made by his widow to sell off the rolling stock and infrastructure. All but one of the locomotives and much other material was sold to the

Welsh Highland Heritage Railway The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway is a short reconstructed heritage railway in Gwynedd, Wales. Its main station is in Porthmadog. History The origins of the WHHR lie in a small group of railway enthusiasts, including some disgruntled volunt ...

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau F ...

, with work to dismantle the railway beginning in February 2013.

Locomotives

References

External links

Details of RailwayFilm clips of the railway
These were taken some time ago on 8 mm and include a film of some of the construction. {{coord, 53, 48, 59, N, 1, 36, 16, W, type:landmark_region:GB-LDS, display=title Transport in Leeds 2 ft gauge railways in England Heritage railways in Yorkshire Rail transport in West Yorkshire History of Leeds Railway lines opened in 1976 Railway lines closed in 2013 Closed railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber Kirkstall

History

Locomotives

See also

References

External links