The Skipton–Ilkley line is the route that the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

took to link the towns of

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

and

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

via the villages of

Embsay Embsay is a village in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is paired with the neighbouring hamlet of Eastby to form the civil parish of Embsay with Eastby. The parish population as of the 2011 census was 1,871. Until 1974 it was part of ...

Bolton Abbey Bolton Abbey Estate in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England, takes its name from a 12th-century Augustinian monastery of canons regular, now known as Bolton Priory. The priory, which was closed in the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasterie ...

and

Addingham Addingham (formerly Haddincham , Odingehem 1086)Mills, A. D. (2003). ', Encyclopedia.com is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford West Yorkshire, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated near the A65 road, A65, south-east ...

Opening

The route was opened by the

in 1888 as an extension of the former Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway through the upper part of Wharfedale to rejoin the main line along the Aire valley at .

Closure

The route was closed as the result of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

in 1965 – passenger services were withdrawn on 22 March, whilst the remaining through goods services ended on 5 July; the route eventually closed to all traffic east of Embsay Junction in January 1966 (though access to the Haw Bank quarry sidings at Embsay station survived until 1969). The last section west of there was retained as part of the freight-only branch line from Skipton to

Swinden Quarry Swinden Quarry is north of the village of Cracoe, and south-west of Grassington in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by LaFarge Tarmac. The former Skipton-Grassington railway line still serves this location, and in railway terminology, ...

(the old

Yorkshire Dales Railway The Yorkshire Dales Railway was a branch line linking the town of Skipton with the villages of Rylstone, Threshfield and Grassington in North Yorkshire, England. There were two stations on the line – Grassington & Threshfield and Rylstone ...

) and remains in operation to this day.

Heritage railway

Since its closure in 1965, a stretch of the disused railway line has been restored and reopened as the

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway The Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway (E&BASR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, formed in 1979 and opened in 1981. The preserved railway was part of the former Midland Railway route from Skipton to Ilkley which was clos ...

. The remainder of the old route beyond Bolton Abbey is disused but mostly intact as far as the outskirts of Addingham, but the former station there has been demolished, levelled and the site redeveloped for housing. Much of the trackbed east of Addingham itself, as also been redeveloped (or returned to agricultural use), with little trace remaining of the line's course through the western part of Ilkley – as the old embankments, bridges and viaducts were demolished in 1972–73."Ilkley Viaduct demolition in 1973"
''Ilkley Gazette'' 4 April 2014; Retrieved 15 September 2020 West of Embsay, the section of the line down to Skipton is still open, serving the branch line to

References

External links

Skipton to Ilkley line, pictures in a book
Closed railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber Beeching closures in England Rail transport in North Yorkshire Railway lines opened in 1879 {{England-rail-transport-stub