Railway in New Farnley

Railways, trams, buses, etc.
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Chris W
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat 21 Apr, 2007 4:14 pm

Post by Chris W »

Some very useful information there!Good photo of the Dunlop advert Phill.Farnley Bloke - Yes the Fireclay operation was massive, I didn't realise it was so big until I saw the old map!I have found the old book I mentioned earlier, it's called 'Farnley in Focus' by the Farnley Local History group.It's worth a look if you can find a copy. It's full of photo's of Farnley as it was years ago.
Farnley born & bred

TABBYCAT
Posts: 373
Joined: Mon 02 Apr, 2007 6:55 pm

Post by TABBYCAT »

I have a dvd called Leeds trams from the Leeds Transport Historical society, and just seven mins in shows a trolley bus!! in the 1920s crossing Dragon bridge. what is interesting though is a set of tram tracks on the bridge running diagonaly across,from the start of the right hander onto the bridge heading towards Leeds, and then right again (not following the left hand bend) into, what i think in later years, was the premises of a car dealer called Martins motors.Also Dunlop and Rankin was a steel stockholder not a steelworks served I believe by the one branch line like H.L Reynolds in hunslet took advantage of Leeds steelworks rail spurs, I only mention this to put all the heavy rail layout in the area in some perspective.found this link which may be of interest.http://www.uk-kits.co.uk/farnleyjunction.html

Phill_d
Posts: 2638
Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 6:22 am

Post by Phill_d »

Phill - the 1909 map does show a line going from the north of Busk pit and looks like it joins the junction (curving towards Oldfield Lane) just to the south or maybe just under the footbridge. Is this where the points are? All trace of the tramlines and pits are gone by the 1921 map.                                                                    [quote] mmmm. Not sure about this now.. The Wortley curve is down a bit of a cutting from the rec.. The map shows it connects somewhere there but i can't see how thinking about it. If you look @ the pic underneath my Jnct sign pic you might be able to see old pointwork branching out over the bridge. The bridge over the Leeds-Manchester line only carries 2 tracks these days but you can see the abutments used to be wide enough to carry 4 at some                                                                http://flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/289 ... 397421428/
A fool spends his entire life digging a hole for himself.A wise man knows when it's time to stop!(phill.d 2010)http://flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/

rikj
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue 20 Feb, 2007 4:59 pm

Post by rikj »

The industrial tramway that ran from Busk pit had no connections to what we would call the mainlines these days. Busk pit was situated just to the east of the bowling green on Wortley rec. It ran along the line of the (now three) bowling greens to the south west. It joined a tramway that ran from Manor Pit to the south. This tramway crossed over the L&NWR Wortley and Dewsbury lines, in fact using Dragon Bridge to cross the lines.The tramway from Busk Pit did a dog leg round the SW corner of Upper & Lower Wortley Cemetery then progressed NW right up to various works along Wortley Moor Road. Today this whole area still has a very old industrial feel to it. There were small braches off into various works.It's just possible to trace bits of the line on google earth, but most of it has been lost under housing. It's more visible at he boundaries of the industrial buildings along Wortley Moor Road, I guess as the boundaries are where the tramway ran originally.This industrial tramway seems to have no connections into the public transport tramways of the period either. The nearest it got was crossing the Wortley Road/Oldfield Lane jnc at Fiveways.

jf
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat 17 Mar, 2007 3:56 pm

Post by jf »

I spent a couple of hours in the local history library yesterday, and there is a few pages of information on the Leeds Fi - reclay line at Wortley in Leeds Transport Vol 2 1902 - 1935 (pg 516 onwards).This line was originally two separate horse-worked tramways, one of about 2' gauge which ran from the two fireclay works to just north of Fiveways, and one of about 3'6 which extended southwards from the end of the 2' line to Busk Pit and a series of buildings north of Whitehall Road. At one time the line extended further, across Whitehall Road and Gelderd Road to other collieries. Part of the line was reported to have been cable worked.There are still traces of these routes visible on Google Earth. The wider gauge line ran SE from fiveways, parallel to the wall of the triangular building which seems to be some kind of garage or scrapyard on Google Earth, then running along what is now the back boundary of the gardens on Kenilworth Road (you can see the curvature). At the NW corner of the Cemetery the line bent slightly to the east, which can be seen by the alignment of the trees here. A diagonal line can be seen across the open ground to the west of the cemetery, this is the old trackbed. The line bends towards the east and is then buried beneath housing on the North side of Dragon Road, proceeding on to the recreation ground at the end of Dragon Road, exactly on the line of the lane/entrance gate here. It continues east along the southern boundary of the car park and bowling greens, terminating at Busk Pit which was just west of the Wortley Triangle.There was no mainline connection to this tramway, but in 1915 a connection was made with the Leeds tram network at Oldfield Road to allow delivery of coal and fireclay from Gipton Pit, via the Low Moor industrial tramway to Harehills Lane and from there along the Leeds tram network to Oldfield Lane and the fireclay line. This was transported in 'tippler cars' from Kirkstall Rd Tram Depot. The industrial tramways at both ends of the service were electrified to allow through working. A short siding also served the company's works off Elland Road.The line saw some extension to the south, across Dragon Bridge and heading west parallel with the LNWR line (some evidence still on Google Earth), to Cardigan Pit which was near to where the LNWR line is crossed by Gelderd Road.This service ran until the beginning of 1931 when the various collieries became worked out, and was a rare example of heavy freight being conveyed on a tram system.

jf
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat 17 Mar, 2007 3:56 pm

Post by jf »

I think the fireclay tramway is visible on the right hand side of this picture, seen during the construction of the ring road bridge:http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... PLAY=FULLI swear you can even see the OLE supports if you look closely, I'd love to see a full sized print.This was in about 1930, which is when the line closed. The ring road was built across the formation. I had a snoop around this area yesterday but there are few clues to the tramway route - part of a bridge over the beck east of the ring road was all I could find, and I'm not 100% sure that was for the tramway. I was hoping that some trace could be seen on Royd's Lane (which is still cobbled) but I was to be disappointed.

Jailhouse John
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 6:33 pm

Post by Jailhouse John »

First time I have seen this site and I find a thread that is tailor made for me. As and ex Farnley resident from about 1950 to 1960 I have found it very interesting especially to hear phrases like 'The Forge' used and folk know what you mean.We moved down to my grand parents farm in about 1960 from New Farnley the farm was located behind the Wheatsheaf on Royds Lane off Gelderd Rd right up against the railway banking where Farnley Sheds (25G btw) where my Dad was still there when that railway accident happened in 1977.Prior to moving to NF we had lived on the Kirkdales so the line that ran in front of the 'Black Hills' on its way from Farnley to D & R and on to the Firecaly is well known to me.
JJFROM ER TO ETERNITY

Jailhouse John
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 6:33 pm

Post by Jailhouse John »

rikj wrote: The industrial tramway that ran from Busk pit had no connections to what we would call the mainlines these days. Busk pit was situated just to the east of the bowling green on Wortley rec. It ran along the line of the (now three) bowling greens to the south west. It joined a tramway that ran from Manor Pit to the south. This tramway crossed over the L&NWR Wortley and Dewsbury lines, in fact using Dragon Bridge to cross the lines.The tramway from Busk Pit did a dog leg round the SW corner of Upper & Lower Wortley Cemetery then progressed NW right up to various works along Wortley Moor Road. Today this whole area still has a very old industrial feel to it. There were small braches off into various works.It's just possible to trace bits of the line on google earth, but most of it has been lost under housing. It's more visible at he boundaries of the industrial buildings along Wortley Moor Road, I guess as the boundaries are where the tramway ran originally.This industrial tramway seems to have no connections into the public transport tramways of the period either. The nearest it got was crossing the Wortley Road/Oldfield Lane jnc at Fiveways. Certainly my Dad told me in the early 30's he would ride the fireclay line (presumably illegally) on part of his daily journey from our farm on Royds Lane behind the 'Sheaf to West Leeds High School presumably at Dragon Bridge.
JJFROM ER TO ETERNITY

Jailhouse John
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 6:33 pm

Post by Jailhouse John »

jf wrote: I think the fireclay tramway is visible on the right hand side of this picture, seen during the construction of the ring road bridge:http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... PLAY=FULLI swear you can even see the OLE supports if you look closely, I'd love to see a full sized print.This was in about 1930, which is when the line closed. The ring road was built across the formation. I had a snoop around this area yesterday but there are few clues to the tramway route - part of a bridge over the beck east of the ring road was all I could find, and I'm not 100% sure that was for the tramway. I was hoping that some trace could be seen on Royd's Lane (which is still cobbled) but I was to be disappointed. I can tell you exactly where it ran. It ran as the photo shows tight to the bottom of the railway banking behind British Oxygen, The destroyed Wally Arnold depot and Topps Tile land (which were all our cow fields up until the 1960's!). It crossed the beck where the ring road is now, past our farm (now a big warehouse - thank you the money came in handy) and followed the banking round to the old fireclay works which were up off Gelderd Road. The Leeds Fireclay owned most of all the land in that area.
JJFROM ER TO ETERNITY

billy the buffalo
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu 17 May, 2007 12:17 pm

Post by billy the buffalo »

here is a very good website for those of you who are interestedwww.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/

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