A little railway puzzle

big s · Post by **big s** » Tue 29 May, 2007 9:23 pm

looks like a narrow gauge railway to me

Squatch_11 · Post by **Squatch_11** » Tue 29 May, 2007 10:12 pm

Bramhope tunnel maybe? Looks like a fairly lengthy construction from what I can see of it. Would surely need a lot of stone to construct!

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Tue 29 May, 2007 10:59 pm

Bramhope, Eccup, Esholt, airport are all cold, but you're right to be thinking on a big scale. Still warmish on the general area, to within a few miles!If the library had been open today I would have done a little more digging, though I don't know if they have the particular book. Council eh? Two day Bank Holiday!!The little tunnel is approx about 3.5 to 4 miles from the bridge. I have to say that I can't really see much sign of the line at all on google earth. I guess that for most of its route it must have followed the contours rather than using earthworks. That's just speculation though.

jf · Post by jf » Wed 30 May, 2007 1:31 am

Wikipedia draws a blank - once this riddle is over maybe you should add it to their list of industrial narrow gauge railways.

FarnleyBloke · Post by **FarnleyBloke** » Wed 30 May, 2007 10:41 am

Construction of Harewood House?

Squatch_11 · Post by **Squatch_11** » Wed 30 May, 2007 11:00 am

rikj wrote: Bramhope, Eccup, Esholt, airport are all cold, but you're right to be thinking on a big scale. Still warmish on the general area, to within a few miles!If the library had been open today I would have done a little more digging, though I don't know if they have the particular book. Council eh? Two day Bank Holiday!!The little tunnel is approx about 3.5 to 4 miles from the bridge. I have to say that I can't really see much sign of the line at all on google earth. I guess that for most of its route it must have followed the contours rather than using earthworks. That's just speculation though. rikj - did you discount my idea of that big railway viaduct on the way to Harrogate??

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 30 May, 2007 11:51 am

I can't think what this is myself.. The construction thing is confusing so my guess will be wrong..But i'll have a go & see how hot or cold the location is.. How about the Garforth 'fly line'

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Wed 30 May, 2007 11:57 am

Confused? So am I, but having finally found some references for this I can see why there's not much to be seen on google earth. Here's the answers so I don't send you on any more of a goosechase. The construction project was High Royds HospitalThe tunnel runs under the Bradford Road at Menston and is part of what's called the High Royds Hospital Railway.The bridge over the Otley Road is part of the Pool Quarry Railway.I originally saw an article where a member of the family who built High Royds said that a line was built to ferry the stone from the quarry they owned at Pool. The bridge over the Otley Road was mentioned. Looking at a map of the Pool Quarry Railway it was about a mile and a quarter long, nothing like the 3-4 miles I thought. It joined the NER at Pool, which line was then used to take the stone to the High Royds Hospital Railway, also built for the same purpose of carrying the building materials. So the bulk of the route for the construction traffic was on the NER main line.The Pool Quarry railway looks fascinating, more like something out of a Welsh slate quarry. It had a 650 yard incline dropping 300ft down to the NER line. The incline had a cable brake drum at the top and was worked by gravity. Loaded wagons descending were balnced by empty wagons going up. Looking on google earth now, the incline looks to be quite visible still.At High Royds the tunnel is obviously still there, but the cutting running up to it has been filled in. Apparantly there are the remains of a small bridge that carried the line over a stream.So, although i wasn't what I'd thought it was, I'm still going to go and have another look, especially at the Pool end to see what else remains.

Squatch_11 · Post by **Squatch_11** » Wed 30 May, 2007 12:19 pm

Very interesting.I assume there'd need to be some sort of transfer station in Pool for the light railway to transfer to the NER - I wonder if any of that is left.

FarnleyBloke · Post by **FarnleyBloke** » Wed 30 May, 2007 1:03 pm

Check out the 1895 map on old-maps.co.uk - line clearly marked.