Middleton Broken Bridge

[cap]

As kids we used to play in the woods behind the Bodmins in miggy and would play on what we called the broken bridge, it crosses over the train line that is used today which you can get down to as we used to try get chased by the yellow men(railway workers in high vis jackets n trousers). If you go to the white rose pub the harvester at the roundabout and you look accross the road to middleton there will be a track leading from the roundabout up into the woods , when you get half way up this track you will come to one of the arches of this old bridge and can walk along the top of it and most of the way upto the farm house at the top of topcliffe lane (if memory serves correctly).
What line was this connected to? was it part of the coal workings?

[WiggyDiggy]

Do you mean here? If I follow that track as described I go under rather than over the line.

http://goo.gl/maps/mHwuS

The line is the Wakefield one BTW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield_Line

Best guess (from me) I'm not looking at the right place!

Anyone help?

[cap]

Thats the one , you can walk either under or along the top as you can get onto the top from the side which was quite overgrown even when we were kids about 15 years ago.
Thanks for the reply

[uncle mick]

I don't know if it's the same bridge you mention but "when I were a lad" in Middleton in the 1950's we used to go down to a bridge we knew as the shacking/schekie bridge near Morley tunnel

EDIT - I think this is the bridge I was referring to but it is a long time ago

http://goo.gl/maps/0VXRH

[cap]

Sorry my mistake , the one i talk of is if you follow that existing line towards thorpe lane you can see a bridge crossing the existing line, that is what we called the broken bridge, you can get onto the top and walk along abit by going up the sides its quite huge and was quite intimidating when you are face to face with it.
Mick i reckon it will be the same one as it is towards the morley side , and there was a little stream/beck that we called the orangie as the water was always orange(genious i know)

[cap]

Ive just looked at the link you posted mick and yes that is the exact one im thinking of, do you know what line it was part of and when it was closed?

[uncle mick]

Ive just looked at the link you posted mick and yes that is the exact one im thinking of, do you know what line it was part of and when it was closed?

I know nothing about railways but surely it's still open as it goes into the Morley tunnel I think

[buffaloskinner]

It was the Batley to Beeston Line run by the Great Northern Railway

From Batley West junction to Tingley West junction via Woodkirk, & from Tingley East junction to Beeston junction. Closed in 1951.

More info here http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co ... eeston.htm

Below is a map of the Beeston to Morley Section

[jim]

Thedouble track line from Beeston Junction to Morley left the main Leeds - Wakefield/London line by a "flying "junction, in which the line to Tingley left from the "up" line to the east, while the line in the opposite direction from Tingley crossed the main line on an overhead bridge to join the "down" line from the west side.without a flat rail crossing. There would thus be at least two and possibly three bridges required for the footpath mentioned, plus an acute angled rail bridge - more like a viaduct - over the main line. I recall traffic using this rail bridge, so perhaps goods traffic continued past the date buffaloskinner gives for closure.

[Brunel]

See the original and the new side by side.

Drag the maps about for the bigger picture.

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sidebysi ... &layers=10