Bowling Tunnel is a railway Tunnel on the Calder Valley line, south of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The Tunnel was completed in 1850 after some difficulty in construction, and allowed trains from the south to access the second railway terminus in the town of Bradford. The Tunnel remains open to railway traffic with trains between Halifax and Bradford Interchange using it.
A tunnel through the hill at Bowling was first suggested for a line linking Leeds with Bradford in 1843. However, George Stephenson advised against this line due to the presence of old coal workings in the hill, which would hinder progress and allow water ingress from old mines. [1] A line between Halifax and Bradford, as part of the Manchester & Leeds Railway, was proposed in 1840s and by the time the line was built, it was under the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. [2]
The contractors for the tunnel, John Moulson & Son, were based at Bowling, [3] and during the construction process, over 3,424,000 cubic feet (97,000 m3) of earth had been removed with ten shafts built downwards to dig the tunnel out. [4] [5] The tunnel was completed on 22 March 1850, and three shafts were left in-situ to help vent steam from the tunnel, the deepest shaft being 65 feet (20 m) deep. [6] Two deaths were attributed to the building of the tunnel, with the local press marvelling that more were not killed, such was the undertaking. [5] The engineer for the project was John Hawkshaw. [4]
On 19 April 1850, the government inspector travelled over the line through the tunnel and he approved the construction for opening on 1 May 1850, [7] However, the first revenue earning traffic through the tunnel to Bradford Drake Street (later renamed Exchange), didn't go through until 9 May 1850. Until the tunnel was opened, railway traffic terminated at Low Moor, and passengers were conveyed to Bradford in a horse-drawn carriage. One statistic that emerged at the time was that the tunnel was long enough to hold over 128,000 people, which is more than the number of people that lived in Bradford at that time. [5] Just outside of the northern portal, was the Bowling Junction station, which provided access to the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax's railway line to Leeds via Stanningley. [8] The station closed in December 1951 and the line remained open for trains avoiding the reversal at Bradford Interchange until September 1985. However, it became a long siding to Bowling Junction with no access to Laisterdyke railway station at its eastern end. [9] [10]
The tunnel is 1,648 yards (1,507 m) (or 73 chains (4,800 ft; 1,500 m)) long and is orientated in a north–south direction. [11] [12] The gradient in the tunnel falls at 1-in-400 northwards, towards Bradford Interchange station. [13] In 1973, the M606 motorway was opened, which has its terminal roundabout on top of Bowling Tunnel. [14] [15]
The Calder Valley line is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes between Leeds and Manchester, and the northernmost of the three main trans-Pennine routes.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the valley of the River Calder for much of the way, making for easier gradients but by-passing many important manufacturing towns. Crossing the watershed between Lancashire and Yorkshire required a long tunnel. The line opened throughout in 1841.
Hebden Bridge railway station serves the town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, England. The station is on the Calder Valley Line, operated by Northern since April 2016, from York and Leeds towards Manchester Victoria and Preston. The station is 8.5 miles (14 km) west of Halifax and 26 miles (42 km) west of Leeds.
New Pudsey railway station is a station between Leeds and Bradford on the Calder Valley line, which serves the towns of Farsley and Pudsey in West Yorkshire, England. It also serves the adjacent suburb of Thornbury.
Mirfield railway station serves the town of Mirfield in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Huddersfield Line and is managed by Northern and also receives services by Grand Central and also TransPennine Express. The station is 4 miles (6 km) north east from Huddersfield.
Sowerby Bridge railway station serves the town of Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Caldervale Line 4.5 miles (7 km) west of Halifax and 21 miles (34 km) west of Leeds.
Low Moor railway station serves the villages of Low Moor and Oakenshaw in the south of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The station is situated on the Calder Valley Line between Bradford Interchange and Halifax.
Queensbury railway station was a station on the Queensbury lines serving the village of Queensbury, West Yorkshire, England. The station was unusual due to its triangular shape, and at its opening the only other examples of this arrangement were Ambergate station in Derbyshire and Earlestown in Lancashire; since then Shipley station, also in West Yorkshire, has gained platforms on all three sides. Of the stations on the Queensbury lines, this was the most ambitious.
Bowling railway station is a closed station in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It was on the line connecting the Bradford Exchange - Low Moor line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway with the line of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Laisterdyke. It was opened by the GNR on 1 August 1854 and closed to passengers on 1 February 1895. The line remained open to freight until 4 May 1964. No trace remains of the station which was located northeast of the bridge crossing Wakefield Road.
St Dunstans railway station is a closed station in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The station was the location of a three-way junction with platforms on two of the lines.
Bradford Exchange railway station served the city of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1850 to 1973, before being replaced by a smaller, new-build station, which was later called Bradford Interchange. Railway lines from Halifax, Queensbury, Wakefield and Leeds met south of the city centre with services terminating in the station. In the British Rail era, many services did not terminate at Exchange station but became through services which reversed in the station to carry on their journey. Exchange station was originally opened in 1850 by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) as Drake Street, becoming Exchange in April 1867 with the arrival of services from the Great Northern Railway (GNR).
Morley Tunnel is a railway tunnel in West Yorkshire, England, situated between Morley and Batley railway stations on the Huddersfield line. From its northern end, it extends 3,369 yards (3,081 m), passing beneath Morley town centre, to its southern end.
Lees Moor Tunnel is an abandoned tunnel on the former Great Northern Railway line between Queensbury and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The former dual track tunnel is just north of the village of Cullingworth in West Yorkshire and when built was 1,533 yards (1,402 m) long. Due to the pitch black inside and the squealing of the wheels on the 1 in 50 radius curve, drivers nicknamed it the 'Hell Hole'. After closure to passengers, the tunnel was used in experiments involving the effects of smoke inhalation and cancer.
The Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway (LB&HJR) was an English railway company. It built a line between Bradford and Leeds, and had running powers over the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to Halifax. It opened its main line in 1854 and later built a number of branch lines.
Heckmondwike Spen was a railway station opened by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, England. The station was one of two in the town of Heckmondwike, the other being Heckmondwike railway station which was opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L&Y). Both stations have been closed and the lines they served have closed too although the formations that they occupied have both been converted into greenways.
The Spen Valley Line was a railway that connected Mirfield with Low Moor through the Spen Valley in West Yorkshire, England. Opened up by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1847, with full opening to Low Moor in 1848, the line served a busy industrial and textile area and allowed a connection for trains between Huddersfield and Bradford. The line was absorbed by the London & North Western Railway, the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and British Railways on Nationalisation. A separate link between Heckmondwike Central and Thornhill that opened later and was known as the Ravensthorpe Branch, allowed through running to Wakefield and beyond. The line was closed down to passengers in 1965 with freight continuing sporadically until 1981. A Spur onto the former Leeds New Line from the Ravensthorpe Branch kept the very southern end open until the late 1980s. The majority of the route is now the Spen Valley Greenway cycle path.
Gascoigne Wood Junction railway station was a railway station near Sherburn-in-Elmet in North Yorkshire, England. It was originally opened as a junction station, enabling transfers for passengers between trains. It was later a private halt station for the staff who worked at the Gascoigne Wood marshalling yard. It opened in 1839, and was closed, renamed and re-opened several times before closing completely in 1959. The station was 14 miles (23 km) from Leeds New Station, and 6 miles (9.7 km) from Selby.
Woodkirk railway station was a Great Northern Railway (GNR) station on the Batley to Beeston line, which connected Batley to Leeds Central, in West Yorkshire, England. The station opened in July 1890 and was closed in September 1939 to passengers, but the line stayed open until 1964. The station was 1.75 miles (2.82 km) north of Batley railway station, and 6.75 miles (10.86 km) south of Leeds Central railway station.
The Clayton West branch line was a standard gauge passenger and freight railway near Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire, England. The line was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opening to traffic in September 1879. Many proposals were considered to extending the line eastwards towards Darton, and then connecting to Barnsley, but these never came to fruition. In 1963, both stations on the line,, were listed for closure under the Beeching cuts, but the branch survived as a passenger carrying railway until 1983. The branch also forwarded coal from two collieries adjacent to the line, which maintained a freight service on the branch up until closure.
Heaton Lodge Junction is a railway junction on the Trans-Pennine line, which connects Manchester Piccadilly with Leeds via Huddersfield, and the Calder Valley Line through Sowerby Bridge to Wakefield. The line and junctions were historically important as they connected the industrialised areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
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