| |
 Railways
in Calderdale
The Manchester and Leeds Railway, which came
to be built through the Calder Valley in 1841, ran through Todmorden,
Hebden Bridge and Sowerby Bridge, but did not extend to Halifax.
For a time Halifax travellers by the new railway system had to
make their way to Sowerby Bridge to catch the train, and rail
freight, similarly, had to be conveyed there. It was not until
1844 that a branch line was finally constructed to link up with
Halifax at Shaw Syke. This was later extended to North Bridge
and on towards Ovenden, continuing from there to Queensbury.
This was the Halifax North and South Junction Railway.
This wonderful new rail system, bringing such
benefits to industry by speeding up the transport of freight
came too late! While Halifax was in limbo, and when later developments
left the town on a branch instead of on the main line, supremacy
in the woollen trade passed from Halifax to Bradford, which was
in a much better situation for fast trade in the new age of railways.
An interesting branch leading from Holmfield,
near Ovenden, ran across the Wheatley Valley on a stoutly constructed
viaduct and carried on to St Paul's Station at Queens Road. This
was the High Level Railway, a branch which was very useful in
its day, particularly for the transportation of coal, but which
gradually fell into disuse. The last goods train ran in 1960
and the line was then dismantled.
A new branch line was planned which was to
go from the main line near Shaw Syke towards the west, crossing
the land now occupied by Halifax Town Football Club and continuing
via a tunnel under the Huddersfield Road, then curving round
across Well Head to link up with Queens Road Station. This line
never materialised, although the tunnel was actually constructed
and remains there today. During World War 2 this was used as
a Civil Defence store.
|
