Notes: In the railway boom at the end of the 19th Century, the
London & North Western Railway opened a rival line through
the Spen Valley, running parallel to the line already opened by
the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and duplicating their stations
at Cleckheaton, Liversedge and Heckmondwike. The transport of
textiles form the Yorkshire wool towns was important in the early
days, but passenger traffic never reached expectations; the line
did not connect Huddersfield with Bradford as did the L&Y
route and it was a slower and less direct route from Leeds to
Huddersfield when compared with the line through Morley &
Dewsbury.
One of the 9 bridges
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Passenger services ceased in 1953,
but after closure a connection was made with the L&Y line
(which closed to passengers in 1967) so that a short spur
through Heckmondwike could continue to serve a chemical works.
The line fell into disuse around 1992 and was finally lifted
around 1995. When the line was built, it was proposed to tunnel
under the town centre, with the station in a cutting in the
middle. This plan was unacceptable to the council at the time
and as a result, the line passed under nine bridges (all still
in place) within the space of a mile around the station. |
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