Notes: Much of the Morley district in Yorkshire is on the ridge between the Aire and Calder Valleys with the majority well above sea level. Prior to the railway era, roads leading to Morley which were on the ridge were reasonable but not those coming from Leeds, Batley and Dewsbury.

By the 1840s, Railway mania had captured the imagination of the country due to the speed of the transport and the number of people or goods that could be carried. But the hilly nature of Morley was a major stumbling block in any railway system which connected it to Leeds and the Pennine towns.

Such were the rewards that a plan was in fact conceived quite quickly to set up such a system. The plan needed a big viaduct from Churwell and a tunnel, just under 2 miles long to enable a line from lower Morley and Howley which travelled under the hilly town.  It needed over £225,000 to finance and took 2 years to open in 1848.

Morley station was opened by the London and North Western Railway on 15 September 1848. It had two facing but slightly staggered platforms on a curve immediately north east of 3369 yard Morley Tunnel. The main station building was on the north (Down) side with a canopy for weather protection wrapped around both ends. The building, which had a pitched slate roof, was unusually tall considering it was single storey. A smaller two storey weather boarded building stood to the south of the main building. This housed the booking office with a waiting room on the lower floor.   The station signal box was at the east end of the Down platform. The building on the Up platform was also of stone construction with a hipped slate roof. It had a shorter canopy just extending over the platform. A covered footbridge spanned the tracks at the west end of the main station buildings.

Main access to the station was along a short steep approach road off Station Road, this was also the access to the goods yard. There was also access from Valley Road on the Up side. People walking from the town, high above the station had to use a steeply inclined footpath from Albert Road with a long flight of steep steps down to the station.

The goods yard was on the Down side and comprised three sidings one of which passed in front of a goods shed with a canopy. The other sidings were parallel between the shed and the Down line. A 10 ton capacity crane stood close to the east end of the goods shed where a fourth short siding served a cattle dock.  The yards handled a full range of goods traffic including livestock and horse boxes. In the early years of the 20th century a new, longer timber shed was provided. The footbridge was resited a short distance to the south c1920s. The new bridge was open and of lattice construction. At the same time steps were provided from the booking office to the Up platform.

To the south of the Down line private sidings served Valley Mills (Wool) and Morley Gas Works. From here, further sidings ran across Valley Road to William Ackroyd Brothers Morley Main Collieries. The colliery was short lived opening in 1894 and closing in 1911.

A second station much closer to the town centre was opened by the Great Northern Railway on 10 October 1857, served by trains on the Bradford to Ardsley line. This station was also called Morley which must have led to confusion.  The station was immediately above Morley Tunnel. For many years, local people referred to the two stations as ‘Low’ and ‘Top’ rather than LMS and LNER. After Nationalisation both stations became part of British Railways, so some way of distinguishing one from the other was needed. The unofficial names were adopted by British Railways on 2 March 1951 when the former LNER station officially became Morley Low and the LMS station became Morley Top.  Morley Low closed to goods traffic in 1959 and the sidings were lifted and the goods shed quickly demolished. The signal box closed around the same time and was replaced by a new box a few yards to the north.  On the Down side Morley Gasworks closed in 1948 but the gasworks siding is still listed in the RCH Handbook of Stations in 1956. The gasworks site was later used for Orcal Oil Recoveries and they may have used the siding. Other sidings on the Down side were also used for storing railway excursion carriages.

Although Morley Top was much closer to the town centre while the Low station involved a long steep walk from the town, it was Morley Top that closed first with the passenger service being withdrawn by British Railways on 2 January 1961 with the station closing completely on 5 May 1969.  At some time after that date Morley Low reverted to its original name, Morley. The signage continued to say Morley Low until Corporate Identity signage was fitted in the 1970s.

The station wasn't listed for closure by Beeching, but together with Batley and Ravensthorpe a proposal for closure was published on 9 December 1966, but on 27 January 1969 they were reprieved. The ER timetable issued May 1968 (also May 1969) indicated the possibility of them closing. Morley's signal box was abolished on 10 August 1985 with control transferred to Batley. Batley closed on 20 June 2023 when control was transferred to the York Rail Operating Centre.

In the mid-1980's the station buildings were demolished and staff were withdrawn. The Down platform building was reduced to a roofless shell with a seat. All Up platform buildings were demolished with open access to the platform from the end of the approach road. The steps up to the now demolished booking office remained as a second, unnecessary way out.

The increase in demand, combined with growth elsewhere on the line, meant that overcrowding in the morning peak, particularly for commuters heading towards Leeds,was becoming more of an issue. Despite this commuter growth little has been done to bring this station into the 21st century. In 2003, plans were in place to upgrade Morley station's facilities by introducing cycle stands, CCTV, and improvements to the car park. As only one platform was accessible to disabled people, Morley Town Council lobbied (unsuccessfully) to have the upgrade include the installation of wheelchair ramps to platform 2. Only the cycle stands were completed at that time. In January 2011, plans were laid out once again for CCTV cameras to be installed, and these were installed in the following months. In 2012 a 'Friends of Morley station' group was formed to address some of these issues. Work to improve the car park and drainage commenced in February 2013. The outlying location of the station put some users off as it was a ten to fifteen minutes walk from the centre of Morley. The shortest walking route being via Queen Street, Ackroyd Street and then via 90 steps to the side of the Miners Arms Pub. There was no taxi rank at the station.

Plans were drawn up to relocate the station 246 feet north of the existing site with the new station opening in the summer of 2023. This would allow for longer platforms and a realignment of the line out of Morley Tunnel to increase the line speed. By spring 2023, relocation of the station was in an advanced state. The main construction work to deliver these improvements took place between between 4 February and 11 February 2023, with closure of the line and station on 17 June to allow construction of the new station to be completed. Although not complete, the new station opened on 26 June 2023.

Totem from Richard Furness