 Railway Ramblers gazetteer
See also the Railway Ramblers gazetteer -
Kirklees : L&Y
Meltham jn (Lockwood) - Meltham |
 Back
Track : Paul Holroyd
website - www.vintagecarriagestrust.org
A 9-page feature on the Huddersfield & Sheffield
Junction Railway route to Penistone appears in Back Track Vol. 4
no. 2, March-April 1990 |
 Meltham
Junction (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Lockwood end of Lockwood Viaduct. The trees centre shot mark the
junction for the Meltham Branch. |
 Meltham
Junction (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Old guard rail along first few feet of the branch as it goes
into Beaumont Park. |
 Beaumont
Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Recess in retaining wall. |
 Beaumont
Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
looking towards Meltham. |
 Beaumont
Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Cutting through part of the park. |
Woodfield (Beaumont Park Halt)
Opened & closed in June 1874.
 Beaumont
Park (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Beaumont Park Halt: there was once a halt for passengers to use for Beaumont
Park - I wonder if it was near here.
Note the big gates into the park
through the bridge. (track went over the bridge) |
Beaumont
Park Halt (24-08-10) : Andrzej Miczyk
Note : I can answer your question about the location
of Beaumont Park halt.
I lived just above the park, as a teenager between 1957 and 1969 and saw
the line in its last years of use and then closure.
At that time the the Beaumont park halt was still clearly identifiable to
the east of the park gates.
A platform of Yorkshire stone slabs (more a
high kerb) was still there then, on the park side of the line.
There was
also a steep stone staircase which started at the other end of the
platform from the park gates and climbed up to Beaumont Park Road along
the edge of the park. I suppose this was built to serve the halt when the
park was closed at night and the gates locked (a practice which ceased
after the war when most of the park railings were taken away as scrap).
This staircase was a really substantial affair and it must still be there
- totally overgrown today. |
Beaumont
Park (04-09-18) : Dave Pattern
I did some research into Woodfield Station on the Meltham Branch Line a
couple of years ago which might be of interest:
https://huddersfield.exposed/p/8f7
I'm afraid the stone steps mentioned by Andrzej Miczyk are a red herring.
They were built a decade after the station closed at the time Beaumont
Park was being laid out.
The fact that the park would be closed at various
times meant that historic rights of way through Dungeon Wood were lost.
The steps were built just outside the boundary of the park and provided a
replacement right of way which linked up with a footpath previously
diverted by L&YR. I'm unsure what the platform was that he recalls, but
the track was doubled up to that location and used as a siding.
Both the diagram submitted to the Board of Trade and the map drawn by the
Borough Surveyor (who lived locally in Lockwood) in 1879 show the station
to have been on the other side of the line to the location mentioned by
Andrzej and the platform was actually situated just to the southwest of
the bridge photographed by Andrew Stopford. The area where the platform
was is now overgrown by dense vegetation, but there seems to be large
pieces of stone under the vegetation.
Please note that this was never a halt for Beaumont Park, as the park
opened 9 years after the station closed.
However, there was a tramway
terminus below on Meltham Road for park visitors.
There doesn't appear to be any surviving L&YR records relating to the
station, but fortunately some items remain in the Board of Trade archives.
Why the station was ever built in the first place remains a mystery to me,
but its sudden closure was due to the Board of Trade revoking permission
to open the station after Col. Hutchinson inspected it and found it to be
on a dangerous incline. Seemingly L&YR decided it was cheaper to abandon
the new station rather than close the single-track line to carry out the
required remedial work. That does beg the question as to why the station
was built on an incline in the first place!
If the station and platform hadn't already been removed by 1879, I'm
certain the gifting of the wood that year to be used as a park may have
forced L&YR's hand.
If they left both in place, there would likely be
local pressure to re-open the station to service the new park (which would
of course require the remedial work to be carried out first).
Personally, I suspect both were removed prior to 1879 as I failed to find
any reference whatsoever to either whilst researching the laying out of
the park. |
Butternab tunnel (256
yards)
 Beaumont
Park Butternab tunnel north portal (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Beaumont Park Tunnel (North Portal). |
 Butternab
tunnel north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Bygone Lines UK Yahoo groups
Butternab NEP. |
 Butternab
north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab NEP view NE. |
 Butternab
tunnel (07-09-10) : Julie Knowles
Interior from north portal. See more here -
http://julie-knowles.fotopic.net/ |
Butternab tunnel : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Bygone Lines UK Yahoo groups
The 256 yard Butternab Tunnel at SE127138 has long been on my 'most
wanted' list, not least because the NE portal has always been like Fort
Knox each time I've visited & the SW end languishes at the back of
someone's garden although I did manage to sneak a picture of this elusive
beast back in 1993.
The new owners of the property were more than happy to
show us their fine tunnel once our intention had been made clear & we were
not prepared for what followed.
Several years ago I saw a very poor quality image showing the SW portal as
being converted to an apartment but it was generally accepted to be a
Photoshop trick, ahem, no-it's real! Not only is it real but they have
done an absolutely first class job as you can see from the pictures & they
also were very happy for me to publish the photos of their most excellent
additional living space on these forums.
Behind the full-height glass
frontage is the living room & games area & beyond this is the bedroom on
the balcony above the kitchen.
The access to the rest of the tunnel is via
the laundry area. Once inside the tunnel proper it curves slightly & the
NE portal has some standing water about a foot at it's deepest going
several dozen yards back from the wall.
You can see just how much infill
has been piled on the outside here by comparing the old doorway from in &
out views.
 Butternab
tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab SWP. |
 Butternab
tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab from games room view SW. |
 Butternab
tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab bedroom from games room view NE.
|
 Butternab
tunnel south portal : (23 -01- 1993) Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab SP 23rd January 1993. |
 Butternab
tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Butternab SWP renovation undated. |
 Butternab
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Overbridge between Beaumont Park & Netherton. |
 Netherton
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Overbridge just before the southern portal of Netherton Tunnel. |
 Netherton
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
BRB marker for above bridge. |
 Netherton
Tunnel (333 yards)
Netherton tunnel north portal
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Netherton Tunnel (North Portal). |
%20-%20Rough%20Guess_small.jpg) Netherton
tunnel north portal (20/03/2013) : Craig Kellett
The tunnel mouth from Netherton to Beaumont Park
Halt. |
 Netherton
tunnel (07-09-10) : Julie Knowles
Interior from north portal. See more here -
http://julie-knowles.fotopic.net/ |
 Netherton
tunnel (07-09-10) : Julie Knowles
Interior from south portal. |
 Netherton
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Netherton Tunnel (South Portal) - close as I could get.
You can
just about make out a bit of the red bricked up tunnel mouth in the middle
of the shot. |
Netherton tunnel : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Bygone Lines UK Yahoo groups
Saturday 3rd August found a group of dubious
individuals scouring darkest West Yorkshire beginning with a visit to the
L&Y's Meltham branch which left the still extant Huddersfield to Penistone
line near Lockwood.
There are 3 tunnels on this branch: Butternab,
Netherton & Healey House.
Having all done Healey House previously this was
omitted moving swiftly along to Netherton. Netherton Tunnel is 333 yards
long,
situated at SE123132 & changes profile from horseshoe at the NE end
to circular at the SW probably due to geological reasons.
Apart from some
water ingress at the SW end it is dry thoroughout & in very good
condition.
 Netherton
tunnel north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton NEP view NE. |
 Netherton
tunnel north portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton NEP. |
 Netherton
tunnel interior : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton refuge near centre view N. |
 Netherton
tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton SWP view SW. |
 Netherton
tunnel south portal : Bygone Lines UK c/o Carbootnut
Netherton SWP. |
Netherton station
 Netherton
station (20/03/2013) : Craig Kellett
Photo of the old platform which is still intact.
Its just sad to think that a rail link existed from Meltham to
Huddersfield town centre all them years ago and no longer in use. |
 Healey
House Tunnel (30 yards)
Healey
House Tunnel (18-11-07) : Andrew Stopford
Slightly better view of Healey House Tunnel. |
 Healey
House Tunnel (12-10-06) : Andrew Stopford
The south portal, very hard to reach, down a steep and muddy cutting side,
very wet at the bottom. |
 Healey
House (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Abutment. |
 Healey
House Station
Healey
House Station (18-11-07) : Andrew Stopford
The 'wilderness' shot is in fact the exact site of Healey House Station! |
 Netherton
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Occupation bridge - the parapet wall is cracked down the
middle - you can just make this out. |
Meltham station
Opened 05-07-1869. Closed 23-05-1949. Freight 05-04-1965.
 Meltham
station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Now Morrison's Supermarket. Abutement of sloping
overbridge which came down from the town and crossed the track & platform. |
 Meltham
(30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
looking towards the station from the site of the goods yard
(station was approx 200 yds after the yard). |
 Meltham
station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
David Brown Tractors relic at goods yard site. |
Meltham
station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
 Goods yard site - concrete surface. This looks like a turntable
of some sort. Any suggestions?
Note : (29-04-08) : Rob Lewis
According to my partners grandfather who worked at the David Brown
plant this was a test track for David brown tractors. |
 Meltham
station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Concrete occupation bridge about half a mile from station site -
not original! |
 Meltham
station site (30-09-06) : Andrew Stopford
Looking towards Meltham from bridge above. |
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