Halifax and the Queenbury lines

Halifax could be approached from two sides, the

first from the east from Bradford via Low Moor,

Lightcliffe and Hipperholme and the second from

the North via Queensbury. The Macintosh sweet

factory is just to the right.

 

 

Above a train enters Halifax fom the eastern end

having come from Braford directly through Bowling

tunnel and Low Moor. The line curving away to

the left ran on to North Bridge station and the

line up through Ovenden and Holmefield to

Queensbury then on to Bradford or Keighley

 

It ran along a viaduct over the area of the town

called 'Woolshops', passing the power station,

in the early part of the century this was a very

gloomy, dark and heavily industrialised part of

the town. Above the viaduct is being demolished

in the 1980's

 

 

All of the above has now been demolished and

has returned to a green and pleasant town. The

 far right of the picture shows the Great Northern

Goods sheds just before the line enters North

Bridge station. The reason for building this

second line into Halifax was largely at the behest

of William Foster who owned mills in the

Queensbury district and he wanted rail

access to and from them. It did also

offer Halifax a direct link to the north

via Keighley onto the Midland Lines

to Scotland via the Settle and Carlisle.

The only other access to the lines was

via Leeds as Bradford had no link

between the Lancashire and Yorkshire (LMS)

and the Midland station at Foster Square.

 

 

 

The map above shows the two routes, the lower one

via Low Moor and the next one up via Queensbury.