Old railway bridge near Thwaite Mills??

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Tue 13 Nov, 2007 10:44 pm

I used to have a lot of this line recorded on film. It's a pity we can't post full size images on here as there are still a good few remains of this line to be seen on google earth.. as the line reached near Tommy wass you can see all the back gardens now built on it...

moggy · Post by **moggy** » Tue 13 Nov, 2007 11:01 pm

Quite right Phill before that lot was built it was one hell of a deep cutting it i wonder where they got the spoil to fill it in? I seem to remember as well that where the line ran at the back of the allenby estate there was a yellow semaphore signal very overgrown by that time, may even still be there!!

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 9:21 am

Phill_d wrote: No it really honestly is the round stone buttress to the swing bridge.. It was MASSIVE. It was the heaviest bridge in Leeds built to open for when tall ships would navigate the canal but they never did. The Canal company hated the railways & devised the plan for tall ships so the railway had to go to all the trouble & expense of this massive structure. The bridge only ever opened once, it was so heavy it dropped a foot & had to be jacked back up. The plan for the tall ships was scrapped straight after the bridge was built leaving the canal company smugly satisfied at the trouble they had caused the railway. If memory serves me well the bridge was demolished in 1974 & the line closed in 1967.. look on the picture on the other page. The brick supports still stand in the river to this day. Coal staithes for the Middleton & Waterloo colliery can be still seen either side of the banks nearby.. Hmm fair enough, it's just that it looks to be in a different position now to how it does on that pic you posted..... Maybe it's just me not being able to get my head around it! Would love to see more old railway and waterway stuff. I'm not sure why it interests me, but I do like seeing things like this as they were etc. Did we have any other huge bridges that are since removed?

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 9:50 am

Yeah things often look very different 50 years later.. A big bridge now missing is the one that spanned the Leeds-Kieghley/Carlisle line on to the Central viaduct where Holbeck high level station used to be.. You can see the huge span of it in the distance.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 9:52 am

The supporting walls are still intact on the viaduct & you can see the girder section thats been cut still sat in the brickwork.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 9:58 am

Brickwork remains.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 10:02 am

You want to have a look in the middle of this pagehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thanoz/page3/There's a few pics of the Thwaite mills swing bridge you might think look more familiar.

BlueSmoke · Post by **BlueSmoke** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 10:57 am

Phill_d wrote: You want to have a look in the middle of this pagehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thanoz/page3/There's a few pics of the Thwaite mills swing bridge you might think look more familiar. Thanks Phil that really helps! So, the bit where the line runs to on top of the embankment, did that meet the short section of the bridge or the long section?? As I think I may have been confused as to which side the embankment was actually on.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 11:08 am

The picture i posted off the buffer stops at the top of the embankment are still there, you can see them if you walk along the bank.. That part ran onto the shorter fixed section of the bridge over the river Aire.. The swing section was over the canal only.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 14 Nov, 2007 11:09 am

This is how it looked were the buffers are today.You can see the fixed span here.