Railway Relics of Yesteryear

jf · Post by jf » Tue 22 May, 2007 2:40 pm

Were there any tracks beneath that bridge serving the monkbridge site? Or did they come from the south?I found an old signal post not a million miles from that location, lying broken on its side in the undergrowth. Perhaps you have also found it?

Aeldfrith · Post by **Aeldfrith** » Tue 22 May, 2007 11:30 pm

Monkbridge works was accessed from the south to west curve of the Holbeck triangle. A steep descent enabled wagons to enter the site after passing below the four track west to east curve.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 23 May, 2007 10:55 am

There's still an old semaphore still up there J.F.. I'll dig a pic out from my collection later.. Yes Aeldfrith is correct how the line connected from the Triangle, It ran uder the line & entered Monkbridge from there. Now the Other side of Monkbridge has been flattened you can see the bricked up arch from Whitehall road, I think Rik pictured it the other day.. I do hope they do something interesting with the viaduct. It's supposed to be a walkway between the new developements...CAN WE PLEASE KEEP SOME RAILWAY HERITAGE.. Can the council & developers not keep a piece of Leeds illustrious rail heritage alive by maintaining a 'Railway theme' Rails for the pathways, Raised sleepers for the planters, Railwayana signs, nice seating areas in the track refuges & some display boards with the info & pictures of how it used to look topped off With the bridge suitably light from the banks of the river or is that beyond anybodys imagination? I hope not!!

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Wed 23 May, 2007 11:31 am

Phil. It could be a really nice, and faily unique leisure facility. A raised precinct in the new residential quarter which could include cafes, convenience stores, park areas, cycle tracks, fitness trails, dog walking, childrens play areas. The arches could house more shops, gyms, bars. The possibilities are endless and would be a genuine design first for Leeds. Clearly for these same reasons it will not happen, no-one is brave enough to do it. I bet that guy PY Gerbeaux from Xscape would make it happen. We have these fantastic resources in Leeds, the arches and we have hitherto barely scratched the surface of their potential. I can never understand why so many of the arches going down to Granary Wharf (a half arsed and barely marketed attempt at a craft market) are given over to simply parking, they are huge and some are even connected to the Queens, why is there not an arcade of some sort linking the two for public use to open up the whole area.There was a letter in the YEP the other day bemoaning the damage the Robbie Williams contert caused to the cycle track in Roundhay Park. I never knew there was one but apparently the best cycling facility in Leeds is a grass track no-one ever knew was there. Pathetic resources typical of Leeds I'm afraid.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 23 May, 2007 11:56 am

Absolutely Reg... Thats why i'm always knocking the council.. I make no apologies either. The councillor in the paper the other week going on about how he's sick of people knocking Leeds(I won't mention his name) & then Rob Mcphee the E.P journalist saying how Leeds always builds a few less floors, less lights & less wow factor than every other city.. Why is that..Can't we do something BIG & WOW & lead the way just for once? As you just highlited we have everything to make this city fantastic.. We just don't have the imagination sadly..

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Wed 23 May, 2007 12:07 pm

It's really depressing and many other cities must just laugh their collective arses at us. I've given up "bigging Leeds up" as the City never delivers. Traffic is a nightmare, parking is prohibitively expensive as are bus fares (from where I live it is £19 a week into the city). I'm not saying I can't afford either, I can but I am well paid and have parking provided but most don't.We replace the proposed tram (which had a limited network anyway) with bendy buses which I thought we already had?We build thousands of inner city skyscrapers but have nothing but nothing new in terms of things to do. Sheffield a smaller city with less wealtgh we are led to believe has Ponds Forge, Don Valley, dry skiing, world snooker championships, Hallam FM Arena, Leadmill etc. We have nothing to compare to these. The International Pool was never that but I understand it is being replaced. The Queens Hall was demolished and is still a car park, The Duchess is a clothes shop (I guess the Cockpit has taken up this mantle). I'm afraid we as residents are let down hugely and for the amount of council tax generated it is a scandal to be honest.

FarnleyBloke · Post by **FarnleyBloke** » Wed 23 May, 2007 1:19 pm

I can only echo what you are both saying. Time and time again the city of Leeds is under served where the public are concerned and not just by the council but nationally aswell. I read a report the other week that detailed local councils and how much is spent on those councils per person. Manchester last year got something like £350 - £400 per person allocated to it by the government. Leeds got £150 even though three of the poorest boroughs in the country are situated here.The big glass towers where the old wellington station was are going to be the tallest buildings outside of london and that is great news, and bridgewater place looks fantastic, however although they may be good looking i can't help thinking that at the end of the day they're just tower blocks. Why can't we have some iconic building that could become a landmark or some huge development that we can really compare favourably to other cities.Even the White Rose centre is poor compared to places like the trafford centre and bluewater. It makes me mad that we have such huge potential but council after council (i make no party distinctions as it has been like this for as long as i remember) fails to deliver.I remember a couple of years ago a guy put in a proposal to the council which included using the farnley Viaduct as a raised walkway into the centre of leeds (is this what you were talking about above) but he said at the time that he didn't expect it to get the go ahead! Why? Anyway rant over!!

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Wed 23 May, 2007 1:28 pm

FarnleyBloke wrote: I can only echo what you are both saying. Time and time again the city of Leeds is under served where the public are concerned and not just by the council but nationally aswell. I read a report the other week that detailed local councils and how much is spent on those councils per person. Manchester last year got something like £350 - £400 per person allocated to it by the government. Leeds got £150 even though three of the poorest boroughs in the country are situated here.The big glass towers where the old wellington station was are going to be the tallest buildings outside of london and that is great news, and bridgewater place looks fantastic, however although they may be good looking i can't help thinking that at the end of the day they're just tower blocks. Why can't we have some iconic building that could become a landmark or some huge development that we can really compare favourably to other cities.Even the White Rose centre is poor compared to places like the trafford centre and bluewater. It makes me mad that we have such huge potential but council after council (i make no party distinctions as it has been like this for as long as i remember) fails to deliver.I remember a couple of years ago a guy put in a proposal to the council which included using the farnley Viaduct as a raised walkway into the centre of leeds (is this what you were talking about above) but he said at the time that he didn't expect it to get the go ahead! Why? Anyway rant over!! It would serve Holbeck too and bring that deprived area intot he embrace of the wealthy city area. We have some great assets which are under used. Take the Market for examlpe, a fantastic building with some council offices upstairs. Why is the balcony and these upstairs units not a lunchtime venue for city workers? Take Spitalfields market in London, some of the best food in town is around the market, why not Leeds? Most of the arcades have upper floors with balconies but are closed off, why?The canal areas of the city don't have one cafe on them, I can only think of what used to be Sparrow's Wharf (is it Aire now?) which has a small balcony. Pathetic. Grananry wharfe is going to have an office block on it now. Jesus, some of the recently built ones remain empty can't we actually have some opens spaces to enjoy?

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Wed 23 May, 2007 2:19 pm

We have to remember that this is a council funded website & my appreciation goes to them for funding this & having the initiative to mark Leeds2007 in this way. My critisicm of L.C.C isn't for the fun of it... I genuinely hope they see these comments & start to think along defferent lines. We have public consultations & exhibitions e.t.c-but at the end of the day there plans are set in concrete from day one & no amount of input from the public is ever taken on board. Rik & myself see countless lost oppurtunitys to use Leeds heritage to the maximum. Indeed the only thing stopping us putting forward our ideas is the fact i doubt we'd even get a tiny piece of credit for the initiative.. Some faceless guy on £30k a year will.

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Wed 23 May, 2007 6:37 pm

Nice L.M.S. sign outside City Station