Dragon Bridge

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Tue 29 Apr, 2008 7:52 pm

You know it's answers like Martino's that make this site so useful and fascinating!

Leeds Hippo · Post by **Leeds Hippo** » Thu 26 Aug, 2010 11:00 pm

Anyone know if Dragon bridge is to be replaced? - Sign up warning of 6 months! disruption - saw a guy today cutting down trees near the bridge. If it's anything like the replacement of the bridge further down Whitehall road carrying the London line - they "built" the replacement bridge on ground near the bridge before moving it into place in one go - very impressive engineering - wish I had got some photos.It's interesting that the Dragon bridge dates from about the 1850's when the new rail line cut across the Whitehall road - before then the Whitehall road continued in a smooth curve towards where Ringways is. There is a pic from the Tithe maps of the period before the bridge was constructed showing the original path of the Whitehall road. Dixon lane is the road at the top left, the Dragon Hotel is in the top right.

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Fri 27 Aug, 2010 7:42 pm

Concrete? Temporary?

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Sat 28 Aug, 2010 8:44 pm

Leeds Hippo wrote: Anyone know if Dragon bridge is to be It's interesting that the Dragon bridge dates from about the 1850's when the new rail line cut across the Whitehall road - before then the Whitehall road continued in a smooth curve towards where Ringways is. it's also interesting that the bridge accomodate the tramway up to the busk pit and fireclay works in upper wortley.Old-maps seems to have been redesigned so I can't pull up the 1854 and 1894 OS maps to see where the tranmway went when it crossed the bridge southwards.At the 1894 period there was the line to Farnley/Wortley station alongside the bridge too.Can't quite work out how the tramline would have managed to cross this area..........

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Sat 28 Aug, 2010 8:50 pm

The Parksider wrote: Old-maps seems to have been redesigned so I can't pull up the 1854 and 1894 OS maps to see where the tranmway went when it crossed the bridge southwards. HA - sorry - the 1908 alan godfrey maps shows a tramway running from Manor Pit on Gelderd road up to across to and over Dragon bridge, thus crossing two main lines???manor Pit is marked as a fireclay mine and by crikey didn't it service a lot of brickworks in upper wortley.....Any rail buffs got piccys of Farnley & Wortley Station?

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat 28 Aug, 2010 10:57 pm

Hi Parksider, the finest description with maps of these tramways originally built by and for the Leeds Fireclay Company is contained in Volume 2 of "Leeds Transport", pages 512 - 523, by Jim Soper. The maps show the system and its various branches at different periods, and are sufficiently detailed to enable comparison with present day roads etc. They were at first horse-worked, but between 1915 and 1917 were connected to the LCT tram network and electrified. At the same time the Manor Pit line appears to have been abandoned and another line built to Cardigan Pit, just the other side of the Huddersfield raiway line from Farnley Junction engine sheds. The lines appear to have been taken out of use in 1931.

Leeds Hippo · Post by **Leeds Hippo** » Sat 28 Aug, 2010 11:09 pm

The Parksider wrote: The Parksider wrote: Old-maps seems to have been redesigned so I can't pull up the 1854 and 1894 OS maps to see where the tranmway went when it crossed the bridge southwards. HA - sorry - the 1908 alan godfrey maps shows a tramway running from Manor Pit on Gelderd road up to across to and over Dragon bridge, thus crossing two main lines???manor Pit is marked as a fireclay mine and by crikey didn't it service a lot of brickworks in upper wortley.....Any rail buffs got piccys of Farnley & Wortley Station? 1893 map showing the (industrial) tram lines crossing the bridge - I also thought that trams ran along Whitehall Road though I can't see any tracks on Leodis photos - there's a DVD/video showing part of the journey along the Whitehall road from the top of a tram as I recall - can't recall if the trams ran on tracks (or were they trolley buses?). Strange that there are no pics on Leodis of Wortlley and Farnley station - I recall playing there as a kid and seeing the war time posters still there in the early 60's.

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat 28 Aug, 2010 11:50 pm

Hi Leeds Hippo. Trams originally ran along Whitehall Road, but only as far as the Cattle Market - not as far as Dragon Bridge. In 1911 they were replaced by "Trackless Cars" ( the early name for trolley-buses ), which ran from Wellington Street/Aire Street to New Farnley, thus crossing Dragon Bridge. There they would cross the tram tracks - and overhead wire system - of the goods trams mentioned above. The trackless cars were replaced by buses in 1929. Fuller information in the same volume I referred to earlier on this thread.

Leysholme Lad · Post by **Leysholme Lad** » Sun 29 Aug, 2010 12:07 pm

jim wrote: Hi Leeds Hippo. Trams originally ran along Whitehall Road, but only as far as the Cattle Market - not as far as Dragon Bridge. In 1911 they were replaced by "Trackless Cars" ( the early name for trolley-buses ), which ran from Wellington Street/Aire Street to New Farnley, thus crossing Dragon Bridge. There they would cross the tram tracks - and overhead wire system - of the goods trams mentioned above. The trackless cars were replaced by buses in 1929. Fuller information in the same volume I referred to earlier on this thread. In the DVD / Video referred to by Leeds Hippo called 'Leeds Trams' by the Leeds Transport Historical Society, within the first 10 mins there is a clip of a trolley bus crossing Dragon Bridge and the fireclay tram lines are visible in the road.

Leeds Hippo · Post by **Leeds Hippo** » Sun 29 Aug, 2010 1:04 pm

The Parksider wrote: The Parksider wrote: Old-maps seems to have been redesigned so I can't pull up the 1854 and 1894 OS maps to see where the tranmway went when it crossed the bridge southwards. HA - sorry - the 1908 alan godfrey maps shows a tramway running from Manor Pit on Gelderd road up to across to and over Dragon bridge, thus crossing two main lines???manor Pit is marked as a fireclay mine and by crikey didn't it service a lot of brickworks in upper wortley.....Any rail buffs got piccys of Farnley & Wortley Station? Talking of Wortley and Farnley station - I was never quite sure why a line was added between the Whitehall and Gelderd Roads with the station servicing both the Dewsbury line and the newer Wortley line which merged with the Dewsbury Line and came from Leeds. The extra line seemed unnecessary since both lines came from Leeds and merged in Wortley. In fact this new line was short lived. It's path took it over the massively expensive viaduct over HolbeckFrom Wiki"When it was built in 1869, it was thought to be one of the engineering marvels of the Victorian age. Plans are now underway to convert the track bed (which is currently overgrown with trees and shrubs) into a raised walkway leading directly into Leeds City centre."There was a couple of interesting bridges over the Wortley and Leeds Line in the pic. One was the footbridge which tens of thousands of Leeds supporters would have crossed over walking from Whitehall Road to Lowfields Road - I still recall this it was a small hump back bridge with iron bollards. The second was a strange bridge leading from one field to another (The rectangle in the pic) always seemed to be redundant. I wonder if the location of the Manor farm forced the railway company to build this bridge. Good video of the Holbeck Viaduct here which led to the Wortley and Farnley Stationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb-GjRZ6AN0