Pudsey Lowtown Station, St. Joseph's, and Stanningley

Gmintyfresh · Post by **Gmintyfresh** » Fri 17 Jun, 2011 2:44 pm

I wonder if anyone out there can please help me? I'm really interested in seeing any photo's or information about of the stretch railway line that used to depart from the old Pudsey Lowtown Station towards Stanningley. More specifically the cutting and line that stretched from mount pleasant road past St. Josephs school, across Pudsey Grangefield School playing fields, and across the land where the Bypass now is situated. I know that everything from Mount Pleasant has been filled in or obliterated from the landscape (the excavation of the bypass saw to this) but I've never seen any photos of this stretch of the line prior to it's demolition. The closest I can get is a photo I've seen from Lowtown Station looking toward Stanningley, and from the other end I've seen a photo on Leodis of the bridge that crosses Wellstone Lane at Stanningley, this photo showed a double bridge of which only 1 survived to the present day. There must have been some major railway infrastructure located here in the past, can anyone help?Geoff

patter · Post by **patter** » Fri 17 Jun, 2011 2:53 pm

There's some information on these links & guggle suggests that Pudsey Loop might be the line in questionhttp://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/Pud ... o.gl/U3IaD (have a look at the attached maps)

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 17 Jun, 2011 2:55 pm

In over 5 years researching the various railways around West Yorkshire I've seen very little, if anything photographed on that section of line. As you know that section of line was mostly swept away, next to nothing remains of it. If there isn't anything on Leodis, then I'm afraid the chances of it being on the net are slim.You can always try David Heys various web pages herehttp://www.davidheyscollection.com/page6.htm

Gmintyfresh · Post by **Gmintyfresh** » Fri 17 Jun, 2011 3:14 pm

Phill_dvsn wrote: In over 5 years researching the various railways around West Yorkshire I've seen very little, if anything photographed on that section of line. As you know that section of line was mostly swept away, next to nothing remains of it. If there isn't anything on Leodis, then I'm afraid the chances of it being on the net are slim.You can always try David Heys various web pages herehttp://www.davidheyscollection.com/page6.htm Thanks for the response, I've seen a shot from the old Bramley station that shows a little more of the line as it branches off towards the section I've mentioned above but the resolution isn't the best!! I'm going to keep trawling, I guess that before the bypass was dug it was a pretty unassuming piece of land and not too photogenic. Went on an interesting tack of looking at old aerial photography of the area but I've still not quite found an image of that section!

Gmintyfresh · Post by **Gmintyfresh** » Fri 17 Jun, 2011 3:32 pm

patter wrote: There's some information on these links & guggle suggests that Pudsey Loop might be the line in questionhttp://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/Pud ... o.gl/U3IaD (have a look at the attached maps) I'm really familiar with the pages you linked on lost railways, it's a great resource, the second link you sent me was fascinating - must admit I've not seen that old timetable before, cheers.

trophy · Post by **trophy** » Sat 04 Feb, 2012 1:55 pm

thre are photos of lowtown and greenside stations in the book west yorkshire railway stations by peter tuffrey

socistep · Post by **socistep** » Sun 26 Feb, 2012 11:54 pm

I think the old branch line branched off to Pudsey Lowtown just before where the line that stayed crossed Swinnow Lane, near Thomas Bros. office, the area where the line went to is now industrial units and the ring road/stanningley bypass so can't imagine there is much evidence left! edit - does this aerial pic show the branch line? hard to tell for me, it should be there but it might have been removed at that pointhttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL

jim · Post by **jim** » Mon 27 Feb, 2012 12:35 am

Hi socistep. If you look carefully at the spot where the railway crosses Swinnow Lane at the left hand side of the Leodis view you linked to, you can just see two railway bridges. The junction between the main Bradford line and the Pudsey loop commenced just to the east (right) of them.

BIG N · Post by **BIG N** » Mon 27 Feb, 2012 2:11 am

Its actually very easy to locate the Junction for the Pudsey loop from the Leeds end - just drive up Swinnow lane under the railway at Bramley station. You pass under two seperate bridges, the lower one of the two was on the loop and the higher one was on the main line, the junction actually split just before Bramley station on the leeds side with two platforms at Bramley being on the loop and two being on the direct Bradford line.

Patexpat · Post by **Patexpat** » Mon 27 Feb, 2012 9:44 am

Hi Big N - I think you are getting Swinnow Lane and Swinnow Road confuzzed ... Swinnow Lane was just after where the lines diverged, and indeed used to have two rail over bridges close together .. Swinnow Road is where Bramley station was, and well still is in its 'new' form.As a lad I lived opposite The Brown Cow on Stanningley Road, just down from Swinnow Lane and remember those bridges very well!