GNR Halifax - Queensbury - Keighley. The Alpine Route. Yorkshires Lost Railway.

[Music] hi guys welcome back today we'll be traveling a route which was affectionately called the alpine route this is a railway that ran between halifax and kiefli now this is a very challenging route and there are 10 tunnels as well as several viaducts so let's get on with the trip and let's see what we can find here we are to start the trip at sunny halifax literally i'd be in the middle of a marshalling yard at the moment this is the good sidings that used to be at the side of this amazing building but they seem to have done up nicely so that apparently used to be one of the major buildings built by the lancaster yorkshire railway this is one of their headquarters as you can see amazing building that's just fortunately been restored again so as you can see we had a lot of freight action here in fact the station we'll be looking at soon will not just be a langston yorkshire one apparently i've been told it's a giant one one that was owned by the great northern as well as the langston yorkshire railway and there we have the active side of the railway the one that's still alive let's go down here it looks like some good areas down at the bottom wow this is amazing down here look at them they've kept it all oh at least some of the original structures out here you know exactly what was and where was and everything else this is fantastic well done yorkshire he that's like the one near us near oldham very nice [Music] yeah last time i was here this was up for potential demolition due to it being an unsafe building i mean we are going back 20 odd years but well done deserved oh yeah look at this typical langston yorkshire railway this is fantastic lovely so here's a nice deep shot of uh halifax station so we'll follow the dead platforms at the side there nice signal box but this is an important point because if you look just slightly ahead be in the background there that is where the fired up started the viaduct which will start our trip to take us all the way eventually to keefley this is the main calder line the one that goes on to leeds bradford etc that is the route that we are going let's see what traces are left from underneath eh so just before we leave this area i'll give you one last look at the good yard from the other side it's the uh yorkshire side all this car park was all railways and they've even kept one of the huts there that's nice but like you say our line is now going that way and that's where it is that's where the ride up started went along the side here and headed up so this is where the video came along along this stretch here and finished literally where that mill starts there she is we just come at the back of the mill and that's the actual line you can see how high it is compared to the ground that's a bit of the old line still standing first clue we found today there she is what a beauty it goes behind that building to a big gun yard oh my god i'm on it yes this is the viaduct oh i didn't think i'd be able to get up here yeah there's things because of the background that's where we took that last shot from yeah it's still here wow that was a struggle but look at it bring it on right so let's keep going and let's find this goods yard as well as the next station in halifax so this car park you can see now is the location of a big massive gojar there's hundreds of tracks there's a main structure in the middle and just beyond it where that traffic's going over is where there was another station for halifax see if we can find it so here we have a bit further down in that good yard still and this was the location of halifax north bridge look at that amazing structure all the railways went under there in fact the river went under that section this is where the railways went so here's the neck of that yard as we finally leave halifax and make our way to queensbury that's the track here we are back to the old wilderness again nice although industry's been uh dead for a long time here in halifax all the buildings are still standing that's what i love about this place hopefully we'll be finding a tunnel straight ahead there's a nice old signal stump still in situ nice as you can see with these walls there were some sidings here and hopefully there should be a tunnel entrance very nearby and there she is as you can see it looks pretty dark in there looks like we're going round here's that tunnel at the other end don't get too excited there are a few railway bits of bob's still here it's a very isolated location i've come to but as you can see there's a fence ahead why does a fence head because there used to be a viaduct here which has been taken out yeah that's where divide up started and that's where it's heading let's find any more clues on that this is the viaducts looking from the other side of the road this is where the other end of the viaduct finished that is now a dual carriageway yeah hopefully there's a tunnel mouth coming up very soon keep an eye out because there's a lot of infill here i'm not sure where it is yeah i've just checked with my gps and i am now on top of the tunnel so unfortunately i've not been able to find the tunnel entrance on the halifax side yet so let's see if we can find it at the other end eh yeah before we go to the other end i'll have one last scan and i think this was the location of the tunnel entrance underneath all this junk like i say making way for that roadway the bypass above same really no sign of it at all but this is where it is according to gps and here it is the end of that tunnel so we're now going to be making our final approaches coming up to auburndon and look at this eh after all these years the sleepers are still there he bargum yeah i love the way it just chipped away the rock and just shoved their stones underneath to support it it's great however intermangled the two rather than just having one of one on one of the other well yeah this is a lovely rural line excellent walk and so we approach mill street in the oven area right here we are beyond that bridge looks like we have some kind of a car park that's where the line went obviously uh serving these mills as well so just come beyond the mill this is where it's taking me at the moment i'm not sure what's beyond that fence let's have a look yeah this looks like a bridge that's out that's a slight spur there that went to the other side that's where it's heading walk a bit of it yep certainly is for someone looks like a scrap yard or something oh my god i think we've found the station you know this is ovenden station oh my god it's all there wow and no one told me about this this is looks absolutely amazing it's like it's been captured in time look at it wow a festation look at that oh all the features are still there it's just protections to make sure nobody gets in well done whoever saved this look at it oh yes fantastic look you can see all the yard this is where the trains went up to the top bridge and wow look even got the platforms oh this is a fantastic find thank you thank you well that is a sight for thor rise i hope there's a preservation order on that so we pass the station and make our way on to queensbury tunnel eventually there's that bridge from the other side doesn't she look a beauty yes she does right let's continue walking as you can see we can get a nice critically walk through here even though it's in the state of dereliction it's still passable yeah we can just about make it through but it's not the easiest of tasks yep a little further on as you can see there's a lot of waste here i don't know if it's railway related oh it's just been dumped but we can just about make our way through yeah say we travel about half a mile still pretty rugged not the easiest of roots but still traceable just and there's my reward for walking through this house we found as a bridge yep so that's where we were uh yeah bit of slight land movement this is where the bridge was a nice trellis bridge went on to deadline that joined that pathway that we just walked so that was the route of the railway it doesn't look too promising ahead at the moment and that is where it went ouch all right you seem to have lost the railway at the moment as it's all stuck underneath this industrial state if you look straight ahead you can see where there was a spur it came from a station i think it was called saint paul's in the center of halifax this is where it joined the line around this point so there's that spur going back to halifax this is where our line was and they joined up around that point just up ahead like i say it's all been lost it's all been redeveloped into an industrial estate i'll see if i can find any clues but chance are there's nothing there well here we are we finally found a clue we're very near home field station this is the only clue i could find actually because we cannot find any signs whatsoever of the station it was originally located where all these industrial units are but i've been totally eradicated this was a massive yard in its day but there is absolutely nothing to be seen this is disgusting i'm looking at the bridge from the other side it doesn't look that much promising looks like there's a big car park been built on the site so just walked through that car park you saw in that last shot and we've come up to another barrier unfortunately uh there was as you can understand there there was a bridge yeah a filled in bridge that went all the way through that factory we're on the final approach now leading up to queensbury tunnel so where that factory is is where the railway line used to go as you can see we've got a bit of a natural barrier ahead of us i would have that be man-made but this is the location of queensbury tunnel south side underwater out so here we are on top of the tunnel this is one of the vents but just to give you an idea that is where she's going all the way up there all the way through queensbury let's see if we can find the other end so our next stop is queensbury station which had was a triangle station well that's the dream so if you notice here how it's getting wider this is because this is part of a triangle basically you went that way if you went to bradford way or you went up that way if you're heading for keithley [Music] and we're heading for keithley let's see if there's any signs of this stationary so i'm now at the junction where if you go to the left you're going to bradford you go to the right going to halifax and this area is pretty commercial at the moment so i haven't found a lot of clues he's just been made into lovely pathways to cycle down et cetera so i'm afraid we're i haven't got as many clues to share with you other than a few images of what this place used to look like like you say it was a unique station in fact it had three platforms on each of the triangles so it wasn't like a junction it was like a boxed in station but uh obviously it was a very busy station and it served its purpose for the local community although we're restricted to this little pathway if you look over to the edges of the border it does look like this is a lot wider than what it's making out to be it does make sense it would be holding sidings as the approach reduction but it just shows you just look at the board of fence you can see how wide it was as you can see there's a serious incline that's why i'm losing my breath at least the stone bits are right that metal bit looks like it's been added at a later stage yeah apparently this was a branch line that went off to uh clay works clayton clay works it was at its own little branch line so this is the line that we're traveling at the moment hopefully come to a bit of a picturesque location pretty soon a bit of a riverbed here but would you expect in the middle of the lsa let's keep going so we've come to the first of the railway by ducks has been made into a walkway this looks absolutely fantastic this is how every one of them should be putting general use again thank you and that's the lovely view the passages would have had when they were crossing this absolutely spectacular it is this is looking towards bradford and here it is on the other side lovely so that was thornton viaduct we've just been over and this was the location of thornton station the station was about there and basically it had good sidings and a good shed all the way down to the bottom so it's certainly a well utilized space but like you say should be taken over now by this school let's keep going so you can see we're back on track this track looks slightly wider i mean maybe it's the fact we're this is the approach up to the station so there are other sidings here as well it's all very flat it's usually a clue that this railway activity nearby actually look at the bottom there you can even see a sleeper or two here's an interesting site just looking um looks like the pathway that leads to a farmer's field of summer it's also another track here that's been taken out and it's got these indents in them what's that all about is that a water shoot or something check it out mate like i said this is the railway bridge that went over and looks like there was a branch line then it went to some kind of works on the left hand side so we're still following the track that is the track there it's a bit swampy at the moment but uh it's still just about passable coming up to a straight line let's see how she goes well we got rid of the psychopath now it's a bit of a painful slug uh all that is flooded down there so we have to come around the side but hopefully we'll be able to pick it up now from the other side bring it on yeah i really suspect there was a bridge here but there's no signs of it it's all been filled in but yeah this is definitely the root of the track as you can see it's getting pretty rugged but at least it's dry this bit what what's ahead eh a little beauty very nice oh trouble is we've got to climb over this bugger how the hell we're going to do that oh it took me a long time to get here but there's the other end of that tunnel apparently when i got stuck at the other end i couldn't get out it was slates and mud and everything else every two steps forwards i took three steps backwards i did eventually make it and this is the route of the line oh dear i am worn out you know me i'd normally be down there but it's a riverbed uh quad my call it what you will but it's certainly not walkable so that's the swamp that we're leaving behind and luckily here's some dry bits take us up to our next tunnel and there she is and there's a tunnel mouth from the other side like you say for the distance it was there i think they should have easily blasted through rather than a bore through with a tunnel right it looks like some kind of a housing estate being built on a factory and the site that factory is where the next station is so this station was called then home and literally like i said the station was demolished then they built a factory the factory was demolished and they built this housing estate so the chances of finding any railway clues other than the ones we have leading up to this tunnel are very very slim i'm afraid we'll have a look anyway so here we are looking back on dan holm station like i said it was a good station there that's where the main station was it's the allen pipe sticking up at the top that's where the tunnel leads to so it gives you an idea it was a big enclosure in its time but perfect ideal location for a factory stroke housing estate so this is where we leave a station then home and make our way slowly to keithley as you can see we're back on track again after leaving that housing estate last time and hopefully we'll find some lucky gems and i'm sure you can already see what's coming up ahead and there we have it yeah like that last tunnel this isn't a long tunnel i can understand why they did it i think this goes under a main road and here's that tunnel again from the other side literally like you say it hasn't got very far at all i built a tunnel i don't know a bridge maybe i mean look at this here this is our next tunnel oh you could hop skip and jump and you'd be there and here we are coming out that little tunnel that's the first tunnel we've been able to walk through on this whole trip i was told it would all be cleared maybe i'm thinking ahead eh it will be brilliant if they can open them all i must say and guess what's ahead of us yes you guessed it a tunnel don't think that's a railway relic if it is it's pretty knackered and here we have our next tunnel no chance of looking in that one that is well sealed least this was slightly longer but it hasn't gone over a mountain put it that way okay i think it would have been just as effective as a cutting all right hopefully that should be the end of the tunnels for a little while anyway don't worry we've not got totally away from them let's start walking some tracks ooh very nice as you can see not an easy route but just about traceable now this may look nice and pleasant but i am on my hands and knees crawling underneath our list like just for you guys oh dear but it's worth it it's a lovely setting but just very painful on the back so that's what we've just been through and this is what lies ahead it does look a bit smoother thank god i'm not sure what they sell film anyway it's on the track bed i have filmed it because it's also something similar on the other side actually this is the main route that we're following still a bit away from the next station slight barrier head it's about to keep me in order to keep people out that ain't gonna stop me right let's keep going i think there's a bridge up ahead let's check it yeah there she is all right like i say just slightly ahead hopefully we'll find the stations so just before we get to the next station apparently there was a siding on the left that went to a sawmill let's see if we can find any traces of that yeah i think we found it so that straight ahead is the main line this curved pathway is the root of the branch line i i said it was a sawmill and everything around here certainly served its purpose and there it is going off into the distance yeah apparently it led down to some kind of a quarry so plenty of hive of industry around here even if it was just local history yeah it's lovely this you really do feel like you're in the middle of nowhere all you can hear is nature is all around i'm saying that i can see a fence ahead i think that's the boundaries for the original station i think it's a builder's yard now let's go and check it out yeah definitely exciting station yeah this was a bridge just before it how do we get over there wow i found a route that goes around that old station but look what's in my skyline that is to come that looks amazing so here we are at the next station at wilson station this isn't a station building these are just some properties that were standing whilst the building was so the building was literally behind this lot here it's a little like say some kind of builder's yard or some extension but it's all been cultivated i've been destroyed i'm afraid but uh not a lot left like you say it was a big station there's a loads of goods bits and bobs and this is where we're heading next and i'm sure you've already seen what lies ahead let's go and explore so here's that same bridge but from the track level you can see where they filled it in where the station was straight ahead but uh on this side it's pretty well untouched but that is where we're heading for like you say there's a lovely viaduct coming up very shortly and here she is beautifully restored as i say look at this view absolutely amazing i bet the passengers loved it i think there was a special um nickname for this line see if i can find it out and here's the view from the other side absolutely gorgeous fantastic well done as you can see this bridge is out it's still part of the trail it's just a nice pathway going down and up again let's keep going so as you can see with the bridge ahead this footpath is just slightly raised but not too much to destroy the original infrastructure like you say you can still make it out i've been on somewhere it's been totally uh decimated but no this is okayish yeah the trains were never that small that's uh definitely been built up slightly like you say all the main infrastructure looks fine right so coming up to the next fire duct but just before it there was a branch line that went off to the left where these vehicles you can see there how it's curving round this was a good line that went to a quarry called many wells quarry it literally curved at 90 degrees and went off generally in that direction so this is just before the next viaduct and as promised here we are at the next fired up culling with viaducts it's not a big viaduct but it's still very majestic and still in situ let's go across it as you can see the view is not as picturesque as the other two viaducts but i think it served a purpose to go over the town job done we've just come off the uh viaduct unfortunately we've got a bit of a nasty barrier ahead of us this should be the site of cullingworth station and yard but surprise surprise it's been cultivated into something else look at the gates were open so managed to get in that at the top there is the root of the railway line but what we're looking at here is where the goods yard used to be apparently there was a good shed here railway tracks and it does look a pretty industrial so i won't be surprised if some of this is the original structure let's uh investigate yeah there's a lot of timber dumped in this yard and if this was all railway related strewn everywhere it was a nice pretty pile so like we say that embankment is where the railway line was this is a good shot here yeah so this is going to come around and eventually lead up to that factory up ahead the factory is the exact location of the station there's no signs of this station but looks like there is plenty of industrial waste here to give you an idea on where the goods yard used to be so yep that's where the line came through went through here and onwards now i've noticed all this bits and bobs i don't think this is railway related i think this was all once it was used by another factory but it's it's where it was like you say went straight ahead straight through them bushes onto the station this is our good yard so here's one final overall shot to this area i see that's where the station is leading on to keithley this is where there was a the line on the outskirts this is the goods area where there was a good shed several sidings and like you say that is where we'd rejoin the line let's see if we can get to the other side and see where that station was so here we have the location for the station as you can see it's gone totally that's exactly where it was not that it's any clearer on the other side what happened to my lovely railway so before we get to a very big tunnel just got a bit of lantern and navigate like you say this land has now been taken over by a house and a garden and no surprise surprise that is the root of the track and here we have the last bridge before a grow tunnel as you can see it's all been filled in i've been told i'm not going to be able to trace the line now until we see the tunnel mouth itself let's see what we can find and here it is from the top of the bridge straight ahead here we have the tunnel mouth the ingrow tunnel it'll lead to and grow anyway but uh certainly plenty of water not as much as queensberry but looking at all these walls here they're just dripping full of moisture it'll be a major engineering feat if they can open this again because it's pretty long but wow we found it well the fact that this land has been filled in you still got massive uh sides here look at it it's been mega chipped out amazing engineering feats done along here well done to whoever and here we have the other end of that tunnel going straight over there final stretch and this is what it looks like inside that tunnel it looks like there is some kind of work going on here so i'm literally now on the track bed went right through the middle of all these caravans here not a lot to see let's see if we can face a bit further down so i've come around the other side as you can see the caravans are in the background now so this was the root of the line going straight up to the entrance it couldn't be any straight i just went straight on through that field here you can see where the line crosses the mems lane another quick look at that that bridge that was out and this is where we're going bring it on nice path well i don't know if this section is uh official it's certainly very clear lovely walk yeah there's certainly a lot of decay around here bricks and everything also plenty of ballast that's this shell that's been put down but it's certainly making this area look nice and clear look at it it's beautiful let's keep going yeah if you look on the edge there you can see where they chipped away at pure rock but there was plenty of sweat built up while sort of digging through this area very nice so that's what we just walked but as i come around here getting towards where the station was it's getting a lot wider i think we had more than two lines here you know look at it that's too wide just for two lines that's the edges the wall and everything so i think this is a sign of industry yeah i was right there was some kind of a loop here but it's still shot at the station we're not at the station yet all right let's keep going yeah we're getting a bit tight again looks like definitely two tracks on this little section down to one pass now but it's still the route as you can see and that's where it's taking us excellent nice look at all this victorian structures excellent fantastic i was told this was all buried this is this is a gem well done well done well done so at this point is where we would name go underneath the road the road you can hear ahead let's see if we can get it from the other side eh and that's where it comes out the other side looks like it goes through somebody's house over there let's check it anyway right so i've just come down the track very slightly now why i'm pointing at this building is because this was an important building at the time because the railway went underneath this building it was the most small list of tunnels around here which joined the line so this is the side of the line and hopefully you can see a bit of the wall there at the edge you'll then lead into a cutting which will take us to the next station so this is the cutting that our railway went through hopefully on the other side of this we'll start seeing signs of where the station used to be let's check it out and there's a nice aerial shot of the bridge from the other side there she is from the track side looks so magnificent so this is where we're heading hopefully the next station is ingrow east so that's where that last shot was taken this should have been a beautiful shot of the station unfortunately it is no sign of it whatsoever it's a timbers merchant absolutely no signs at all this was a massive massive massive goods yard stroke station everything else it was an engine shed here there was a good shed and it's all been taken over now by this this industry here i'm sure you can hear in the background there's a steam train that's because we're very close to the uh the preserved line we went to keefenwood valley but unfortunately our line there's not a lot of clues available at the moment let's keep going do the last leg eh here's the other end of that timber yard and this is where the railways went under here we are back at that bridge and this is where the railway went as you can see it's in a bit of a valley has been filled in ish so there we are looking straight ahead as i mentioned that keeping with valley railway is just at the bottom where these trees are that's where that keeping with valley it shows how close we are we're merging very soon ouch seems like our railway goes straight through that building there luckily the guy who owned the property that was in the way let me through his garden and it found this fantastic treasure trove this is like undiscovered world i just come down the valley here just to film this bridge that was out but it's untrodden lovely this is the railway line from the top and look at this talk about nature trying to claim it back it's an understatement you have trouble getting through here in the summer i mean i said it was untouched look at it the brickwork's still here come over to the side you can still see the original sleepers one two three four five all there perfectly synced well done look at it a hive of activity brilliant hopefully we'll be coming to that junction very shortly let's see if we can find out where it went so around this point is where this line split so we had the main line that went straight up to go to the goods area at keithley but the passengers shared the same platform as that on the keeping with valley railway so they had to join the passenger line which like you say the junction started around here yes we're very near that junction now i won't be surprised that this is demolished signal boxer summit look at it tons of bricks all screwed along where the railway line was look how close we are now it's that keyfully line i know it's pretty close to that kefir section is this this part of our railways and how it interacted with the junction certainly looks like it had some uh railway connections that looks like a sleeper interesting you see there's our line as it's going along it's going to join up with the kefla line so i'm very close to the junction now [Music] so [Music] so so as you can see this is now the goods line that's going to take us to keithley that is where the passenger line joined on with the other line you notice how it's at just slightly different level so we're now following the goods line and let's get that into keithley mate and one last shot from the key from work valley at this junction you can see here how it expands out to the right this is where it's going to join our line join the passenger line that is yeah that's the borders and i can see one of those very conspicuous objects coming up and so we get ready to go under the road again ah hopefully this is the last tunnel before keithley because my legs are absolutely knackered but it's in a fantastic valley here well chipped out the stones looked absolutely amazing actually and there she is looking back here we go i wonder if that will ever get reopened eh walkway or railway so here we are at the other end of the tunnel no wonder we couldn't see it it's been filled in where that green thing is is where it was you can tell with the shape of the buildings which way the railways went we went along here under another bridge heading towards their final destination which is keithley so there was originally a bridge under here and this bridge as you can see with the uh stately railway walls went underneath that bridge you can see yourself we're getting today hub of kefla we'll be there any minute [Music] here we are looking on top of that footbridge looking straight into keithleygojad it went underneath the railway line that's ahead and here's that same shot from a trackside point of view as i say we originally went underneath the line the line above is the one that goes to the passenger station and this went to the freight terminal remember so to keep you in the picture this is where the passengers went they went up there around the corner straight into a joint station i like to say this area now which looks like an industrial chaos was the original location of the great northern uh goods goods terminal so here they are they're still standing the great northern goods depot being put to better use question mark i wouldn't say so but at least it's not derelict although this place has become an industrial state there's still a lot of the original structure still standing so so so here's the station as he still stands where our train terminated that's the outside of it anyway this is what she looks like from the front so this is a midland railway station like i say it was shared with great northern as great northern were having some financial difficulties towards the end and so they had an agreement to share the one station here's a nice water tower so this is a line that goes from leeds all the way up to skipton straight up to carlisle [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] see you next time [Music] you

Channel: one manc

Views: 35,524

Keywords: lost, railways, rail, trains, steam, kwvr, lyr, abandoned, gyorkshire, heritage, worth valley

Id: Miw78Sq66-w

Length: 48min 25sec (2905 seconds)

Published: Sun May 23 2021