Date/Time
Date(s) - Saturday 24/10/2026
10.30 - 17.00
Location
Huddersfield Railway Station
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A walk of 6.2 miles by invitation of the Railway Ramblers’ Club. Meet at Huddersfield station entrance at 10:30 – the timetable from all directions needs checking nearer the time, due to disruption caused by the trans-Pennine upgrade. OS maps: Landranger 110, Explorer 288.
Heading northwards along St. John’s Road adjacent to the MR’s route into Huddersfield Newtown, we pick up the trackbed at the site of Red Doles Junction created by the LMS in 1923 to link the main trans-Pennine line with this freight branch, whose opening left the section from Mirfield to Red Doles hardly used. That section was lifted in 1937, the final part to Newtown goods yard carrying freight traffic until 1968. After 2 miles we divert onto the towpath of the Huddersfield Broad Canal (aka Sir John Ramsden’s Canal) due to the temporary closure of the trackbed. This is a delightful ½ mile stretch of canal from which we take a short detour to the embankment of the LNW’s Kirkburton branch and the site of its station at Deighton, then we cross the magnificent 15-arch blue brick Bradley Viaduct. This planned double-track construction remains as a monument to the MR’s grand ambitions for a big passenger terminus and hotel in Huddersfield as part of its ill-fated West Riding Lines scheme. At Heaton Lodge Junction, where the LNW’s Spen Valley “New Line” branched off towards Heckmondwike and Cleckheaton, we can view the work on the TransPennine Route Upgrade, with many express trains hurtling past. The Midland trackbed itself then takes us as far as Lower Hopton where it branched away from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s Calder Valley main line.
Our walk ends at Mirfield for regular train services in many directions from its new station. Leader Philip Hellawell. Bring a packed lunch; booking is not required.
Note that this is not an RCHS event and, as such, RCHS members attending are not covered by the Society’s insurance policy, including its public liability section.