Clayton West
2-4-2 'Katie' at Clayton West, terminus of the 15 in. gauge Kirklees Light Railway on 14th October 2017. This 3 mile line runs along the course of the former standard gauge branch line, opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway on 1st September 1879 and which, after surviving the Beeching cuts, was belatedly closed by BR on 24th January 1983. The Kirklees Light Railway Society was formed in 1989 to build a narrow gauge line on the trackbed and a Light Railway Order was granted on 27th September 1991. Trains began operating three weeks later on a 1 mile section to a new halt at Cuckoo's Nest which had not existed prior to the 1983 closure. They were extended to Skelmanthorpe, where the original standard gauge station had been demolished, on Boxing Day 1992 and the line was finally completed to a new western terminus at Shelley which also had not existed prior to 1983, just short of the junction with the Huddersfield to Penistone line in May 1997. This final section to Shelley also included the 511 yards long Shelley Woodhouse tunnel.
Location: Clayton West
Original line: Clayton West Branch (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)
Photographer: David Bosher
Contact photographer: David Bosher
Date: 14/10/2017
Image number: 72236
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