Burley In Wharfdale to Otley

Starting Point - Burley In Wharfdale Station. Finishing Point - Site of Otley Station. Distance 3.5 Miles

One of the towns in Yorkshire that ought to have one of the strongest cases for reinstating its railway is Otley. Otley is a sizeable town that could have remained connected to the railway network with a just a short branch off the line to Ilkley. The line through Otley was once a through route from Arthington on the North Eastern Railway's Leeds to Harrogate line. West of Otley the route was operated as the Otley & Ilkley Joint Railway, a joint operation between the North Eastern Railway and the Midland Railway that continued west of Ilkley to Skipton and built a connection to the joint line from its Aire Valley route to the south. More about the route can be found on the Lost Railways West Yorkshire page.

Rail Map Online view

Open Street Map

1935 Map

The joint line connected to the Aire Valley route via a triangular junction between the surviving Menston and Burley in Wharfdale stations. South of Guiseley lines headed east towards Leeds via Apperley Junction and west via Shipley. 

Burley in Wharfdale

The South / East chord of the triangular junction from the Menston direction is on private land and is not accessible, however there is a footpath along the former railway on the North / East side of the junction from the Burley in Wharfdale direction.

The station car park and houses on The Robins now occupy the site of the goods yard east of the station. The site of the track on the west side of the station can still be seen behind the northbound platform. This was a siding rather than another passenger platform as the above map shows it required a reversing move to access it off the main line.

The path along the railway is accessed from Heather Rise, climbing the embankment at the site of Burley Junction. The path follows the trackbed until Menston Old Lane where due to a missing bridge over the road the path descends to road level and is rejoined across the road. The abutments of the railway bridge survive.

The next bridge has also been removed, over the more substantial Bradford Road. There were two bridges here as the road was crossed by the north and south sides of the triangle on separate bridges.

Below - Looking north along Bradford Road (Burley), nearest the camera is the former bridge for the line from the Menston direction and behind it is the former bridge for the line from Burley in Wharfdale I have been following.

Just behind me in the above photo is the cemetery on the right hand side (east) of the road. The old map above shows a footpath running alongside the railway from the cemetery and this path survives. 

1935 Map

Switching the Rail Map Online view to use Open Street Maps shows the footpath now joining the trackbed at the site of Milner Wood Junction, meeting the footpath north across the golf course. My visit was in Autumn 2020 and at the time it was hard to see where the well trodden paths were but it was clear I was following the former railway trackbed.

Below - Looking along the former railway line east of the site of Milner Wood Junction.

Below - The steep cutting sides shown towards the bottom of the old map.

1935 Map (top of map)

Below - Another missing bridge where the line crossed Bradford Road (Menston), again the path descends the embankment to road level.

Just east of the site of the bridge over Bradford Road (Menston) a footpath returns to the course of the railway (behind the bus stop). This is the footpath shown on the old map that went to (and still goes to) West Chevin Road.

Below - The bridge carrying the footpath to West Cheving Road over the former railway.

1935 Map

Otley

Through the site of Otley station the trackbed is now occupied by the Otley Bypass (A660). The footpath along the trackbed emerges on to the roundabout connecting the Bypass to Bradford Road north of the former railway. Where West Chevin Road crossed the railway on a bridge it now crosses the Bypass on a more modern bridge.

1935 Map

The footpath from Station Road to Birdcage Walk survives, crossing the Bypass on a modern bridge.

East Chevin Road also crosses the Bypass on a modern bridge just as it had crossed the railway on an earlier bridge before. The former station approach road survives in commercial use. A former weighbridge remains in situ.

It would almost certainly be possible to replace the missing bridges and squeeze in a single track branch line and platform alongside the bypass allowing trains to run between Leeds and Otley again one day, though sadly such schemes never get beyond talk in this area.

Some bits of the railway east of Otley are now footpaths I will look at doing, though the site of the next station to the east at Pool has been built on.

From Otley I returned to Burley in Wharfdale the way I came.

Also in the area I have walked along the former High Royds Hospital Railway at Menston.

Humber Ferries

Visits to sites in Hull, New Holland, Hartlepool and London related to the Humber Ferries.

The ferry from Hull to New Holland began in 1820 and was taken over by the railways in 1845, carrying on as such under the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, Great Central Railway, London North Eastern Railway, British Railways and Sealink until 1981 when the opening of the Humber Bridge made it obsolete.

The LNER introduced new Paddle Steamer ferries Tattershall Castle and Wingfield Castle in 1934 followed by the similar but modified designed Lincoln Castle in 1940. Tattershall Castle was withdrawn in 1972 and Wingfield Castle in 1974 when many of the crossings were taken over by diesel powered Farringford which was transferred from duties on the Solent. Lincoln Castle remained in use until 1978, leaving the Farringford in sole charge of the route until the opening of the bridge.

Lincoln Castle was used as a restaurant close to the bridge at Hessle and later at the National Fishing Heritage Centre in Grimsby. Due to the deteriorating condition of her hull she was controversially scrapped in 2010 while campaigns were ongoing to save her. The Tattershall Castle and Wingfield Castle survive though in London and Hartlepool respectively.

More information about the Hull to New Holland ferries can be found at paddlesteamers.info

The Surviving Ferries

Below - Tattershall Castle seen as a floating restaurant on the Thames in London close to the Houses of Parliament.

The Wingfield Castle is moored on the Historic Quay in Hartlepool close to where she was built and next to the HMS Trincomalee which is part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. Due to deteriorating condition it has been closed since 2019 but funds have been found for repairs.

Below - Wingfield Castle seen at Hartlepool with the sails of the Trincomalee in the background.

Below - The bridge of the Wingfield Castle when the ship was still accessible.

Below - The boiler room of the Wingfield Castle. Note the sign instructing firemen to avoid making smoke in the built up are at the pier at Hull.

Hull Corporation Pier

1928 Map

Google Map

The Hull terminal for the ferries was Corporation Pier, renamed Victoria Pier after a visit by the Queen in 1854 but generally still referred to as Corporation Pier. It could be considered as a railway station without trains as it was run by the railway companies of the time and served as a railway travel centre as well as providing tickets for the ferry crossing.

Corporation Pier gets an article on the Disused Railway Stations site and much more information about it can be found there.

Below - The former ticket office at Corporation Pier in Hull. 

New Holland Town

Rail Map Online view

1932 Map

Google Map

In 1997 I was able to get a visit to New Holland Pier with permission from the owners of the site at the time. After the discontinuation of the ferry service the pier was used by New Holland Bulk Services for goods traffic, it remained rail connected for goods traffic but this has since dried up.

There was a railway station at the northern point of the triangular junction with the lines from Barton on Humber and Grimsby, New Holland Town. When the ferry ceased this was closed and replaced with a single wooden platform on what had been the junction at the east side of the triangle, actually a more convenient location for the village and it avoided trains having to reverse at the old station. The site of the old station was demolished as part of the redevelopment of the pier for freight use. More information about the station can be found on the Disused Stations website.

Below - The Sentinel shunter that had been in use at New Holland Bulk Services close to the site of the old New Holland Town station at the land end of the pier. The shunter has since been removed.

Below - A grain loader at the land end of the pier.

Below - A conveyor was built along the track on the east side of the pier.

New Holland Pier

Another station was provided at the River end of the pier so that passengers could connect with the steamers to Hull. New Holland Pier station is also covered in more detail on the Disused Stations website.

Below - The wooden platform on the east side of the pier and remains of the signal that would have allowed trains to depart from that platform.

Below - The signal box on the platform with its lever frame intact.

Below - The platform canopy on the east side. 

Below - The station buildings on the east side.

Below - The station buildings on the west side of the pier, since in use as a Customs and Excise Office.

The pier was T shaped with ferries docking at right angles on either side of the railway station. 

Below - The site of where the ferries to and from Hull would have moored on the east side of the pier.

Below - A cargo ship and the cranes that have operated on the pier since passenger ferries ceased.

Google satellite images show the pier little changed since my visit over 25 years ago. With the site being inaccessible to all but those working on the pier the station has become a time capsule.

Back in 1997 with my visit to the pier done I returned to Hull via the Humber Bridge.