The Route
The line was originally owned by the Midland Railway from Leeds to Burley-in-Wharfedale. At this point the line became joint property, with the North Eastern Railway, and was known as the Otley & Ilkley Joint Railway (O&IJt). The two lines from Leeds and Bradford come together at Esholt Junction - the location of an 1892 crash - south of Guiseley.
The route from Leeds leaves the main line near Calverley and continues along the Aire valley until climbing a hill to:
- Guiseley railway station
- Menston railway station
- Burley-in-Wharfedale railway station
- Ben Rhydding railway station
- Ilkley railway station
A new station, Kirkstall Forge, is planned on the Aire Valley section of the route between Leeds and Guiseley. Plans also exist to reinstate the O&IJt branch line to Otley from Milner Wood Junction, between Menston and Burley.
The first section of the route from Bradford Forster Square is also used by the Airedale and Leeds-Bradford Line. The service to Ilkley branches north of Shipley railway station to:
- Baildon railway station a reopened station
- Esholt: station closed
- Apperley Junction for the line from Leeds
- and on to Guiseley, Menston, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Ben Rhydding, and Ilkley
The line was electrified throughout using 25kV AC Overhead between 1994 and 1995.
The now-closed and lifted Midland line continued west of Ilkley via Addingham, Bolton Abbey and Embsay to Skipton. The section from Embsay to Bolton Abbey has been reopened by enthusiasts who operates steam locomotives as the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.
Read more about this topic: Wharfedale Line
Famous quotes containing the word route:
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of space—out of time.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)