I’ve recently dug out a number of old camcorder tapes and had them professionally transferred into a digital format, to both help preserve the content in the best quality possible and to keep it accessible, as formats become increasingly obsolete.
Included in the footage that came back is that from a couple of walks that I’d been on in the early - mid 1990’s, along the route of the old railway line that ran between Garforth and Castleford and shows Garforth Railways Station, Ninelands Lane, Kippax, Bowers, Allerton Bywater, the viaduct crossing the River Aire at Castleford and Castleford Railway Station, which still had its working signal box and semaphore signals in place.
It also includes the branch off at Bowers, crossing Leeds Road at Woodend, through to the edge of what was the Open Cast Mine at St Aiden’s. The aftermath of the major flooding incident there on Saturday 19 March 1988 was still being dealt with. Two of the Dragline excavators, inc. Odball, can be seen in the distance.
Perhaps the most poignant parts of the film are at Allerton Bywater, where the colliery had recently closed and demolition was in progress, a scene that some have described as industrial vandalism. The old winding wheels can be seen on the ground, as well as discarded rail trucks littering the site.
The film continues, taking in the Viaduct, the junction with the main line and the station at Castleford.
Much of the route is now called The Lines Way, a walking and cycle track. I’ve now revisited the route, to show how it has changed in the intervening 28 years or so. On my first visit to Garforth station in 2021 to film the comparison shots, the Flying Scotsman passed through on a railtour.
Whilst reviewing these old tapes I also come across some footage I’d taken at Embsay near Skipton in the late 1990’s, when we had gone to a Meet Thomas the Tank Engine event there with our then 3-year-old daughter. It included a short scene of a locomotive called Primrose No.2, that I now realise, after starting to put this film together, had worked at one of the collieries that this line had served, Primrose Hill, at Swillington.
I hope you find the video interesting. Apologies in advance for any errors.
Here are a few links if you want to find out more about the line and the area it served: -
A Facebook page / group, with the aim of revitalising and repurposing the Viaduct crossing the River Aire, thus extending the existing Line Way to create a greenway, allowing walkers, cyclists and horse riders to cross the river safely.
/ aireviaduct
This great site includes historic postcards of the Garforth area, including the railway and collieries.
www.ianatkinso...
Coal Mines in the area
www.nmrs.org.u...
A fantastic colour film showing locomotives at work at Primrose Hill Colliery
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Article and photographs (Page 11) recounting a visit to Primrose Hill Pit in 1969.
www.mdrs.org.uk...
Photographs of Primrose No. 2 at Primrose Hill Colliery in the mid 1960’s
rcts.zenfolio....
rcts.zenfolio....
Photographs taken at Primrose Hill Colliery on the 27th of February 1970
www.flickr.com...
Some information on Primrose No.2 and other Austerity locomotives.
preservedbriti...
www.martynbane...
From the Yorkshire Film Archive, this is a film portrait of former miner Jim Bullock, interviewed by the late Austin Mitchell. Jim Bullock recounts his life and rise from working in Fryston coal mine to becoming pit manager and then a farmer and landowner, whilst remaining a socialist. He was born at Bowers Row (later publishing a book of memoirs with this title) and lived, as shown in this film, at Swillington. Made by Yorkshire Television, the programme was first broadcast on 22nd July, 1969.
www.yfanefa.co...
List of Royal Trains, including journey to open Seacroft Shopping Centre in 1965 when the train stabled overnight at Kippax. (See G21/65 - page 58)
www.railwaymus...
Yorkshire Evening Post - includes a photograph of the station at Kippax being prepared for the Royal Train (Link is temperamental)
www.yorkshiree...
Further reading.
The Leeds, Castleford and Pontefract Junction Railway: The Ledston Branch (2003) by Ron Rockett
Aberford Railway and the History of the Garforth Collieries (1971) by Graham S. Hudson
Негізгі бет The Old Railway Line between Garforth and Castleford. Footage from the 1990's, compared with 2021
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