Pudsey Loop Railway - July 2010

[KingElvis]

Yes I know, King Elvis' threads go from bad to worse. First the wooden shoe factory and now a few railway bridges LOL

Firstly for me UE isn't all about hospitals and factories, one of my fave subjects is abandoned railways and the tat that comes with them. In Pudsey, we have the Pudsey Loop, opened in 1893 and closed again in 1964. Basically, it was a branch line that came off at Bramley, stopped at two Pudsey stations (Lowtown and Greenside) before going through Greenside Tunnel and then along the biggest railway embankment in Europe to Tyersal Junction and then Bradford.

Not much remains of this once busy line, up to sixty trains a day used to run on it but now a few bridges, a couple of tunnels and some footpaths are all that remains. I know this is a terrible thread but I have a keen interest in my local area and I know some people on here like train tat. If the staion were still open I would use it, these days, Pudsey folk have to tramp all the way to "New Pudsey Station" which is fooking miles away.

Here is a small map of the Pudesy Loop.



The small section between Bramley and Lowtown is lost, buried under modern housing and Grangefeild School. The first stop is Lowtown Station, seen here is in 1964 with the last train ever to run its tracks waiting for passengers.



Today all that remains of the station is one tiny stone building smelling of piss, and this strange multi-arch footbridge to nowhere.



After passing a frankly depressing old folks home, the railway crosses a small tunnel at Longfield Road.



The tunnel is still in "use" but it's a fetid place full of turds and umscow.



Moving on, we go under Robin Lane, New Lane and South Parade. All the bridges are totalyl infilled but retain their orginal railway fittings.







People now walk their dogs through here and it's a turd minefield.



Before reaching what was Greenside Station, you pass Loxton Mills, once a place to load goods on and off trains. These days it sits half demolished, empty and fucked.





We now reach Greenside Station, would this be handy for me if it still existed. Just factories now and pikey lock ups. You can see the Carlilse Road bridge which went over the line.



Here is a picture of the Station as it was in 1920ish



Not anymore, the locals wander out of there houses and lob their rubbish into the cutting, TVs, fridges, beds and corpses...you name it, it's in here.



Now the line goes through Greenside Tunnel, 616 yds long and explored by many on this site already. This is the council's latest attempt at "sealing" the tunnel.



Not much of interest in the tunnel, one vent shaft and a few dead chavs and shopping carts.



After exiting Greenside Tunnel, the line ran along a huge embankment and over the now demolished Smalewall Bridge.

After this is just sheep, turds, flies and eventually Bradford, I went no further LOL.

Sorry if you have suffered the thread down to this point