Archive Series Volume 2 - West Riding Steam Part 1

This programme, compiled from archive cine film taken mainly in the 1960s, covers parts of the once extensive rail network in the industrial West Riding of Yorkshire. The programme starts at Leeds with scenes of both Central and City Stations and, in addition to detailed film of the two stations, sequences at Holbeck show clearly the size and scale of one of the largest locomotive depots in the area. The smaller depot at Copley Hill is also shown, with ‘Pacific’s’ passing at the head of London-bound expresses. Leaving Leeds, Ardsley Depot is seen, where a wide variety of locomotives occupied the depot yard; before arrival at Wakefield with both Westgate and Kirkgate Stations shown. Doncaster is next, with scenes recorded at the station, depot and locomotive works revealing the variety of steam locomotive types that could be found on the East Coast Main Line in the early 1960s. Returning to Leeds; a Bradford-bound ‘local’ is boarded for a journey along the Aire Valley to Bradford, where film of Exchange and Forster Square Stations is complemented by scenes taken at Laisterdyke and Low Moor, followed by a fascinating panoramic view of nearby Cleckheaton, showing the station and surrounding area. At Mirfield, ten miles from Bradford, an almost non-stop procession of freight and passenger workings between Lancashire and Yorkshire passed through the town, many of them taking the route to Huddersfield at Heaton Lodge Jct. Film of these freight and passenger services pounding up the Colne Valley toward Marsden and the Standedge Tunnels bring the programme to a close.