Spen Valley Railway Bridge At Former Railway Station - Cleckheaton, UK - Orphaned Bridges on Waymarking.com

The rail line originally connected Low Moor with Dewsbury and opened in 1848.

At this point the line was carried on two separate bridges with an island platform in the middle. The entrance to Cleckheaton Railway Station was in between the two bridge spans. The line closed to passenger traffic in 1965 together with the station. Goods traffic continued to be carried until this finally ceased in 1981.

Cleckheaton Railway Station
According to Wikipedia the station "has the distinction of being the only British railway station to have been stolen.

In 1972 a Dewsbury man appeared at Wakefield Crown Court accused of stealing stone, timber, metal, track, chairs and even the buffer stops from the site; in the words of the prosecution counsel "what the case really comes to is that this man last August in effect stole Cleckheaton station". In August 1971 British Rail had made a contract with another contractor who would clear the site and had the permission to sell and retain the proceeds from disposal of all materials and any scrap. However, on arrival, the firm discovered that the station and most of the material had already gone. It transpired that the defendant had been contracted by another company to clear the site. After he had been given an advanced sum to hire plant equipment, he had spent three weeks clearing the site. Subsequent efforts to trace the second firm failed. The court found the man not guilty deciding that he had been duped and left significantly out of pocket. The case is cited as an example of how the Theft Act 1968 can be extended to cover goods forming part of a property."

After the goods traffic ceased to run on the line, a supermarket bought the site and its car park covers where the station buildings used to be. There is also an access point onto the Spen Valley Greenway from this car park although parking is restricted to two hours. There is another pay and display car park on Crown Street with longer access available.

The Spen Valley Greenway
In 2001 a stretch of the line between Dewsbury and Oakenshw was converted to a cycling and walking route called the Spen Valley Greenway. The bridge is now used to carry cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders along the route. link.

Original Use: Railroad Date Built: 1848 Construction: Iron Condition: Good See this website for more information: [Web Link] Date Abandoned: 1981 Bridge Status - Orphaned or Adopted.: Adopted

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