Former Pontefract To Methley Railway Bridge - Cutsyke, UK - Orphaned Bridges on Waymarking.com

The bridge is at the southern end of a section that ran from Cutsyke Junction to Methley Junction and formed part of the Pontefract to Methley railway which in turn became part of the much longer Wakefield, Pontefract & Goole Railway.

This line opened on 1st December 1849 and closed to passengers on 7th October 1968 and to freight on 23rd February 1981.

It was built at a time of a major expansion in the UK's railway network and there was fierce competition between a number of different railway companies.

In this area all the companies wished to have a connection to Leeds but the competition between the different railway companies resulted in duplication of lines. This section of line formed a connection with the Midland Railway at Methley Junction which did give the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway access to Leeds. This small village ended up with 3 different railway stations and a total of 5 different railway lines formed a complicated triangular junction. It was inevitable that not all the lines would survive as working lines, the surprise is that this line lasted as long as it did.

Near to here is the Aire and Calder Navigation which this railway line also crosses. Work has been undertaken to form a network of walking and cycle paths in his area including the towpath along the Aire and Calder Navigation. However this line also used to have a bridge over the Leeds to Castleford Railway Line (now part of the Hallam Line) at Whitwood Junction that had been demolished.

A new cycle path was built over the Hallam Line in December 2019 allowing the former rail route from Cutsyke to Methley to become a 'Rails to Trails' section of cycle and walking path. This is known as the Castleford Greenway and also forms part of Natioanl Cycle Route 69 which will eventually connect Morecambe to Grimsby but which is being slowly opened in sections and wherever possible uses canals and former railway lines like this one to provide traffic free access.

There is a very small section of the route between this bridge southwards to Granville Street but this bridge also has a path to the top of the bridge from Aketon Road and this main access point to the cycle path.

Original Use: Railroad Date Built: 1849 Construction: Stone Condition: Good See this website for more information: [Web Link] Date Abandoned: 1981 Bridge Status - Orphaned or Adopted.: Adopted

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