Atley Junction Light Railway

[Cyberspice]

The history...

 

 

The story begins in 1868 by when the Skewerdale line of the Midland Railway Company had reached Atley, a market town to the north west of Leeds and Bradford on the borders of West and North Yorkshire. The line paralleled the course of a canal built at the start of the century.

 

Just before the turn of the 19th / 20th centure, a branch line was constructed to serve the villages and the town of Moorfield in the Atley Beck Valley. The line left the mainline at Atley and terminated at Moorfield, a few miles north of the town. The line served the valley through the Midland, LMS and BR eras before succumming to the Beeching axe and finally being closed to passengers in 1964 and goods a couple of years later.

 

Rolling stock on the line comprised Johnson 0-6-0 tanks, their 'Jinty' successors and Fowler 0-6-0 tender locomotives. In later years BR standard class 4MTs made their mark. Towards the end the seminal 101 DMU provided passenger services on the line.

 

With the closure of the branch and the abolision of steam on BR in 1968 Atley station also suffered. The engine and goods sheds were demolished as were the canopies and two platforms taken out of service. Much of the track was taken up leaving the station a shadow of its former self.

The branch line was not the only railway in the Valley. To transport stone from a quarry in the valley to the canal a narrow 2 foot gauge wagon way was built. Originally this was horse powered, then steam and eventually small diesels. With the coming of the railway the wagon way was altered to link with the standard gauge line instead. Alas the narrow gauge line also succumed to time and closed in the 1970s.

 

This is where the Atley Junction Light Railway comes in. When the narrow gauge line closed a group of volunteers purchased the assets and formed the Atley Junction Light Railway Trust. A deal was struck with BR and the structures and track bed of the Atley Beck Valley branch were leased at first, and then bought. The aim was to rebuild the branch back to Atley, albiet in 2 foot gauge, with the intention of serving the local population and providing transport and an attraction to the many visitors to this part of Yorkshire.

 

Using the old Moorfield station as a base of operations a small narrow gauge line was built along the old track bed. Over the last almost thirty years the line has slowly been growing back to Atley. Five years ago the line finally reached Atley station and now runs in to the reopened platforms 5 and 6.

 

Atley station itself has seen a recent resurgence with the re-privatisation of the railways. Atley is the terminus for West Yorkshire PTE commuter services and WYPTE has partially funded, together with Railtrack, and then National Rail, a refurbishment of Atley station's buildings and restoration and replacement of the canopies.

 

Atley still sees a variety of stock running through it including trans-pennine freight and mineral trains pulled by class 56 and 66 EWS and Railfreight engines. Commuter services are supplied by class 142, 144, 152 and 153 DMUs. The later also supplies the, infrequent, trans-pennine passenger services. Just occasionally such services are supplied by EWS diesel-electric traction pulling a rake of BR MK3 coaches. Once a day an HST starts at Atley before passing through Leeds on its way to London.

Occasionally steam returns to the Skewerdale line courtesy of charter specials, typically from West Coast, and history returns as Stanier Pacifics travel the line.

 

[Cyberspice]

My history...

 

Thanks to my father I was introduced to model railways when I was young. I had the typical Hornby Triang Jintys and Princess Elizabeths on a small layout. Then I went of University and started working. I still occasionally built models but didn't have a layout and the trains sat in a box.  

 

Also when I was young we used to regularly have vacations in Wales and I fell in love with narrow gauge. I remember sitting in caravans on rainy days tracing the route of the welsh highland on ordinance survey maps. And now its back :-)

 

A few years ago a boss and I were talking and he mentioned he was a railway modeller. He suggested I should go round the York show with him. I came away with a Chivers 009 diesel engine kit and some Parkside Dundas rolling stock kits. I built them and they sat on my 'layout' which was two 1 metre lengths of track, one piece 009 and one piece 00 gauge, sat on a board on the window sill of my office. I did add scenery and ballast to the board and the track is powered. The trains can move up and down.

 

Slowly I've gotten more time to model and a bit of money to spend on toys. I now have a second 'layout'. Hebdenby Halt is a 2ft circle of 009 gauge track on an octagonal board which is not much bigger. Technically not a pizza since its the wrong shape its basically a pizza. I am using it to run in 009 gauge models and to brush up my scenery skills.

 

In addition to the 009 stuff I've been slowly acquiring 00 gauge stuff. Blimey has the quality of the models moved on. My box of trains look decidedly tatty and dilapidated. I think I'll probably rationality. Hang on to what's good and what I should for sentimental reasons and move on the rest. 

Also, and most importantly, I now have a set of wooden parts which form a baseboard 'kit'. This will become Moorfield, the ex Midland now narrow gauge terminus, when I put it together this weekend. I will also be building another board to start the standard gauge scrap yard and section of main line. Both of these will keep me occupied and allow me to run things. 

 

Eventually my aim is to have an end to end narrow gauge line together with a roundy roundy standard gauge one with boards built so that I can say take just Moorfield and use it as a stand-a-lone layout. Or say the scrap yard.

[Jaz]

Do you have pictures of any of the items you will put on the layout, have you drawn any plans?