I find abandoned railway fascinating and luckily living in Calderdale there a few within a short distance. The Rishworth Branch line is 1 I have walked many times but the first time I took a camera well my tablet was in December 2013. I walked along the former track bed from near to Watson Mill Lane to the lines end at Slitheroe Bridge, Rishworth. Surprisingly many of the bridges along the route are still intact, and even the platform at Rishworth remains although it is now largely covered by vegetation and trees. Only 3 bridges built for the railway are no longer there, these being a footbridge near Triangle, the bridge that crossed Ripponden Bank just after the station and the wooden trellis bridge that provided the entrance to Rishworth station from Slitheroe Bridge. There is still evidence of all 3 though. The pictures of Scar Head Tunnel were taken a couple of weeks later.
The Rishworth Branch was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway along the Ryburn Valley, originally the plan had been to tunnel through Rishworth and connect with the main line at Littleborough, but it is thought that this plan was abandoned due to the difficulty the train company had reaching Rishworth. The line was authorised in 1865 and the first section to Ripponden was opened in 1878 with the line extended to Rishworth in 1881. Upon completion the line was built as a 2 track railway but rarely used more than 1 line with the spare being used to store carriages. Originally there were stations at Sowerby Bridge where the line split from the main railway and Ripponden. In 1881 stations were opened at Triangle and Rishworth and the final stop at Watson's Crossing opened in 1907 after the introduction of motor railcars along the track. Competition from trams and then motor cars saw passenger services withdrawn on 8th July 1929 with goods traffic remaining along the line until it's full closure on 1 September 1958.
The pictures were taken in December 2013 using a Samsung Galaxy Tablet.
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The platform although buried underneath the undergrowth is the only station building still remaining along the former railway line.
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