Morley Top Station, Nr. Leeds - DNT00168
Crossover Line, Foot Crossing, GNR, Gas Lamp, Great Nothern Railway, Leeds, Morley, Passengers, Platform, Poster, Railway, Railway station, Railways, Signals, Station, Station Building, Station Canopies, Station Platform, Station Signage, Station Staff
Morley Top, seen here pre-First World War, was on the Leeds, Bradford & Halifax Junction Railway’s Gildersome Branch and extension which opened over its whole length between Laisterdyke and Ardsley in 1857 and was acquired by the GNR in 1865. The station which was much nearer to the town centre than Morley Low opened in 1857 and the platforms stood over the LNWR Leeds-Huddersfield. Morley Top closed in 1960 and the line between Laisterdyke and Ardsley closed to passengers in 1966 and gradually to freight services with the final short stub between Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill closing in 1981.
Unknown
David Taylor
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
PHDA - David Taylor Collection
Morley Feast Blackpool Special, c.1900 - DNT00167
Bridge, Excursion Train, Footbridge, Leeds, London & North Western Railway, Morley, Passenger Train, Passengers, Platform, Railway, Railway Carriages, Railway station, Railways, Station, Station Building, Station Platform
Morly Low Station with excurtionists rushing to get on a LNWR Blackpool Special at Morley Feast. Towards the end of the 19th century it was common practice for railway companies to put on special trains for a town’s local holiday.
The word ‘Feast' was used for the local the annual holiday of textile and other workers and the accompanying fair. All the mills in a town closed at the same time for the local holiday which differed between neighbouring textile towns and the fairs travelled to different towns at different feasts. Historically the only holiday in the year had been on the feast day of the patronal saint of the Parish Church hence the use of the term ‘feast’ for the much later annual fair and holiday.
Unknown
David Taylor
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
PHDA - David Taylor Collection
Morley Low Station, Nr. Leeds, c.1900 - DNT00166
Gas Lamp, Lamp, Leeds, London & North Western Railway, Morley, Platform, Railway, Railway station, Railways, Station, Station Platform, Tunnel, Tunnel Portal
On the line between Leeds and Huddersfield which was originally constructed by the Leeds, Dewsbury & Manchester Railway but acquired by the LNWR by the time it opened in 1848 with the station at Morley, then just Morley. The station de-staffed remains open and heavily used for all that it is well out of the town centre and not easily accessible with nearest bus stop half a mile distant.
Unknown
David Taylor
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
PHDA - David Taylor Collection