The Abbey Light Railway was a

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

Kirkstall Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall (ward), Kirkstall electoral ward, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central and Headingley (UK Parl ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Built by enthusiasts, the Railway ran from the nearby Bridge Road commercial area into the grounds of

Kirkstall Abbey Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded . It was disestablished during the Dissol ...

, operating most Sundays.

History

In 1974, local engineer and lecturer at Kitson College Peter Lowe applied for

planning permission Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to buil ...

to build a railway at Kirkstall. From 1976, the line was built from scratch by a group of local enthusiasts, most of whom were members of the

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway () is a heritage railway based on Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia#Snowdonia National Park, Snowdonia National Park. The ...

. Second hand rail was acquired from the Ffestiniog and the line was built over a number of years, eventually extending to from Kirkstall Abbey to Bridge Road, Kirkstall. Initially the line ran purely as a private railway, but in 1986 it received permission to start public passenger services. These ran from Spring to Autumn, every Sunday and most Bank Holidays. The highlight of the year was the weekend Kirkstall Festival. In 2006 plans were made to extend the line to the Armley Mills Industrial Museum nearby. This would have involved crossing both the

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. Part of the river below Leeds is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malha ...

and the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

. The project was never realised. After Peter Lowe died in October 2012, the railway closed and even though there were plans to resurrect services the following spring, without its Chief Engineer, it became difficult to obtain insurance. The decision was made to sell off the rolling stock and infrastructure. All but one of the locomotives and much other material was sold to the

Welsh Highland Heritage Railway The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway is a short reconstructed heritage railway in Gwynedd, Wales. Its main station is in Porthmadog railway station (Welsh Highland Heritage Railway), Porthmadog. History The origins of the WHHR lie in a small g ...

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

and work to dismantle the railway began in February 2013.

Locomotives

References

External links

Details of RailwayFilm clips of the railway
These were taken some time ago on 8 mm and include a film of some of the construction. {{coord, 53, 48, 59, N, 1, 36, 16, W, type:landmark_region:GB-LDS, display=title Transport in Leeds 2 ft gauge railways in England Heritage railways in Yorkshire Rail transport in West Yorkshire History of Leeds Railway lines opened in 1976 Railway lines closed in 2013 Closed railway lines in Yorkshire and the Humber Kirkstall

History

Locomotives

See also

References

External links