History Of Wheatley Viaduct & Tunnel

Wheatley Viaduct is a former railway bridge straddling the Hebble Brook on the northern side of Halifax, in West Yorkshire, England. The ten-arch viaduct was built as part of the Halifax High Level Railway that connected with the Queensbury lines complex of the Great Northern Railway between Halifax, Keighley and Bradford. The line was opened in 1890, and closed to all traffic in 1960

The Queensbury lines were opened to traffic in the late 1870s, and the Halifax High Level Railway was opened in 1890. Originally the intent had been for the line to be extended through Halifax to connect with a proposed Hull and Barnsley Railway station in the centre of Halifax, and as such, the trackbed was built to accommodate two lines. The line had two major engineering features, the viaduct, and nearby 810 yards (740 m) Wheatley Tunnel, with the cost of the 3-mile (4.8 km) branch coming in at £300,000 (equivalent to £35,125,000 in 2021). Mapping from 1905 shows the entire branch had double track, but by the late 1940s when it was a freight only branch, just one line was in use across Wheatley Viaduct and through the adjacent tunnel

Whilst the line was closed to passenger trains in 1917, goods continued until final closure in the summer of 1960