North and South Union Railway

Prospectus for the West Yorkshire North & South Union Railway (1871), which was one of several unsuccessful attempts to improve rail access between Huddersfield and Halifax.

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collection:Ephemera
tags:1870-79, Maps, Source: railarchive.org.uk, West Yorkshire North and South Union Railway
source:Reproduced with permission from www.railarchive.org.uk / Ian Dinmore
rights:Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
date added:8 September 2020

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The following is an uncorrected automated OCR transcription and will likely contain errors (expand):

'The proposed Railway commences southerly by a junction with the Midland main line at Dore, passes through the westerly part of the city of Sheffield, and thence through Huddersfield, and by way of Elland through the westerly part of Halifax; the line then proceeds via Mixenden and Oxenhope and again, northerly, joins the Midland main line near Skipton. It is intended to connect, and it is anticipated, will form part of the Midland main line between London and Scotland, as it will secure a saving of distance for that line of about 20 miles, and will make the Midland shorter between London and the North than either the West Coast or the East Coast route. This saving of distance is also locally most important, as that effected between Huddersfield and Halifax alone, is between 4 and 5 miles.
The line will pass through very populous districts — the city of Sheffield with a population of 350,000, the county borough and parish of Huddersfield 200,000, the county borough and parish of Halifax 200,000, and with other places reaching a population of nearly 1,000,000. These districts, which, as is well-known, arc largely engaged in manufactures, are capable of much development, and have been prevented during the past 30 years from much greater progress than they have made by the need of a Railway such as is now proposed.
Most important coal fields and valuable stone abound in the lands traversed, and a large trade is already done with Loudon and the North, which, with the facility this line will afford can be increased to an enormous extent. The railway will be made with gradients adapted for a main trunk line, and would place Huddersfield, Halifax, and other important manufacturing centres in a position of railway communication to which they are geographically entitled between London and Scotland. Junctions can easily be made with the existing railways at Sheffield, Halifax, and Oxenhope for Keighley.
Consideration to this scheme is invited, and all suggestions by persons interested and willing to co-operate in the promotion of it, addressed to either Messrs. Utley & Gray, Civil Engineers and Land Agents, 10, Waterhouse Street, Halifax; or to Messrs. Wavell, Kerr & Kerr. Solicitors, 26, George Street, Halifax, will receive prompt attention.