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time. The yard had been conceived in the mid-1950s as part of the
British Transport Commission's Modernisation Plan, which sought to rejuvenate the railways. Healey Mills was one of many hump yards being built, for whose traffic was planned in the 1950s, but by the time they were commissioned, lorries and fast motorways were eating into their ability to operate cost-effectively. Well into the 1970s, the traffic at Healey Mills was in excess of the 4,000 wagons per week that it was designed for; in one study week in 1966, over 16,500 wagons were sorted in the yard. Its location on an east/west axis meant that it was ideally positioned for the coal trains destined for either
22:
146:, but as the derailment was at very low speed and no injuries occurred, there was no official post-accident investigation. The hump was closed in 1984 when average loads over it were 100 wagons per day, well below the 4,000 it was designed for. Much of the coal traffic that went through, or passed by the yard, was marshalled into
157:, would need to reverse in the departure sidings on the east end side of the yard. The sidings on the southern side of the yard were still important for re-staffing of locomotives, though by this time, the throughput at Healey Mills was as low as 18 trains per week due to a drastic cutback in coal operations.
163:
traffic still called, and was marshalled at Healey Mills, throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, with it finally ceasing in 1985. However, it saw a small resurgence when the pre-privatised freight companies launched a wagonload service in the early 1990s. It lost its marshalling responsibilities again
102:
The hump was installed at the west end of the yard so that traffic from the
Yorkshire pits could be marshalled via a reversal over it, and then staged for delivery to either the east coast ports or Lancashire. It contained 120 sidings (covering 57 miles (92 km) of track), fourteen reception
71:
to build the yard as it was built upon a profitable coal seam. The last coal was worked out in 1961 and stabilisation works were undertaken to enable the yard to be constructed. It was officially opened to traffic on 23 July 1963 by Lord Robens, who was chairman of the
National Coal Board at the
95:. During construction, the site was flooded by the River Calder. In case of a re-occurrence of flooding, the control tower was built at 40 feet (12 m) above rail level. The yard was placed in the Healey Mills area near Ossett, and was located between the running lines of the existing
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99:. This involved the engineers having to widen the running lines in a bow formation and diverting the course of the River Calder. Four new bridges were built across the Calder and the relocation of the Osset Sewage Works was necessary before the main construction could start.
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Allocation of locomotives at Healey Mills numbered around 70 throughout the 1970s, but had risen slightly to 77 by 1982. This was composed of classes 03, 08, 37, 40, 47 and class 56, though the class 56 locomotives were only allocated to the depot for two years. Under
573:
179:
The signing on point for traincrew was closed in
February 2012 when it was transferred to some portacabins near to Wakefield Kirkgate railway station. The depot buildings were demolished in 2016 and most of the track has been removed.
132:(their air-braked wagonload network) in 1975, Healey Mills was one of twelve yards across the network where traffic could be swapped and interchanged. However, Speedlink was withdrawn from Healey Mills just ten years later in 1985.
103:
sidings over a semi-automated hump that led to 50 sorting sidings, and then a secondary yard with 25 sidings. The yard also had thirteen departure roads as well as fifteen staging sidings for block (
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The new yard cost £3.75 million in 1963 (equivalent to £55 million in 2013), covered over 140 acres (57 ha) and stretched for 1.5 miles (2.4 km) alongside the railway and the
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in August 1968. This brought a daily steam locomotive hauled train from Rose Grove to Healey Mills. Diesel shunters operating in the yard before the diesel depot was built, had to run to
150:(MGR) trains and so did not need shunting or marshalling. Coupled with this, the closure of Yorkshire coal mines in the 1980s meant that the traffic through the yard had dwindled.
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In 1993, Trainload
Petroleum reopened the depot at Healey Mills, though this was short-lived, and was only used for fuelling and minor maintenance of locomotives.
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By 1985, the yard could not be accessed directly from the west; the hump and reception sidings were closed and lifted. Traffic arriving from the Calder Valley or
52:
to enable the efficient shunting and re-ordering of goods wagons. The yard lost its main reason for existence through the 1970s and 1980s when more trains on the
142:
In March 1982, a slow speed incident caused the derailment of some wagons on a freight train, one of which was a nuclear flask wagon. Questions were put to the
210:
Shed. Steam trains had previously been supplied by
Wakefield Shed (56A), which then closed in 1967. The last steam trains on British Rail were operating from
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A depot was not built at the yard to accommodate steam trains, but in June 1966, one was built for diesel locomotives. It was the first built by the
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in May 1998, when
Doncaster Belmont yard superseded Healey Mills as the gathering point and hub for Yorkshire. Doncaster Belmont's position on the
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Brighouse, Crofton Laden, Horbury
Junction Sidings, Low Moor, Mirfield, Mytholmroyd, New Withams, Turners Lane and Wakefield Exchange
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687:"High Speed Two Phase 2b Crewe to Manchester West Midlands to Leeds Eastern Leg Rolling Stock Depot Consultation Summary Report"
126:, worked in a smaller capacity than before as some of their traffic was transferred to Healey Mills. When British Rail launched
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In
February 2017, redundant carriages and track were used in a crash exercise using railway staff and the emergency services.
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Whilst a disused chord at
Horbury to the east was used to stable the Royal Train on several occasions, in 1977, the
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241:(TMD) into a traction servicing depot. It lost its allocation of mainline locomotives, which were shared between
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meant that it was geographically and strategically better placed to handle the wagonload traffic (now branded as
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Construction on the yard started in 1959 and was completed four years later. Permission was sought from the
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44:, England. The yard was opened in 1963 and replaced several smaller yards in the area. It was part of the
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Fisher, Alex, ed. (2018). "Railways of Britain On Shed 4: North Eastern & Eastern Region (North)".
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that was not associated with, or had replaced, an existing steam shed, although it was coded 56B under
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Due to the loss of traffic and the closure of the hump yard, the depot was downgraded from a
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Facilities at the site were progressively run down until it closed completely in 2012.
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From Gridiron to Grassland: the Rise and Fall of Britain's Railway Marshalling Yards
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The site at Healey Mills was under consideration as a Rolling Stock Depot (RSD) for
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554:. Vol. 158, no. 1337. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 45.
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Bickerdyke, Paul (September 2012). "End of the line for Healey Mills".
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trains in the Yorkshire area; the proposed depot has been outlined at
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replaced several smaller yards in the Dewsbury/Wakefield area (namely
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The Manchester & Leeds Railway : the Calder Valley line
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South and West Yorkshire : (the industrial West Riding)
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Yorkshire railways : including Cleveland and Humberside
330:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 288–291.
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Carter, Dave (January 2014). "Healey Mills Diesel Depot".
448:(2 ed.). Newton Abbot: David St John Thomas. p.
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Freight marshalling yard operation, control and signalling
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was a railway marshalling yard located in the village of
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The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society Magazine
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The Illustrated History of British Marshalling Yards
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British Railways, 1948-73 : a business history
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910:A History of British Railways North Eastern Region
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441:
912:. Thirsk: The North Eastern Railway Association.
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574:"Nuclear Waste Container (Derailment) - Hansard"
48:Modernisation plan, and so was equipped with a
16:Disused railway yard in West Yorkshire, England
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407:. Farsley: Martin Bairstow. pp. 22–23.
1164:Buildings and structures demolished in 2016
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696:. Ipsos MORI. 4 July 2018. pp. 34–51
110:Healey Mills, which was situated between
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874:. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Company.
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529:. St Michaels: Silver Link. p. 92.
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305:. Clapham: Dalesman. p. 48.
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144:Secretary of State for Transport
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301:Haigh, A; Joy, David (1979).
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1159:Railway depots in Yorkshire
853:Railways of Britain On Shed
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382:. York: NRM. p. 135.
239:traction maintenance depot
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25:Healey Mills TMD and Yards
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893:. Sheffield: Platform 5.
527:The freight only yearbook
487:Trans-Pennine rail routes
403:Bairstow, Martin (2001).
234:, the depot code was HM.
889:Rhodes, Michael (2016).
870:Rhodes, Michael (1988).
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1154:Transport in Calderdale
815:www.railwaycodes.org.uk
624:Rail freight since 1968
1071:Severn Tunnel Junction
855:. Kent: Kelsey Media.
622:Shannon, Paul (2006).
326:Gourvish, T R (1986).
122:). Three other yards,
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675:– via Newsbank.
578:hansard.parliament.uk
97:Calder Valley railway
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552:The Railway magazine
166:East Coast Main Line
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612:, pp. 172–173.
485:Nixon, L A (1988).
475:, pp. 224–225.
440:Joy, David (1984).
69:National Coal Board
1120:53.6649°N 1.5833°W
811:"TOPS Depot Codes"
116:Wakefield Kirkgate
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900:978-1-909431-25-6
862:978-1-910554-85-2
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1138:Categories
1108:53°39′54″N
968:Open yards
276:References
216:Lancashire
212:Rose Grove
194:in Leeds.
192:Gateway 45
170:Enterprise
107:) trains.
74:Lancashire
1111:1°35′00″W
773:1478-8837
560:0033-8923
255:Stratford
247:Immingham
243:Gateshead
222:depot in
214:depot in
208:Wakefield
161:Wagonload
129:Speedlink
82:Immingham
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263:Thornaby
224:Bradford
112:Mirfield
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63:History
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38:Ossett
34:Healey
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671:9 May
583:4 May
251:March
198:Depot
137:Queen
86:Goole
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1020:Tyne
1015:Tees
914:ISBN
895:ISBN
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857:ISBN
822:2019
769:ISSN
702:2019
673:2019
628:ISBN
585:2019
556:ISSN
531:ISBN
491:ISBN
454:ISBN
409:ISBN
384:ISBN
332:ISBN
307:ISBN
261:and
232:TOPS
114:and
84:and
78:Hull
50:hump
450:108
188:HS2
174:EWS
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