Nidd Valley Light Railway was a light railway in upper Nidderdale in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was owned by Bradford Corporation Waterworks Department and the corporation also operated its public passenger services. Power & Traction Ltd of London obtained a light railway order for the railway from Pateley Bridge to Lofthouse in 1900, but these powers were taken over by Bradford Corporation. A contract to build Angram Reservoir was awarded to John Best & Son in 1903, and he also won the contract to build the public railway and a private extension to the reservoir site. This was initially built to gauge but was converted to standard gauge by 1907, when the public railway opened. Best had his own locomotives, and Bradford Corporation equipped the public railway with second hand locomotives and carriages from the Metropolitan Railway.
The Angram Reservoir project was completed in 1916. The corporation had obtained powers to build another reservoir at Scar House in 1913, and in 1920 decided to proceed, using direct labour rather than a contractor. The railway was upgraded, with the purchase of new and second hand locomotives, a railmotor for the public services, and second hand carriages for the workmen's trains. Curves on the line above Lofthouse were eased, and a short tunnel was built. At its height, the corporation were running fourteen locomotives, three steam navvies and 19 or 20 steam cranes. The work was essentially completed by 1931, but filling of the reservoir did not begin until 1935 and the official opening was the following year. With the work complete, the railway was lifted, and a sale was held at Pateley Bridge. Scar Village, which at its peak had housed 1,135 people, of whom 780 worked on the project, was reduced to eight occupied houses by 1936, with seven pupils at the school. The railway workers were not entitled to a pension, but pensions were awarded to four men who had served for many years.
History The origins for a railway in the upper Nidd Valley can be traced back to 1887–88, when Bradford Corporation began to investigate the valley as a source for the public water supply, following the discovery that Leeds Corporation had obtained rights to the waters of the River Burn, a tributary of the River Ure, above Masham. Alexander Binnie, who was the Waterworks Engineer for Bradford at the time, and Professor Alexander Henry Green, a geologist from Oxford, visited the area, and Green advised Binnie that the valley was suitable for the construction of large dams. The Bradford Corporation Waterworks Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. ccxxxi) was obtained on 14 August 1890, authorising the construction of four dams, but in the meantime, Binnie had moved on to work for London County Council as their Chief Engineer, and was replaced by James Watson of Dundee. A second act of Parliament, the Bradford Corporation Waterworks Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. cxxxii), was obtained on 27 June 1892, by which time the four reservoirs were Angram, Haden Carr, High Woodale and Gouthwaite. Gouthwaite Reservoir was designed as a compensation reservoir, to maintain flows in the Nidd further down the valley.
Haden Carr reservoir was completed in 1899, together with a pipeline (the Nidd Aqueduct) to deliver the water to Chellow Heights service reservoir on the outskirts of Bradford. The route included over of tunnels. Gouthwaite Reservoir was built concurrently by a different contractor, between 1893 and 1901. The corporation next turned their attention to Angram, but the level of activity in the valley had attracted outside interest, and Power & Traction Ltd of London applied for a light railway order to construct a line from the terminus of the Nidd Valley Railway at Pateley Bridge to Lofthouse. The board of Power & Traction included Thomas Greenwood of Greenwood and Batley, which made electric vehicles and equipment for electric tramways. Following a hearing at Harrogate on 9 October 1900, the Light Railway Commissioners awarded an order to Power & Traction for a gauge railway. Bradford Corporation initially agreed to invest £2,000, by buying shares in the light railway, but following meetings between them, the newly formed Nidd Valley Light Railway Company, Power & Traction, and Henry Jackson the nominated contractor, the company decided not to proceed with the project, and Bradford withdrew their offer to buy shares.
In 1903, Bradford invited tenders for the construction of Angram Reservoir, and the project was awarded to John Best in October–November, at a contract price of £365,492. Meanwhile, the corporation had reached provisional agreement with the Nidd Valley Light Railway Company to purchase the powers awarded to them to build the light railway. There was some debate about the gauge of the railway. Bradford wanted to ask the Light Railway Commissioners for permission to increase it to , probably influenced by Best, who knew that there were supplies of suitable contractors stock available for such a railway. They also wanted to ensure that they bought enough land to allow a standard gauge railway to be constructed "at any future time." The North Eastern Railway, owners of the Nidd Valley Railway, argued that it should be standard gauge from the outset, since they were running excursions to Pateley Bridge twice a week, and these could continue over the Nidd Valley Light Railway. It would also remove the necessity of transshipping goods.
The Board of Trade were reticent about allowing a municipal authority, in this case Bradford, to build a railway which was located outside its area of jurisdiction, and was not connected to a railway which started within its area. However, on 30 December 1903, a transfer order was granted, with powers to borrow up to £30,000 to fund the project. In May 1904, the Board of Trade agreed to a change to standard gauge, and borrowing powers were increased to £66,000 in 1908, because of the extra costs of building the wider formation. The document was signed by Winston Churchill, the President of the Board of Trade. In addition to the main reservoir contract, John Best was awarded a contract to build the light railway to Lofthouse for £23,000, and a tramway from Lofthouse to Angram for £5,385.
Construction
Prior to Best starting on the main contract, Holme and King had been awarded a contract in April 1902 to build a road from Lofthouse to Angram. Bradford had purchased enough land to allow the light railway to be built beside the road, and although Best was awarded a contact for the railway in 1903, it appears that Holme and King built a gauge contractor's railway beside part or all of the road. They had two locomotives on site, both 0-4-0 saddle tanks, one bought second hand some years earlier and moved to the site in spring 1902, after working on several other projects, and the second bought new for delivery to Pateley Bridge. By mid-1904, there was a line from Angram, which crossed the River Nidd on a bridge just before it reached Lofthouse. Best began extending the line towards Pateley Bridge, and by 13 July 1904, it had reached a level crossing at Sykes Bank, below Lofthouse, and work had commenced at several other sites. On that date, a party of 150 members of Bradford City Council, with invited guests, arrived by train at Pateley Bridge, and were transported to Gouthwaite Dam in carriages. Here there was a ceremony in which the Lord Major cut the first sod for the Nidd Valley Light Railway. The party then proceeded to Sykes Bank, where a train was waiting, which consisted of 15 wagons fitted with makeshift seats, and two locomotives, one of which was Holme and King's Xit and the other was Best's Angram. It took about an hour to reach Angram, where there were presentations, and Alderman Holdsworth cut the first sod for the dam. Refreshments were then served and the party returned to Lofthouse by train and to Pateley Bridge by carriage.
The gauge line soon reached Pateley Bridge, and Angram became the 'route engine', working the main line, with another named Bunty shunting the sidings there. The standard gauge rails were laid from Lofthouse outwards in both directions, and when the first standard gauge locomotive arrived, it was towed along the road to Sykes Bank by a Foden steam lorry, its flanged wheels making a mess of the road surface. The main line and sidings became mixed gauge for a while, although the third rail was gradually removed from 1906. At the Angram Dam site, a village for the workers was built, and the railway terminated in several sidings, which included a locomotive shed. The sidings were at a similar level to the crest of the dam. A branch left the main line and descended to the valley floor, where there was a cement mixing plant and more sidings. This line included a winch-operated incline which descended on a gradient of 1 in 15 (6.7%). Another incline, of gauge, ascended the far side of the valley, giving access to Nidd sluice and lodge. A third incline brought rock down to the main line from a quarry, some below the terminus.
At Pateley Bridge, the Nidd Valley Light Railway station was to the north west of the North Eastern Railway's Pateley Bridge railway station, close to the River Nidd. The two were connected by a single track which crossed a level crossing. There were a series of sidings immediately after the level crossing, with the station and more sidings beyond that. A carriage shed and a locomotive shed were located a little further along the valley of the Nidd. Best built two-storey stone buildings for the stations at Pateley Bridge, Wath, Ramsgill and Lofthouse. He built a signal box at Pateley Bridge, with the other stations having ground frames and simple signalling. Operation of the line was controlled by the Tyer's Electric Train Tablet system, and six machines were ordered at a cost of £360. Both intermediate stations had goods sidings on the eastern side of the main track, while Lofthouse had a passing loop and sidings to the west.Ordnance Survey, 1:2,500 map, 1909
Operation Best had a number of locomotives, both gauge and standard gauge, which operated over the entire line from Pateley Bridge to Angram during the construction phase. For the opening of the Nidd Valley Light Railway proper, the from Pateley Bridge to Lofthouse, Bradford Corporation ordered six open wagons and two brake vans from Hurst Nelson of Motherwell. Locomotives and carriages were obtained second-hand from the Metropolitan Railway in London. These consisted of ten 4-wheeled coaches and two 4-4-0 Beyer Peacock side tank locomotives. All had become surplus to requirements, as electrification of the line had been completed in 1905. The locomotives were fitted with condensing equipment, for working in the tunnels under London, but the price of £1,350 for the pair included removal of this, and the fitting of cabs. All twelve vehicles arrived at Pateley Bridge, with one engine in steam, and were driven to the exchange sidings by Mr McCallum, who worked for Best & Sons. The locomotives were named Holdsworth and Milner after two Aldermen who had served Bradford Waterworks since 1898.
An inspection of the line was carried out by Colonel von Donop for the Board of Trade on 24 July 1907. Its condition was found to be suitable for passenger traffic, with just a few minor recommendations needing to be carried out. An official opening took place on 11 September, when a train consisting of three carriages and the Corporation saloon were hauled by Holdsworth from Pateley Bridge to Lofthouse, with stops at Wath and Gouthwaite reservoir. At Lofthouse the engine was replaced by one of Best's engines, and continued to Angram where luncheon was served in the village reading room. Invited guested included a number of men from the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway. The secretary of the Power & Traction Company was also invited, but it is not known whether he was there on the day.