Cleckheaton Central railway station

Cleckheaton Central railway station
The entrance to the central island platform was on the left between the two bridges.
Location
Place	Cleckheaton
Area	Kirklees
Coordinates	53°43′28″N 1°42′57″W / 53.724380°N 1.715723°WCoordinates: 53°43′28″N 1°42′57″W / 53.724380°N 1.715723°W
Grid reference	SE188253
Operations
Original company	Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Pre-grouping	LNWR
Post-grouping	LMS
Platforms	2 (removed)
History
1847	opened
14 June 1965	closed (passengers)
May 1969	closed (goods)
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
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Railways in North Kirklees (Past, present and future)

Legend to Bradford Birstall Town to Leeds Lower Birstall Howden Clough Upper Batley to Leeds Carlinghow Gomersal to Bradford to Leeds Cleckheaton Spen Cleckheaton Central Batley Liversedge Spen Liversedge Central Chickenley Heath Heckmondwike Spen to Wakefield Batley Carr Staincliffe and Batley Carr Heckmondwike Central Dewsbury Central Dewsbury Wellington Road Earlsheaton Ravensthorpe Lower to Wakefield Northorpe Higher to Wakefield Northorpe North Road Dewsbury Market Place Ravensthorpe Dewsbury Midland Goods Battyeford Thornhill Mirfield to Royston and Notton to Huddersfield to Huddersfield

Cleckheaton Central railway station was a railway station serving the West Yorkshire town of Cleckheaton, England, until it was closed in the Beeching era, which saw the closure of many minor lines and stations around the United Kingdom through the 1960s. It has the distinction of being the only British railway station to have been stolen.^[1]

History

The station was originally constructed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which was absorbed by the LNWR in 1922 and subsequently the LMS in 1923 at grouping and finally to British Rail on nationalisation. It served traffic from Heckmondwike, Low Moor (near Bradford) and Mirfield. The Mirfield line opened in 1848 and through to Low Moor in 1849.^[2] The last passenger train working was the service from Bradford on 12 June 1965 arriving at Cleckheaton at 11:21 p.m.; the station closed to freight traffic some four years later.

Theft case

In 1972 a Dewsbury man appeared at Wakefield Crown Court accused of stealing stone, timber, metal, track, chairs and even the buffer stops from the site; in the words of the prosecution counsel "what the case really comes to is that this man last August in effect stole Cleckheaton station".^[1][3][4] In August 1971 British Rail had made a contract with another contractor who would clear the site and had the permission to sell and retain the proceeds from disposal of all materials and any scrap. However, on arrival, the firm discovered that the station and most of the material had already gone. It transpired that the defendant had been contracted by another company to clear the site. After he had been given an advanced sum to hire plant equipment, he had spent three weeks clearing the site. Subsequent efforts to trace the second firm failed. The court found the man not guilty deciding that he had been duped and left significantly out of pocket. The case is cited as an example of how the Theft Act 1968 can be extended to cover goods forming part of a property.^[5]

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Low Moor		L&Y		Liversedge Central

References

1. Spenborough Guardian
2. Lost Railways of Yorkshire
3. Body, Geoffrey: Railway Oddities, Tempus, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7524-4399-7
4. "Man denies theft of railway station", The Times, 25 April 1972, p. 3.
5. Storey & Lidbury, Criminal Law, Willan Publishing, 2004 ISBN 1-84392-100-6, p. 166