The Rishworth branch was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...

and linked with and served the villages of Triangle, Ripponden, Barkisland and Rishworth.

History

A branch from Sowerby Bridge to Ripponden was authorised in 1865, with an extension to Rishworth authorised in 1871. The line opened as far as Ripponden in 1878 and to Rishworth in 1881. It was intended to extend the line to to shorten the Calder Valley main line by 5 miles (8 km), but this never took place. The branch line was closed to passengers on 8 July 1929.The section between Rishworth and Rippondale closed for freight in 1953 and Rippondale to Sowerby Bridge closed completely on 1 September 1958

Route

The line left a little to the west of the station, diverging south. It passed through the 593 yards (542.2 m) Scar Head tunnel, rising on a 1 in 107 gradient to . From Triangle to the gradient increased to 1 in 60.

Present day

Part of the trackbed is now a permissive bridleway. A section of the line south west from Ripponden village is a permissive footpath.