Yorkshire | West Yorkshire | Boat Bus and Train Journeys | Middleton Railway Timetable

The Railway is just 2 miles from the centre of Leeds. It was built as a colliery railway in 1758, requiring the first ever Railway Act of Parliament to set it up. Initially, carrying coals to the staithes near to the river Aire, the motive power was horses. However, in 1812 Middleton was the first railway in the world to successfully employ steam locomotives commercially. They were designed by the Middleton colliery engineer John Blenkinsop, and built by Matthew Murray at his Round Foundry in Holbeck, Leeds.

In 2010 the Railway celebrated 50 years of preservation, Middleton Railway being the first standard gauge railway to be operated entirely by volunteers, as it still is today. The Railway runs from Moor Road Station to Park Halt on the northern edges of Middleton Park, which contains one of the largest surviving tracts of ancient woodland. A network of paths allows easy exploration where evidence of the early mining can be found in the form of old Bell Pits.

The whole of the Moor Road site is a Museum and in 2005 the Heritage Lottery Fund contributed to the building of the Engine House and other facilities where some of the collection of Leeds built locomotives is housed.

The site is specially adapted for wheelchair access, as are the trains by way of a ramp. Parking for disabled visitors is near the entrance.

Download our leaflet for the 2011 timetable and events