Gregory Springs

The Bottom of Cuckoo Hill in the early 1900's

The Gregory Springs Railway?

Well it never carried passengers, at least officially, but as you see on the 1858 O/S map there was one. It was a pit railway to carry coal from the Gregory Springs Colliery who's shaft was located at the top of Cuckoo hill, (you can still see it today) down to the barge moorings on the River Calder at the bottom of Hagg Lane and Boat House Lane.

The railway consisted of a pit gauge track (around 2 Feet wide) that ran up a fairly steep incline to the top of the hill. Small trucks or to give them their correct name "Tubs" would be connected together to form a train. Then attached to a cable and breaking system they would then travel under their own weight down to the river. Meanwhile an empty tub train would be connected to the other end of cable down at the river, and this would then be hauled back up the hill to be reloaded by the weight of the descending loaded train.
A perfect Yorkshire piece of ingenuity where for once it was possible to "git summ't for nowt!"
A large slag heap was formed over the years where the green Cuckoo Hill now compliments the surrounding countryside. This slag heap was removed in the late 1960's, much of it being used as hardcore in the construction of the M62 motorway.

The small stone bridge is still there today obscured behind the present day wood bridge.

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