Colne Valley Railway

The Colne Valley Railway is a heritage railway based at Castle Hedingham Station, near Halstead in Essex, England. The railway consists of a 1 mile (1.6 km) long running line, with a fully reconstructed station, signal box and railway yard.

History

The railway occupies part of the former Colne Valley and Halstead Railway (CVHR), which opened in stages between 16 April 1860 and 10 May 1863. This part of the railway was a through line from Birdbrook to Wakes Colne.

Under the Beeching axe, the line was one of many deemed uneconomic and hence surplus to the needs of the new railway strategy. The line remained open until 1 January 1962, when all passenger and freight traffic between Haverhill and Yeldham ended. On 19 April 1965, all transiting freight traffic ended. The line was de-constructed and infrastructure demolished or recovered by contractors a year later, and the land on which the heritage railway station's now sits resold under the lines original construction terms to the formally owning Hedingham Castle estate (HCE).

Colne Valley

The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward along the floor of the valley.

The name is generally used to describe that section of the valley of the River Colne that lies between its source and the large town of Huddersfield, which lies at the point where the River Holme joins the River Colne. Less often, the name is used to describe the whole valley of the Colne, including the section through Huddersfield and on to the confluence of the Colne with the River Calder at Cooper Bridge. Using the more common definition, the Colne Valley includes the towns and villages of Marsden, Slaithwaite, Linthwaite and Golcar.

Industry and economy

The Colne Valley played a significant role in the development of the Industrial Revolution. Most of the population had been weavers for generations, so when water-powered textile mills were built on the many streams and small rivers in the area, the area was well set to become a major producer of textiles. The River Colne and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal provided early transport links which were soon added to by road and railway links to Huddersfield and Leeds to the east and Manchester and Liverpool to the west.

Colne

Coordinates: 53°51′19″N 2°10′32″W / 53.8554°N 2.1756°W / 53.8554; -2.1756

Colne /koʊn/ with a population of 18,806 (2011 census), is the oldest and second largest town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle, after Nelson, which lies immediately to the west. It is six miles north-east of Burnley, 25 miles east of Preston, 25 miles north of Manchester and 30 miles west of Leeds. It was the main town in the area for many centuries being the market town and having a grade A listed market cross that dates to the 15th century allowing a market to be held there. The cross was originally in the Parish Church yard, but has been relocated in Market St, the main road through the town centre.

The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Valley around the River Colne near Huddersfield in Yorkshire nor with the Colne Valley around Earls Colne and Colchester in Essex.

Colne occupies a strategic location close to the southern entrance to the Aire Gap, which offers the lowest crossing of the Pennine watershed. The M65 terminates west of the town and from here two main roads take traffic onwards towards the Yorkshire towns of Skipton (A56) and Keighley (A6068). Colne railway station represents the current terminus of the East Lancashire railway line, which until 1970 extended northwards towards Skipton.

Valley

A valley is a low area between hills, often with a river running through it.

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide. The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of these two main types or a mixture of them, (at least) with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides.

Valley terminology

A valley in its broadest geographic sense is also known as a dale. A valley through which a river runs may also be referred to as a vale. A small, secluded, and often wooded valley is known as a dell or in Scotland as a glen. A wide, flat valley through which a river runs is known in Scotland as a strath. A mountain cove is a small valley, closed at one or both ends, in the central or southern Appalachian Mountains which sometimes results from the erosion of a geologic window. A small valley surrounded by mountains or ridges is sometimes known as a hollow. A deep, narrow valley is known as a cwm (also spelled combe or coombe). Similar geological structures, such as canyons, ravines, gorges, gullies, and kloofs, are not usually referred to as valleys. See also: "chine". A valley formed by erosion is called an erosional valley; a valley formed by geologic events such as drop faults or the rise of highlands is called a structural valley.