A Metro-Cammell DMU with a service to Wakefield at Batley heading towards Dewsbury Central in c1958. This is one of the early Met-Cam power twins which were delivered to Hammerton Street from October 1956 onwards.
To the right of Batley station is the ex-GNR goods yard. Here the GNR Chickenley Heath branch (1877) left the main lines and provided a 3.5 mile ’short cut’ from Batley to Ossett avoiding Dewsbury. It passed behind the goods shed and up a steep gradient to Shawcross where its main purpose was to serve Shawcross Colliery. The branch also saw passenger traffic until 1909 using the GNR’s new rail-motors known locally as the ‘Chickenley Coddy's’. These proved financially unviable so Chickenley Heath Station about a mile from Ossett had closed by 1909. The line then continued to Runtlings Lane Junction where it re-joined the principal route about half a mile the Dewsbury side of Ossett Station. The branch only remained open until c.1966 to serve Shawcross Colliery from the Batley end, the rails from Shawcross to Runtlings still remained in situ into the late 1950s.

Photo: K. Field / Rail Archive Stephenson