page_title: Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway
section_title: Amalgamation with the Great Northern Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway / Amalgamation with the Great Northern Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: System map of the Great Northern Railway lines in West Yorkshire, England, in 1921
context_page_description: The Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway was an independent railway company that built a line between Wakefield and a junction close to Leeds, in Yorkshire, England. It opened its main line in 1857, and was worked by the Great Northern Railway. The line shortened the GNR route to Leeds.
  The BW&LR later built a branch line from near Wakefield to Batley, opening in stages to 1863. In that year it changed its name to the West Yorkshire Railway, and planned a branch line from Lofthouse to Methley, forming an eastwards link to other companies' lines. It agreed to make the line jointly with the North Eastern Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and the branch line became the Methley Joint Railway, opening in 1865. In that year the West Yorkshire Railway was absorbed by the Great Northern Railway.
  The original main line is part of the present-day electrically operated Doncaster to Leeds main line.
context_section_description: The West Yorkshire Railway, together with the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway, had become dominated by the Great Northern Railway, which operated their trains, and the occasional talk of absorption by the GNR became serious. In the face of strenuous L&YR opposition, the West Yorkshire Railway (former BW&LR) as well as the LB&HJR passed into GNR possession. The GNR took over working of the WYR on 1 January 1865, ratified by an Act of 5 July; the one third share of the Methley Joint line became GNR property from 5 September. The WYR shareholders were guaranteed a minimum dividend of 6%.
caption: Great Northern Railway lines in West Yorkshire in 1921
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