The Great Northern Railway Trail

The Great Northern Railway Trail
Hewenden Viaduct looking north - the deck has been tarmacked for The Great Northern Railway Trail
Established	2005
Length	6.2 miles (10 km)
Designation	UK National Cycle Route 69
Trailheads	Cullingworth Queensbury
Use	Cycling, pedestrians, horse trail
Cycling details
Surface	Tarmacked (on designated sections)

The Great Northern Railway Trail is a cycleway and footpath in the Bradford District of West Yorkshire, England. The path follows the route of a former railway, that of the Great Northern railway line between Bradford and Keighley that went via Queensbury and Cullingworth. The path has been designated as part of the National Cycle Route number 69.

The Great Northern Railway (GNR) opened up its lines connecting Bradford, Halifax and Keighley between 1878 and 1884. This involved a triangular junction at Queensbury railway station. As the GNR lines were built after other railways had been constructed in the valley's, many of their lines were built to traverse the high valley sides and as such, had many steep gradients and tunnels which led to them acquiring the nickname of The Alpine Lines.

Passenger traffic on these lines had ceased by 1955, with complete closure of the lines by 1972 and much of the trackbed was abandoned and the tunnels bricked up. In 2005, Sustrans and Bradford Council re-opened a section of the former track from the site of Cullingworth railway station to the former station of Wilsden as the Great Northern Railway Trail. In 2008, a smaller section through Thornton village and across the viaduct there was opened, along with a second stretch between the former Queensbury railway station and a point just south of Thornton Viaduct. The final stretch to connect the two sections from Thornton Viaduct to the former station site at Queensbury opened in October 2012.

Eventually the trail will cover 6.2 miles (10 km), but currently this is split into two sections some 2 miles (3.5 km) apart. Although the whole trail is seen as one through route, only the sections between Cullingworth and Hewenden Viaduct, and Queensbury station and the northern edge of Thornton Viaduct are designated clear of road traffic. The section between these two is accomplished on footpaths for walkers, but cycle traffic must take to local roads to connect between the two sections.