Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway

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 Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway system in 1857

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 (former BW&LR) was absorbed by the Great Northern Railway.

The original main line is part of the present-day electrically operated Doncaster to Leeds main line.