I’m having another rare day at home catching up on chores and a spot of picture editing, mostly of images that don’t fit the main gallery categories on my website and need a bit of research first. Some of these were taken earlier in the week around Mirfield in West Yorkshire. Like many people involved in railways I have a curiosity about the many lines that closed during my childhood or even before I was born. Yorkshire’s rich in such lines and Mirfield has quite a few remains. One I spotted was what’s left of the Spen valley line which lasted a little over 50 years, opening in 1900 and closing in November 1966 although it lost its passenger services as early as 1953. Built by the LNWR it ran from Heaton Lodge Junction through Heckmondwike and Cleckheaton to Farnley Junction and on into Leeds City station. You can find out more about it on this very good website, ‘Mirfield memories’. Here’s what I found.
If you’re interested in abandoned or disused railways there’s a gallery dedicated to them on my Zenfolio website. You can find it by following this link.
I’d love to have more time to spend to explore West Yorkshire’s railway heritage, but there’s little time for that as most of my time’s taken up with the modern, growing railway rather than the remains of a contracting one. That said, Dawn and I are hoping to get out on the bikes to explore several that are close to us which have been converted into some excellent cycle-paths. I first got to know about several of them when I explored them by bike for an article in RAIL magazine. One of their writers and I were given a guided tour on Brompton bikes by a couple of Sustrans officers and I’ve always meant to revisit the places and infrastructure we saw. Some of the viaducts, tunnels and cuttings were really impressive, especially around Heckmondwike, Dewsbury and Queensbury. But as the year is rapidly moving on, that may have to wait until next year!
Paul Bigland 
With the greatest respect to yourself and the website you cite, I always thought the Spen Valley line was the ex L&Y line connecting Mirfield station with Low Moor. It diverted to the left immediately after Mirfield station in the Leeds direction, and went through stations such as Heckmondwike, Liversedge and Cleckheaton before forming a triangular junction with the Halifax-Bradford line just before the old Low Moor station. Hence some trains from Huddersfield to Bradford went that way. I believe part of it is now the Spen Valley Greenway, used by cyclists and walkers.
The line you illustrate was known as the Leeds New Line, built by the LNWR from Heaton Lodge to Farnley & Wortley, to relieve congesion in the Mirfield and Dewsbury areas. I know it’s confusing, as stations on this line included Battyeford as you say, and Cleckheaton Spen and Liversedge Spen!!
I endorse Stuart Samuel’s comments. The LNW line was always known locally as the ‘Leeds New Line’ (because that’s literally what it was! a short cut for Huddersfield – Leeds traffic avoiding Mirfield and Dewsbury), closed in 1966.
What we called the Spen Valley line was from Mirfield to Low Moor and principally used by Penistone – Huddersfield – Bradford services and closed to passengers in June 1965 with its stations at Northorpe (North Rd), Heckmondwike Central, Liversedge Central, Cleckheaton Central and indeed Low Moor itself, although that was beyond the junction with the line from Halifax (the Penistone – Huddersfield – Bradford service via Halifax was withdrawn the same day).
To confuse matters further, after the Leeds New Line shut in 1966 a link was built between the two Spen Valley routes to retain freight access to Heckmondwike; the section from Heckmondwike to Low Moor was only closed to all traffic in 1981 and it is this which is now mainly a cycle path.