During the 1860s, two small railway companies were formed to promote suburban railways in
Bradford, the
Bradford, Eccleshill and Idle Railway and the
Idle and Shipley Railway. Their schemes - and the companies themselves - were taken up by the
Great Northern Railway, which built a line looping through the villages to the north-east of Bradford: from , through , Idle and to
Shipley. The line was open to goods traffic on 4 May 1874, and to passengers on 18 January 1875. Eccleshill railway station opened on 15 April 1875. Passenger service on the line ceased on 2 February 1931 and the passenger station closed, though goods traffic and excursions continued on the whole line until October 1964 and between Shipley and Idle until 1968. ==Route==