Batty speculates money was an issue due to the heavy engineering on a short 5-mile (8 km) line, having cuttings, tunnels and a viaduct over the ECML at Beeston.

[7] The Railway Clearing House handbook on stations from 1904 shows Woodkirk to have had a crane which could lift 10 tonnes (11 tons), and had six goods sidings in the immediate vicinity (mostly quarries).

Many trains were circular, going via Batley, Dewsbury, Ossett and Wrenthorpe Junction to return to Leeds (and vice versa).

In 1893, the L&YR had a joint service with the GNR which ran from Leeds Central via Pudsey Greenside, the Spen Valley Line, Dewsbury and then Ossett before heading south to Barnsley.

[11] The circular trains continued until 1938, when they were withdrawn and a straight service between Batley and Leeds was introduced, though this lasted only a year for Woodkirk, which closed in September 1939.