The line was double track throughout with a triangular junction in the Low Moor area to allow trains to access the line west to Halifax. The topography of the line was fairly flat with the steepest gradient being a 1 in 100 north of Heckmondwike and the line only required two tunnels. The spur between Heckmondwike and Thornhill cut 25 minutes from the journey time between Bradford and Wakefield and also reduced the congestion at Mirfield station. The spur line had a twelve-arch viaduct across the River Calder just east of Ravensthorpe Lower station.The line was furnished with a new bridge in the early 1970s across the M62 motorway, though by then, it had closed to passengers. The west facing curve at the northern end of the line was built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire railway in 1893 after an agreement in 1882 with the Great Northern Railway about the sharing of running powers. The L&Y used the agreement to prevent the GNR building a line through the Spen Valley which would have duplicated their route. The 1882 agreement provided the L&Y with access to GNR lines in the Wakefield and Pudsey areas. The GNR were, in return, afforded the ability to run trains from the and Wakefield areas to Halifax either via or Cleckheaton.
