The BW&LR obtained an Act on 23 July 1860Ernest F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959Wrottesley, volume I, pages 100 and 101 for a branch to Ossett. It was a single line, and left the main line at Wrenthorpe junction, just north of Wakefield. It reached an "Ossett" station at Flushdyke on 7 April 1862 and was extended to Ossett itself on 2 April 1864.Martin Bairstow, The Great Northern Railway in West Yorkshire, Wyvern Publications, Skipton, 1982, , page 63 The line was further extended to Batley, making a junction with the LB&HJR there. The extension opened on 15 December 1864.
