Helmthwaite is now at the end of a short branch of the LMS in industrial West Yorkshire. There was once a through connection to the ex-LNWR line at Staincliffe, but economics forced the closure of the through connection in the early 1930s. What survives now, in the dark days just before the war, is a single platform passenger station notable for its elegant stairway descending from the booking office on Station Road, and a busy little goods yard which serves the needs of the still thriving industries of the West Riding. The same limited geographical space is shared with a high level LNER (ex-GNR) coal yard, Chapel Lane.

In a remarkably early example of co-operative working, and because there was no space in the cramped town to provide a gradient route between the two levels, an inclined hydraulic wagon hoist was built to facilitate the movement of coal wagons from the LNER’s high level sidings to the LMS goods facility below. This wonder of hydraulic engineering was built by The Hydraulic Company of Chester to the same design as the one installed on the Midland Railway at Leytonstone in Essex.