The Methley Joint Railway was a joint enterprise of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Great Northern Railway, and the North Eastern Railway. They operated a railway line between Methley Joint Junction and Lofthouse Junction in the east and Lofthouse and Outwood and Lofthouse North Junction in the west with intermediate stations in Methley South and Stanley which opened to freight in June 1865 and to passengers on 1 May 1869.
The total length of the line was 5 miles and 9 chains. It served the collieries of Foxholes and Newmarket and provided a link between the Pontefract to Leeds line and the Wakefield to Leeds line, being one of three lines carrying passenger trains between Leeds and Castleford. The line closed to passengers on 17 June 1957 and to freight on 23 February 1981. The station buildings of Methley South are now a private residence, while no trace remains of Stanley and Lofthouse and Outwood stations. The area of the triangular junction at Lofthouse and Outwood has become a large public open space. The cuttings west of Stanley have been filled in, and the bridges removed, as are the bridges over the railway lines west of Methley South.