The line opened for goods as far as Pellon on 1 August 1890 and to all traffic throughout on 5 September 1890. The timetable was generally arranged so that the High Level train arrived at Holmfield to change there for Bradford. In 1910 there were 11 departures from St Paul's Mondays to Fridays, 12 on Saturdays and five on Sundays. A steam railmotor was given a trial on the branch about 1906 but did not find favour, possibly because of the gradients.