Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Bradford Railways history

The original station in Bradford was known as
Market Street station and was the terminus of
the Leeds and Bradford Railway. The Leeds
and Bradford Railway (L&BR) was formed in
 1843 to bring the railway to Bradford: the line
 opened on 1 July 1846. The company was always
 closely allied with the Midland Railway, and within
 ten years the L&BR had been absorbed into the Midland,
 and disappeared. The first station building was an
imposing neoclassical building designed by William
Andrews.
 
 
The line and Market St station opened on 1 July 1846, with hourly services between Bradford and Leeds with some direct services from Bradford to London Euston via Derby and Rugby. The intermediate stations opened within the next few weeks. From 1848 an extension of the line ran via Skipton southwest towards Colne where it joined the East Lancashire Railway in 1849. This 11½ mile stretch was closed in January 1970. Today there is an active campaign to reinstate this missing stretch, led by the Skipton - East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership.

 
By 1853, the Midland Railway had acquired the Leeds and Bradford, and had rebuilt the station. The new building was larger, but apparently less interesting architecturally.
In 1890, the station was again replaced. The Midland Railway's architect Charles Trubshaw designed a large complex containing the passenger station, goods station, and the Midland Hotel. The station had six platforms and an overall glazed roof of the ridge and furrow pattern; the roof was dismantled in the 1960s and replaced with utilitarian 'butterfly' awnings. The station was also used by the North Eastern Railway. The station began to be called Market Street Station at this time, but local maps and directories do not confirm this.
By 1906, Forster Square had been built just south-east of the station, but the name Forster Square Station was not used until 1924. It seems likely that the original station was called simply 'Bradford', at least until the Lancashire & Yorkshire station opened at Drake Street in 1850. After that time it would have been the Midland Station. At some time, it apparently came to be called 'Bradford Market Street', but this does not appear to have been official. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide, in a timetable footnote refers to Market Street, giving the distance to Exchange Station.


 
 

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1 comment:

  1. Dalesman21 June 2024 at 11:34

    The original two stations were towards Canal Road. An 1863 map of the second station shows that it was hardly adjacent to Market Street; indeed it was on the tail end of Kirkgate which was curtailed when the civic Forster Square was built. The Midland company's large station and hotel were built in the late 1880s and were reported as near completion in a local paper in 1888. Old photos show that station was simply Bradford Midland Railway station. The name 'Forster Square' was applied in 1923 as a result of the Midland company being merged within LMS. The civic building of Forster Square was also in the late 1880s. The statue of Forster was unveiled in May 1890. It is an irony, possibly missed by most, that Bradford still has a 'Forster Square station', but it is on Cheapside and there is no Forster Square any more.

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