Bradford Exchange the last picture

The redevelopment of the city centre offered a unique chance to put matters to rights but in the sixties railways were in confusion, remember the arrows of indecision, steam v diesel. As you see most graphically the through route is there for the taking.  

Bradford railways

The map tells it all. Those few hundred yards made Bradford little more than a terminal branch

The green and white dotted line shows one proposal put forwards just before WW1. Sadly that great war and the subsequent amalgamation of railways companies into the great four saw the end of such masterful plans

Ahhh the folly of mere men

Aerial photo Bradford stations Exchange and Midland

Here again an aerial  picture from the twenties or thirties

Midland (Foster Square) denoted by the letter A and Lancs and Yorks GNR denoted by letter B.

By now the great amalgamation had taken place and Bradford was largely Midland 

Bradford's stations in 1901

As can be seen from the plan below Exchange is A and Midland B

How could such short shortsightedness and ill borne protectiveness have stopped Bradford becoming a mainline through station from the Great Central and it's London terminus at Marylebone with Carlisle and Glasgow. Via the Midlands Settle to Carlisle

Bradford Foster Sq with the Harrogate train

Once a very busy station for both local and long distance services

Bradford Midland Station

In it's heyday

Bradfords First railway station

After several rebuilds

Next station out was Manningham

GWR Castle class and GWR Prairie

Airfix also manufactured built locos under the name GMR for Great Model Railways

GRW Castle class loco by Airfix 

GWR Prairie in GWR colors

and in BR black lined for mixed traffic

City of Truro Evening Star and the L&Y Pug

With me as I am sure with many for you my interest was furthered by model railways. Engines were expensive items, so the Airfix static model were a modest way of increasing the layout

The boxes always had superb pictures of the locomotive doubtless to aid painting

Yorkshire and Lancashire Railways 'Crab'

A Hughes 'Crab' So called because from the front with such wide cylinders they seems to waddle forwards crab like

LMS Black Five

Black because they were painted black and lined out for mixed traffic

Five since there were Class 5

Wartime railways

Ivatt 4MT

Another one of those superb model pictures. 

They are very realistic and indeed possibly better than the  real thing

Always idealised