Bradford Forster Square railway station

Bradford Forster Square station is a railway station in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The majority of services to/from the station use Class 333 electrified trains operated by Northern Rail, on the Airedale Line to Skipton, the Wharfedale Line to Ilkley and the Leeds-Bradford Line to Leeds.

The other main railway station in the city is Bradford Interchange, about 10 minutes by foot from Forster Square, from where services operate along the Caldervale Line to Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, Manchester Victoria, Blackpool and London Kings Cross. Bradford Interchange is situated at a higher level, across the city centre, than Forster Square. Although technically possible, any proposal to link to the two stations together would be very expensive and cause great upheaval.

History

The first rail service into Bradford was opened by the Leeds and Bradford Railway on 1 July 1846. The line approached the town from the north, up Bradforddale from Shipley, and terminated at a station on Kirkgate, opposite the end of Market Street. There were hourly services to Leeds Wellington Station, and through trains to London Euston via Derby and Rugby.^[1]

The first station building was an imposing neoclassical building designed by William Andrews.^[2]

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.^[2]

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,^[1] but local maps and directories do not confirm this (see Station name below).^[3]

By 1906,^[4] Forster Square had been built just south-east of the station, but the name Forster Square Station was not used until 1924.

In March 1963, the Beeching Report recommended closure of all railways serving Wharfedale and of several other services out of Forster Square; in 1965, many stations closed, and local services to Leeds ceased. However, for some of the lines, the decision was deferred, and trains continued to run. In 1972, Bradford Corporation (now City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council), together with several other local authorities in the area, determined to subsidise the Wharfedale and Airedale lines. The lines have remained open, and in the ensuing years, a number of stations have been reopened. From April 1974, the new West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (now known as Metro) took responsibility for these services.

Forster Square Station was truncated in 1990, when a new station was built somewhat to the north of the former station. The new station has three modern platforms, two of which are able to accommodate intercity trains. The old station was later demolished to make way for a shopping centre called 'Broadgate'. Because of the early 1990s recession, that development was cancelled, and the site was subsequently used as a car park. A new tax office was later built on the site. Part of the screen arcade that fronted the 1890 station, as wells as the Midland Hotel, remains. In 2005, these became much more visible, when the city centre redevelopment began and Forster House was demolished. It is unclear how visible they will remain as the development continues.

The line into Forster Square was electrified in 1994, as part of the electrification of the Airedale Line and Wharfedale Line, allowing through electric trains to London via the newly-electrified East Coast Main Line.

Historically, services have been as follows:

Station name

There is some disagreement about what names were used when. Most of the modern references state that one or more of them were called 'Market Street', but there is disagreement as to exactly when this name was in use:

• ^[1] says it was 'Market Street' from the rebuilding in 1890 until 1924.
• ^[5] p. 42, shows one of the three stations as 'Market Street' in red, which in that book indicates that the station and the name passed out of use before 1901.

However, contemporary sources do not seem to use the name. The Bradford Post Office Directory says that the Midland terminal is at "Station, bottom of Kirkgate" (1856, 1863, 1898) or "Station, Forster Square" (1916, 1927); only in 1928 did a directory use the name "Forster Square Station". (In contrast, from 1879/80 onward the directories show the other terminal as "Exchange Station, Drake St"). Neither ^[3] nor ^[4] gives a name for the station other than 'Midland Station', though the latter does name Exchange Station.

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.

Services

Trains from Bradford Forster Square are operated by Northern Rail and East Coast. Most trains are run by Northern Rail; these are towards Leeds (on the Leeds-Bradford Line), Skipton (on the Airedale Line) and Ilkley (on the Wharfedale Line). During Monday to Saturday daytimes, trains operate every 30 minutes on each route. During the evenings, there are trains every hour to each of Skipton and Ilkley; on Sundays these run every two hours. At these times, there are no trains to Leeds; passengers have to change at Shipley.

East Coast operate one service per day via Leeds and the East Coast Main Line to London Kings Cross.

References

Further reading

• Firth, Gary (1997) A History of Bradford Phillimore. ISBN 1-86077-057-6
• Smith, F.W. & Bairstow, Martin The Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-06-6.

External links

• Train times and station information for Bradford Forster Square railway station from National Rail