Bradford Forster Square railway station

Bradford Forster Square station

Bradford Forster Square railway 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. Up to three services each day are operated by GNER to London King's Cross.

The other main railway station in the city is Bradford Interchange, about 10 minutes' walk from Forster Square, from where services operate along the Calderdale Line to Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, Manchester Victoria and Blackpool.

History

The first rail service into Bradford was opened by the Leeds and Bradford Railway on July 1, 1846. The line approached the town from the north, up Bradforddale from Shipley, and terminated at a station near the present Forster Square. There were hourly services to Leeds Wellington Station, and through trains to London Euston via Derby and Rugby.

The Midland Railway later acquired the Leeds and Bradford, and in 1890 they replaced the original terminus by the larger Bradford Market Street Station, renamed Forster Square in 1924. It had six platforms and included the Midland Hotel. It was also used by the North Eastern Railway.

In March 1963, the Beeching Report recommended closure of all railways serving Wharfedale, and several other services out of Forster Square: during 1965 many stations closed, and local services to Leeds ceased. But for some of the lines the decision was deferred, and trains continued to run - in the event, for eight years. 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. The councils formed the West Yorkshire PTE in April 1974, now West Yorkshire Metro.

The current Forster Square station, a modern three-platform station, was built in 1990 somewhat to the north of the former station, which was demolished two years later to make way for a £90 million shopping centre. That development was never built, and the site remained derelict for some years and has latterly been used as a car park. The front entrance of the 1890 station remains, as does the Midland Hotel; and in 2005 the entrance became much more visible when the city centre redevelopment began and Forster House was demolished. It is unclear how visible it will remain as the development continues.

Note on early stations

The references are not consistent about the names and locations of the precursors to the present station:

• Whitaker & Myland 1993:4 (on which the above account is mostly based) do not give a name for the original station, and say that it was 'just east of Forster Square'. They say it was replaced by Market Street station in 1890, but do not make clear whether or not this was on the same site.
• Firth 1997:106 says that the railway opened in 1846 "Between Leeds and Market Street (later Forster Square station of the Midland Railway)".
• Dixon & Hindle's ([1871] 1987) map of Bradford shows the 'Midland Station' on Kirkgate nearly opposite the end of Market Street, and slightly to the west of where Forster Square was subsequently built.
• Ordnance Survey [1910] 1989 shows the station with its eastern half on the same site as Dixon and Hindle, but extending to the west.
• Dewick 2002:42 shows three stations; the westernmost being marked 'Bradford Market Street' (noted as having closed before 1901), the second just to the east of it having been 'Bradford' and then 'Bradford Forster Square', and the third, to the north of the second, being 'Bradford Forster Square' and still in use.

It seems likely that the original station was called simply 'Bradford', at least until the Lancashire and Yorkshire station opened at Drake Street in 1850, and at some point named 'Bradford Market Street', but whether this was on rebuilding in 1890 or before, is not clear. Whitaker and Myland must surely be in error in locating it to the east of Forster Square, and it is hard to see how Dewick can be correct in showing two different locations side by side, with the more westerly closing before 1901. He is also in disagreement with Whitaker and Myland about when the name 'Market Street' ceased to be used.

References

• Dewick, Tony 2002 Compete Atlas of Railway Station Names Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2798-6
• Firth, Gary 1997 A History of Bradford Phillimore. ISBN 1-86077-057-6
• Ordnance Survey 1906 Bradford (Sheet 216.08), pub. Alan Godfrey Maps 1989. ISBN 0-85054-281-2
• Dixon & Hindle 1871 Plan of the Town of Bradford, ed. Elvira Willmott 1987, as The Ryburn Map of Victorian Bradford, Ryburn. ISBN 1-85331-004-2
• Smith, FW & Martin Bairstow The Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1 871944 06 6.
• Whitaker, Alan & Brian Myland 1993 Railway Memories No. 4: Bradford Bellcode books. ISBN 1-871233-03-8

External links

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

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leeds		GNER (East Coast Main Line)		Terminus
Terminus		Northern Rail (Airedale Line)		Frizinghall
Terminus		Northern Rail (Wharfedale Line)		Frizinghall
Frizinghall		Northern Rail (Leeds-Bradford Lines)		Terminus