Bradford Forster Square railway station

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Bradford Forster Square
National Rail
2020-08-31 13-23-42 Forster Sq Station entrance with sign.jpg
View of the station entrance, with the sign visible, taken on 31 August 2020
LocationBradford, City of Bradford
England
Coordinates53°47′49″N 1°45′11″W / 53.7970°N 1.7530°W / 53.7970; -1.7530Coordinates: 53°47′49″N 1°45′11″W / 53.7970°N 1.7530°W / 53.7970; -1.7530
Grid referenceSE163334
Managed byNorthern Trains
Transit authorityWest Yorkshire (Metro; 19??-2014)
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeBDQ
Fare zone3
ClassificationDfT category C2
History
Original companyLeeds and Bradford Railway
Key dates
1846Opened
1853Rebuilt
1890Rebuilt
1990Rebuilt on new site
Passengers
2016/17Increase 2.113 million
 Interchange Increase 46,206
2017/18Decrease 2.027 million
 Interchange Decrease 42,582
2018/19Decrease 1.995 million
 Interchange Increase 44,327
2019/20Decrease 1.947 million
 Interchange Increase 48,221
2020/21Decrease 0.615 million
 Interchange Decrease 10,382
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Bradford Forster Square railway station serves Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The majority of services to/from the railway station use Class 333 electrified trains operated by Northern Trains, 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 on foot from Forster Square, from where services operate along the Caldervale Line to Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, Manchester Victoria, Blackpool and London King's Cross. Bradford Interchange is situated at a higher level, across the city centre, than Forster Square. The Bradford Crossrail proposal to link the two stations is currently viewed as unlikely to proceed.

History[]

Bradford Midland Station after 1887-90 rebuilding. Interior of the trainshed.
The remains of the old Forster Square station. Its replacement is behind the photographer.
View southward, towards buffer-stops in 1961
The original station being demolished and the new station under construction in 1992.

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 Bradford Dale from Shipley, and terminated at a railway 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 railway station building was an imposing neoclassical building designed by William Andrews.[2] By 1853, the Midland Railway had acquired the Leeds and Bradford, and rebuilt the station. The new building was larger, but less interesting architecturally.[2]

In 1890, the railway 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 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 railway station, but the name Forster Square Station was not used until 1924.

In 1953-54 the station underwent £60,000 (equivalent to £1,712,700 in 2020)[5] of improvements. The glass and steel canopy covering the station was removed and “umbrella type” covers were installed over each platform, leaving the rails clear.[6]

In March 1963, the Beeching Report recommended the closure of all railways serving Wharfedale, and the removal of several services out of Forster Square. As a consequence, many railway stations closed in 1965, and local services to Leeds ceased. However, the decision to close was deferred for some of the lines. 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 those services.

Forster Square Station was truncated in 1990, when a new station was built on the western side of the former station. The new station has three platforms, two of which (platforms 1 & 2) are able to accommodate intercity trains. The old station was later demolished and a shopping centre called 'Broadgate' was scheduled to be constructed on the site. That development was cancelled because of the early 1990s recession, and the area was used as a car park, but a new tax office was later built there. Part of the screen arcade that fronted the 1890 station, as well as the Midland Hotel, remains. In 2005, these became much more visible, when the city centre redevelopment began and Forster House was demolished.

The line into Forster Square was electrified in 1994, as part of the electrification of the Airedale Line and Wharfedale Line, which allowed through electric trains to London via the newly electrified East Coast Main Line. More recently, the pedestrian approach from Cheapside has been redeveloped, and ticket barriers installed.

Historically, services have been as follows:


Dates Company or line Preceding station Following station
1846–1851 Leeds and Bradford terminus Manningham
1851–1923 Midland terminus Manningham
1923–1948 LMS terminus Manningham
1948–1965 British Railways/British Rail terminus Manningham
1965–1987 West Yorkshire Metro

(trains operated by British Rail)

terminus Shipley
1987–1997 West Yorkshire Metro

(trains operated by British Rail)

terminus Frizinghall
1997–2001 West Yorkshire Metro

(trains operated by Northern Spirit)

terminus Frizinghall
2001–2004 West Yorkshire Metro

(trains operated by Arriva Trains Northern)

terminus Frizinghall
2004–2014 West Yorkshire Metro

(trains operated by Northern Rail)

terminus Frizinghall
2014–2016 Northern Rail terminus Frizinghall
2016–2020 Arriva Rail North terminus Frizinghall
2020–Present Northern Trains terminus Frizinghall

Stationmasters[]

  • Thomas Fletcher ca. 1859[7] - 1873 (afterwards secretary and manager of the Bradford Tramway Company)
  • Robert Smith 1873 - 1897[8]
  • W.P. Snow 1897 - 1899[9] (afterwards station master at London St Pancras)
  • Robert L. Tudor 1899 - 1908[10] (formerly station master at Hellifield)
  • James Robert Johnson 1908 - 1913
  • Frederick William Pugh 1913 - 1930[11] (formerly station master at Trent Junction)
  • William Hardy 1930 - 1936 (formerly station master at Lincoln)
  • Frederick James Stallard 1936[12] - 1940 (formerly station master at Low Moor)
  • David Mathieson 1940 - 1948[13] (formerly station master at Bedford)
  • R.M. Bradshaw from 1948

Station name[]

The sign outside Bradford Forster Square station in August 2007
A Class 333 unit on platform 1
A Class 144 in the old station platforms, now demolished

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

  • According to Alan Whitaker,[1] it was 'Market Street' from the rebuilding in 1890 until 1924.
  • Tony Dewick,[14] 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 the map by Dixon & Hindle [3] nor the 1906 OS map[4] gives a name for the station other than 'Midland Station', but the latter names '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 then, it would have been the Midland Station. Later, it apparently came to be called 'Bradford Market Street', but that does not appear to have been official. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide, in a timetable footnote, refers to Market Street and gives the distance to Exchange Station.

Services[]

Trains from Bradford Forster Square are operated by Northern Trains and London North Eastern Railway. Most trains are run by Northern; 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. On weekday and Saturday evenings there are trains every hour to each of Skipton and Ilkley, but no trains run through to Leeds; instead a shuttle service runs between Bradford and Shipley, connecting there with Skipton – Leeds trains. Connections are also available at Shipley for longer distance trains to Morecambe and Carlisle, although direct services to both destinations sometimes operate if the Leeds route is closed for engineering work.

On Sundays, trains run hourly between Bradford and Leeds all day (until the end of service) and to both Skipton and Ilkley.[15] The latter two routes were upgraded from two-hourly frequencies at the December 2017 timetable change.

During off-peak hours most trains use platforms 1 (for Skipton) and 2 (Leeds and Ilkley) – platform 3 is mainly used during weekday peak periods and in the evening, though a spare set is usually stabled here between 09.00 and 16.00 each weekday.

London North Eastern Railway operate two services each way (only one on Saturdays and Sundays) per day via Leeds and the East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Whitaker, Alan; Myland, Brian. Railway Memories No. 4: Bradford. Bellcode Books. ISBN 1-871233-03-8.
  2. ^ a b Sheeran, George (1994). Railway Buildings of West Yorkshire, 1812–1920. Keele, Staffs: Ryburn Publishing. ISBN 1-85331-100-6.
  3. ^ a b Dixon; Hindle (1987) [1871]. Willmott, Elvira (ed.). The Ryburn Map of Victorian Bradford [Plan of the Town of Bradford]. Keele, Staffs: Ryburn Publishing. ISBN 1-85331-004-2.
  4. ^ a b Bradford. Ordnance Survey 1906. Alan Godfrey Maps. 1989. Sheet 216.08. ISBN 0-85054-281-2.
  5. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  6. ^ "£60,000 station improvements". Bradford Observer. England. 9 September 1953. Retrieved 7 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "1859-1866". Midland Railway Miscellaneous Depts: 298. 1914. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Death of the Bradford Midland Stationmaster". Bradford Daily Telegraph. England. 11 August 1897. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Promotion for the Bradford Midland Station Master". Bradford Weekly Telegraph. England. 30 September 1899. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "Bradford Midland Station Master". Yorkshire Evening Post. England. 14 April 1908. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Northern Items". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. England. 9 September 1930. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "New Stationmaster". Yorkshire Evening Post. England. 11 July 1936. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Mr. David Mathieson". 8 December 1948. England. 11 July 1936. Retrieved 10 March 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ Dewick, Tony (2002). Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2798-6.
  15. ^ Table 36, 37 & 38 National Rail timetable, December 2017
  16. ^ Table 26 National Rail timetable, December 2017

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.
  • "Electrification chances to Bradford improve". RAIL. No. 100. EMAP National Publications. 13–26 July 1989. p. 8. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.

External links[]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Shipley   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line
(Limited service) 		  Terminus
Frizinghall   Northern Trains
Airedale Line 		  Terminus
Frizinghall   Northern Trains
Wharfedale Line 		  Terminus
Frizinghall   Northern Trains
Leeds-Bradford Lines 		  Terminus
  Historical railways  
Manningham   Midland Railway
Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway 		  Terminus
Manningham   Midland Railway
Leeds and Bradford Railway 		  Terminus
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