Thwaites railway station

Last updated

Thwaites
Site of Thwaites railway station.jpg
Site of Thwaites railway station
General information
Location Keighley, City of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire
England
Coordinates 53°52′07″N1°53′14″W / 53.8687°N 1.8872°W / 53.8687; -1.8872
Grid reference SE075413
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Midland Railway
Key dates
1 June 1892 (1892-06-01)Station opened
1 July 1909Station closed
Location
Thwaites railway station

Thwaites railway station was located just east of Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England; it was a stop on the Midland Railway line through the Aire Valley between Keighley and Shipley. It opened to traffic in 1892 and closed 17 years later in 1909, due to poor patronage.

Contents

History

The Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway (L&BER) opened up from Shipley to Keighley in 1847. [1] By 1846, amalgamations had seen the L&BER become part of the Midland Railway (MR) The population centres in the Aire Valley were served by the line at Shipley, Bingley and Keighley. Demands from local people that the MR build a station at Crossflatts went unheeded, but they did build a station at Thwaites, a suburb in the eastern part of Keighley. [2]

The station opened in 1892 during a period of improvements on the line; Bingley railway station was resited in 1892 and the widening of the line between Bingley and Thwaites Junction was started at that time. [3] Thwaites railway station was only open for a mere 17 years before it was closed by the Midland Railway in 1909. [4] The station was a small concern being able to handle only passenger and parcels traffic; [5] no goods sidings were installed at the station, although just east of the station was the Keighley Gas Works [6] and Thwaites Junction, [7] where the line ran along a quadruple track section to the outskirts of Bingley railway station. [2]

Falling passenger numbers and dwindling income led the MR to close the station. In the Bradshaw timetable for 1896, only two trains per day stopped at the station. [8] The MR had hoped that the Keighley Tramway would be extended to Thwaites, so a station was deemed to no longer be necessary. [9] The tramway never extended into Thwaites itself, and the tram system was abolished in Keighley by 1925. Thereafter, buses from Keighley ran past the site. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airedale</span> Valley in North and West Yorkshire, England

Airedale is a valley, or dale, in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. It is named after the River Aire, which flows through it. The upper valley, from Malham Cove to Airton, is known as Malhamdale, named after the village of Malham. At Airton the valley widens and becomes Airedale proper. The river flows past Skipton on to Keighley, Bingley, Shipley, and Leeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airedale line</span> Rail line in Yorkshire, England

The Airedale line is one of the rail services in the West Yorkshire Metro area centred on West Yorkshire in northern England. The service is operated by Northern, on the route connecting Leeds and Bradford with Skipton. Some services along the line continue to Morecambe or Carlisle. The route covered by the service was historically part of the Midland Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Rhydding railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Ben Rhydding railway station serves the Ben Rhydding area of Ilkley, West Yorkshire; it is situated about a mile east of the town centre. It is on the Wharfedale Line, between Ilkley and Leeds/Bradford Forster Square, it is served by Class 331 and Class 333 electric multiple units (EMUs) run by Northern Trains, who also manage the station. It is 15.5 miles (24.9 km) north-west of Leeds, and 1-mile (1.6 km) east of Ilkley railway station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilkley railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Ilkley railway station serves Ilkley in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. On the Wharfedale Line, it is served by Class 333 electric trains run by Northern Trains, which also manages the station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipley railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Shipley railway station serves the market town of Shipley in West Yorkshire, England. It is 2+34 miles (4.4 km) north of Bradford Forster Square and 10+34 miles (17.3 km) north-west of Leeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baildon railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Baildon railway station serves the town of Baildon near Shipley in West Yorkshire, England. The station reopened under British Rail on 5 January 1973, by the Chairman of Baildon Council, Arnold Lightowler, having been closed for exactly 20 years. It is situated 4 miles (6 km) north of Bradford Forster Square, on the Wharfedale Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Northern Trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frizinghall railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Frizinghall railway station is situated in the Frizinghall district of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The station, an unstaffed halt 2 miles (3 km) north of Bradford Forster Square is on the Airedale Line, and all trains serving it are operated by Northern Trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saltaire railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Saltaire railway station serves the Victorian model village of Saltaire near Shipley in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated 3+12 miles (6 km) north of Bradford Forster Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bingley railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Bingley railway station is a grade II listed railway station that serves the market town of Bingley in West Yorkshire, England, and is 13.5 miles (21.7 km) away from Leeds and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) away from Bradford Forster Square on the Airedale line operated by Northern Trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keighley railway station</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Keighley railway station serves the market town of Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The station is located on the Airedale line, 17 miles (27 km) north-west of Leeds. It provides electric services to Leeds, Skipton and Bradford Forster Square, operated by Northern, along with longer distance diesel services to Morecambe and Carlisle. The station is split in two: National Rail services operate from platforms 1 and 2, while platforms 3 and 4 are the northern terminus of heritage services to Oxenhope on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

The Leeds and Bradford Railway Company (L&BR) opened a railway line between the towns on 1 July 1846. It extended its line from Shipley through Keighley to Skipton and Colne, in 1847 and 1848.

The Barnoldswick Railway was an English railway company, that constructed a short branch line to Barnoldswick from a junction on the Midland Railway line from Skipton to Colne. It was opened in 1871, and was worked from the outset by the Midland Railway. It was moderately successful in financial terms, and the company was acquired by the Midland Railway in 1899.

The Queensbury lines was the name given to a number of railway lines in West Yorkshire, England, that linked Bradford, Halifax and Keighley via Queensbury. All the lines were either solely owned by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) or jointly by the GNR and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR). The terrain was extremely challenging for railway construction, and the lines were very expensive to build. The lines were

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queensbury railway station</span> Disused railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Queensbury railway station was a station on the Queensbury lines serving the village of Queensbury, West Yorkshire, England. The station was unusual due to its triangular shape, and at its opening the only other examples of this arrangement were Ambergate station in Derbyshire and Earlestown in Lancashire; since then Shipley station, also in West Yorkshire, has gained platforms on all three sides. Of the stations on the Queensbury lines, this was the most ambitious.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway</span> Former UK railway company

The Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway was an early British railway company in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It built a line from Shipley near Bradford through Keighley and Skipton to Colne. The Skipton–Colne Line closed in 1970, but the remainder of the line is still in use today, and once formed part of the Midland Railway's main line route from London to Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thongs Bridge railway station</span> Disused railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Thongs Bridge railway station was the only intermediate stop on the railway line between Brockholes and Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England. Opened in July 1850, the station was temporarily closed in 1865 due to the collapse of Mytholmbridge Viaduct. The station closed to passengers permanently in 1959, closing completely in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Dunstans railway station</span> Disused railway station in West Yorkshire, England

St Dunstans railway station is a closed station in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The station was the location of a three-way junction with platforms on two of the lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shipley Great Northern Railway branch line</span> Disused railway line in West Yorkshire, England

The Shipley Great Northern Railway branch line was a railway line that ran east, south and then westwards from Shipley to Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The route was opened in 1874 to goods traffic and then to passengers in 1875 by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and looped around the eastern edge of Bradford. The GNR arrived after other railways had been established in the West Yorkshire area and many of their lines were heavily reliant on tunnels and grand viaducts, the Shipley and Windhill line being an exception to this, although it did have some steep gradients. The branch extended for 8.5 miles (13.7 km) between the two terminuses of Shipley Windhill and Bradford Exchange. The route as built from Laisterdyke to Shipley was actually only 6.5 miles (10.5 km) as the initial section from Bradford Exchange to Laisterdyke was already in existence as part of the Great Northern Railway's line to Leeds.

Manningham Engine Shed was a railway depot located in the Manningham suburb of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The depot was built to provide steam engines for services leaving Bradford Forster Square station and freight traffic from the Valley Road area of the city. It was also responsible for other sites at Keighley and Ilkley with Manningham itself being a sub-shed of Holbeck.

References

  1. Whitaker, Alan (1986). Bradford railways remembered. Clapham: Dalesman. p. 8. ISBN   0-85206-870-0.
  2. 1 2 Bairstow 2004, p. 15.
  3. Baughan 1987, p. 278.
  4. Haigh, A J (2013). Railways in West Yorkshire : Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield & the West Riding : an illustrated general history of the railways in the West Riding from the grouping to the present time. Xpress Publishing. p. 77. ISBN   978-1-901056-44-0.
  5. The Railway Clearing House handbook of railway stations, 1904 (1 ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. 1970. p. 534. ISBN   0-7153-5120-6.
  6. Bairstow 2004, p. 18.
  7. Bairstow 2004, p. 2.
  8. Bradshaw 1906 at the Internet Archive
  9. Baughan 1987, p. 313.
  10. Shand, Alistair (22 October 2015). "Early days of public transport". Keighley News. Retrieved 19 June 2019.

Sources

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Keighley
Line open, station closed
  Midland Railway
Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway
  Bingley
Line open, station closed