Bradford Forster Square railway station explained

Bradford Forster Square
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Bradford, City of Bradford
Country:England
Coordinates:53.797°N -1.7529°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:Northern Trains
Platforms:3 (4 projected)
Code:BDQ
Zone:3
Classification:DfT category C2
Transit Authority:West Yorkshire (Metro; 19??-2014)
Original:Leeds and Bradford Railway
Years1:1846
Events1:Opened
Years2:1853
Events2:Rebuilt
Years3:1890
Events3:Rebuilt
Years4:1990
Events4:Rebuilt on new site
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Bradford Forster Square railway station serves Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The majority of services to and from the station use electric multiple units operated by Northern Trains; they run on the Airedale line to, the Wharfedale line to and the Leeds-Bradford line to Leeds.

The other main railway station in the city is Bradford Interchange, which is about 10 minutes on foot from Forster Square; from here, services operate along the Calder Valley line to Leeds, Halifax,,, and London King's Cross.

The Bradford Crossrail proposal to link the two stations is currently viewed as unlikely to proceed.

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 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 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.

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 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.[5]

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 and Wharfedale lines, 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:

Stationmasters

Station name

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:

W. E. Forster died in 1886 [14] [15] and when the nearby Central Post Office opened in 1887, Forster Square, between the Railway Station and the Post Office, had recently been named.[16]

Throughout the 19th century, contemporary directories and maps either used the railway company name or a nearby street to identify the station. In 1852 it was the "Leeds and Bradford Railway Station".[17] In 1863 the location was "Midland Railway, Bottom of Kirkgate".[18]

The date of the name change has not yet been identified. In 1901, it was "The Leeds and Bradford railway ... is leased by the Midland Railway Company, and its station (called the "Midland" station) is at the bottom of Kirkgate."[19] Again in 1908[20] and 1921[21] it was still the "Midland Station". By 1934 the station name had changed to "Forster Square Station (L.M.S.R)."[22]

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, and . During Monday to Saturday daytimes, trains operate every 30 minutes to Leeds and hourly on the other two routes. 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 and ; a single early direct service to at 06:41 runs from here since the May 2022 timetable change, but there's no balancing return service.

On Sundays, trains run hourly between Bradford and Leeds all day (until the end of service) and to both Skipton and Ilkley. 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 operates two services each way (only one on Sundays) per day via Leeds and the East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross. In January 2024, £24 million was allocated for a fourth platform at the station to allow LNER to provide seven services a day for Bradford's 2025 City of Culture event. The new platform is projected to be complete by the end of 2024.[23]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Whitaker, Alan. Myland. Brian. Railway Memories No. 4: Bradford. Bellcode Books. 1-871233-03-8.
  2. Book: Sheeran, George. 1994. Railway Buildings of West Yorkshire, 1812–1920. Keele, Staffs. Ryburn Publishing. 1-85331-100-6.
  3. Book: Dixon. Hindle. 1871. Elvira. Willmott. 1987. The Ryburn Map of Victorian Bradford [Plan of the Town of Bradford]. Keele, Staffs. Ryburn Publishing. 1-85331-004-2.
  4. Book: Ordnance Survey 1906. Bradford. Sheet 216.08. Alan Godfrey Maps. 1989. 0-85054-281-2.
  5. News: . £60,000 station improvements . Bradford Observer . England . 9 September 1953 . 7 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  6. . 1914 . 1859–1866 . Midland Railway Miscellaneous Depts . 298 . 10 March 2021.
  7. News: . Death of the Bradford Midland Stationmaster . Bradford Daily Telegraph . England . 11 August 1897 . 10 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  8. News: . Promotion for the Bradford Midland Station Master . Bradford Weekly Telegraph . England . 30 September 1899 . 10 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  9. News: . Bradford Midland Station Master . Yorkshire Evening Post . England . 14 April 1908 . 10 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  10. News: . Northern Items . Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer . England . 9 September 1930 . 10 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  11. News: . New Stationmaster . Yorkshire Evening Post . England . 11 July 1936 . 10 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  12. News: . Mr. David Mathieson . 8 December 1948 . England . 11 July 1936 . 10 March 2021 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription .
  13. Book: Dewick, Tony. 2002. Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names. Ian Allan Publishing. 0-7110-2798-6.
  14. Statue in Victoria Embankment Gardens, London
  15. Tablet in Westminster Abbey
  16. News: Central Post Office (St. Peters House), Forster Square, Bradford . 26 October 2023 . Leeds Mercury . 3 September 1887.
  17. Bradford Sheet 5 Series: Ordnance Survey, Large Scale Town Plans (1:1056), Surveyed 1848, Published 1852. National Library of Scotland
  18. Jones's Mercantile Directory, 1863 P26. Pub. Jones & Proud, Bradford Family History Society
  19. Kelly's Directory of Bradford and Suburbs, 1901 P1, Bradford Family History Society
  20. Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mile. Revised: 1905 to 1906. Published: 1908. National Library of Scotland
  21. Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mileRevised: 1915 Published: 1921. National Library of Scotland
  22. Ordnance Survey, 25 inch to the mile Revised: 1932 to 1934 Published: 1934. National Library of Scotland
  23. News: Hyde . Nathan . £24m boost for rail link to capital . The Yorkshire Post . 31 January 2024 . 1. 0963-1496.