Bradley railway station served the district of

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

until closure in 1950.

History

Bradley station was opened in 1847 along with Huddersfield railway station, as the first section completed of the new

Huddersfield and Manchester Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 in rail transport, 1846 and 1922 in rail transport, 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdo ...

. Previously, Huddersfield had been by-passed by the existing east–west route, the

Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...

which had opened in 1840. That line instead had closely followed the even gradients of the River Calder, which left Huddersfield to be served with a station at

Cooper Bridge Kober Bridge (, Kubri Kūbir) is a bridge for road traffic that links the neighbourhood of al-Riadh in Khartoum with Kafouri in the industrial city Khartoum North across the Blue Nile in central Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sū ...

about distant. The new line ran through the town itself, with Bradley station to the east of it, where the line divided to meet the existing Manchester and Leeds route in a triangular junction, allowing trains to continue on eastwards via

Mirfield Mirfield () is a town and civil parish in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road between Brighouse and Dewsbury. At the 2011 census it had a population of 19,563. Mirfield f ...

towards Dewsbury, Wakefield and Leeds, or westwards via

Brighouse Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 m ...

up the Calder valley. The Manchester and Leeds Railway (from 1847 the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

) had been closely involved with the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway; but in 1848 it was the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

that took over the line and completed its connection from Manchester to Huddersfield via

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...

and the

Standedge tunnel The Standedge Tunnels () are four parallel tunnels through the Pennine hills at the Standedge crossing between Marsden in Kirklees, West Yorkshire and Diggle in Oldham, Greater Manchester in northern England. Three are railway tunnels (cont ...

and its new line through to Leeds through the centre of Dewsbury. The LNWR still had to work together with the L&Y, however, as the LNWR depended on running powers over L&Y rails from

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was ...

to Stalybridge and between Bradley and Dewsbury, over the former Manchester and Leeds section of track. The L&Y, in turn, used the LNWR track through Bradley to run trains onwards via Huddersfield onto a new line it constructed via

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 22,909 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Barnsley, n ...

, where it met the MS&LR line south via

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. Additional nearby destinations opened up when the L&Y opened its Pickle Bridge Line in 1881 to

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

via

Clifton Road Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia, ...

; and when LNWR opened a new line in 1900 to Leeds up the Spen valley, to reduce congestion on the shared L&Y section of track. These routes survived the 1923 amalgamation, when all became part of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

. However, under

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

both were subsequently closed in the 1950s, and Bradley station itself closed in 1950. However, the track through it remains an important link in the

Huddersfield Line The Huddersfield line is the main railway line between the English cities of Leeds and Manchester, via Huddersfield. It is one of the busiest MetroTrain lines. The route travels south-south-west from Leeds through Dewsbury. After a short west ...

, and since the year 2000 also the

Caldervale Line The Calder Valley line (also previously known as the Caldervale line) is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes ...

. This real station should not be confused with the fictional station featured in the TV series '' How We Used To Live'', which served the equally fictional town of Bradley (though also located in West Yorkshire) and was depicted as part of the

LMS LMS may refer to: Science and technology * Labeled magnitude scale, a scaling technique * Learning management system, education software * Least mean squares filter, producing least mean square error * Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer * Lenz ...

References

Sources

External links

Photo of Bradley station
{{rail end Disused railway stations in Kirklees Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1849 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1950 1847 establishments in England