Bradford Forster Square Railway Station
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Bradford Forster Square railway station serves
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 ...
,
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. The majority of services to/from the
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
use Class 333 electrified trains operated by
Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...
, on the Airedale Line to
Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...
, the Wharfedale Line to
Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...
and the Leeds-Bradford Line to
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
. 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 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 rou ...
to Leeds, Halifax,
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
,
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 co ...
,
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
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

The first rail service into Bradford was opened by the
Leeds and Bradford Railway The Leeds and Bradford Railway Company (L&BR)The abbreviation L&BR is more commonly seen referring to the London and Birmingham Railway. opened a railway line between the townsLeeds obtained city status in 1893; Bradford became a city in 1897. on ...
on 1 July 1846. The line approached the town from the north, up
Bradford Dale The River Bradford is a river in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. Its source is on Gratton Moor and after passing below Youlgreave it joins the River Lathkill at Alport. Less than in length, its waters are very clear due to the ...
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 Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...
via
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
and
Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
. The first railway station building was an imposing neoclassical building designed by William Andrews. By 1853, the
Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
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 An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Charles Trubshaw Charles Trubshaw FRIBA (1840 – 15 February 1917) was an architect specifically associated with railway buildings on the London and North Western Railway and Midland Railway lines. Career He trained as an architect in the office of his father, ...
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, but local maps and directories do not confirm this (see Station name below). By 1906,
Forster Square Forster Square in central Bradford was redeveloped in the (2006) Broadway development, but gives its name to Bradford Forster Square railway station and a retail park. History Forster Square was laid out in the late-19th century at the bottom ...
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. In March 1963, the
Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...
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 City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England ...
), 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 Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yor ...
(now known as
Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
) 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 The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incu ...
, 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 The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
. More recently, the pedestrian approach from Cheapside has been redeveloped, and ticket barriers installed. Historically, services have been as follows:


Stationmasters

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


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: * According to Alan Whitaker, it was 'Market Street' from the rebuilding in 1890 until 1924. * Tony Dewick, 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 nor the 1906 OS map 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 Drake Street is a street in Admiralty, Hong Kong. It was named after the Royal Navy ship HMS Drake. A portion of the Admiralty MTR station lies underneath the street. See also *List of streets and roads in Hong Kong The following are incomple ...
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 Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...
and London North Eastern Railway. Most trains are run by Northern; these are towards Leeds (on the Leeds-Bradford Line), (on the Airedale Line) and (on the Wharfedale Line). 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 operate two services each way (only one on Saturdays and Sundays) per day via Leeds and the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
to London King's Cross.


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

{{Railway stations served by Northern Trains Railway stations in Bradford DfT Category C2 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1890 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1890 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1990 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1990 Northern franchise railway stations Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway Buildings and structures in Bradford Transport in Bradford 1846 establishments in England Charles Trubshaw railway stations