Leeds Central railway station was a terminus
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 ...
in
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It was opened in 1854 as a joint station between 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 ...
, 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 ...
, the
Great Northern Railway and the
North Eastern Railway. It replaced the cramped LNW terminus at Wellington Street, which had opened in 1848 with the line to
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...
. It closed in 1967, when its services were moved to
Leeds City
Leeds City Football Club was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before the First World War. It was dissolved in 1919 due to financial irregularities, after which Leeds United was established as a replacement.
History
The club was ...
to consolidate all of Leeds train services in one station.
![Leeds RJD 40](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Leeds_RJD_40.jpg)
The station was not architecturally distinguished and was built above street level. After closure, part of the station site became a
Royal Mail
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, logo = Royal Mail.svg
, logo_size = 250px
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, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
sorting office, later partially redeveloped as the
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
residential development; the remaining half of the former sorting office site was to have been used for
Lumiere, a high
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
, but eventually became the site of the
Central Square office development. A goods lift and a viaduct that approached the station remain extant.
The last train left from Leeds Central on 29 April 1967. This was a Saturday and as there was no Sunday service, the station closed on 1 May 1967. The last train was an early evening service to Harrogate filled by the usual Birmingham RC&W DMU.
Detonators
A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common.
The commercial use of explosives uses electri ...
were placed on the track by railway staff which exploded as the train rolled away from the platform and past the signal box on its final departure.
Further reading
*
*
References
Disused railway stations in Leeds
Former Great Northern Railway stations
Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations
Former London and North Western Railway stations
Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1854
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967
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