New Pudsey railway station is in
Farsley
Farsley is a town in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England to the west of Leeds city centre, east of Bradford. Farsley is situated between the two cities and near the town of Pudsey. Before April 1974, Farsley was pa ...
,
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 ...
, on the
Calder Valley 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 ...
from
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 ...
to
Bradford Interchange,
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 ...
, and
Blackpool North. Lying west of
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 ...
, it serves as a commuter station for the western edge of the Leeds
conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
.
Facilities
![New Pudsey Railway Station - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/New_Pudsey_Railway_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_366686.jpg)
The station is staffed, and the ticket office is open from 05:55 to 19:00 on Mondays to Saturdays. A ticket machine is also available. Step-free access from the booking office to both platforms is provided via ramps to the footbridge that links them. Train running information is available via passenger information screens and P.A announcements. The platforms are long enough to accommodate Intercity trains, and there is a large car park to the south of the station. New Pudsey was originally served by occasional through trains from Bradford Interchange to London Kings Cross. However, after electrification of 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 ...
, through services were routed via
Shipley to
Bradford Forster Square.
History
![New Pudsey station 1979 - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/New_Pudsey_station_1979_-_geograph.org.uk_-_812021.jpg)
Pudsey was originally served by a short branch line running from
Stanningley railway station to
Pudsey Greenside opened in 1878 by the
Great Northern Railway. In 1893 the line was extended through
Greenside Tunnel
Greenside Tunnel is a former railway tunnel in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England.
History
Greenside Tunnel was built when the branch line from Stanningley to Pudsey Greenside was extended towards Laisterdyke, resulting in the line known as Pud ...
to
Laisterdyke
Laisterdyke is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, situated to the east of the city on the border with City of Leeds and located in the Bradford Moor ward and in the Bradford East parliamentary constituency.
Laisterdyke borders Bark ...
, the original curve from Stanningley closed, and another (90°) curve to
Bramley opened forming the ''
Pudsey loop line railway
The Pudsey loop was a railway line in the former West Riding of Yorkshire, England, which served the town of Pudsey and later offered a second connection between Bramley in the east and Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill in the west, in addition to t ...
''. There were two stations on the loop,
Pudsey Lowtown and Pudsey Greenside, conveniently located at either end of the town centre. Both closed on 15 June 1964 as a result of the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
.
This station opened by
British Rail
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 ...
on 6 March 1967 and is located in
Farsley
Farsley is a town in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England to the west of Leeds city centre, east of Bradford. Farsley is situated between the two cities and near the town of Pudsey. Before April 1974, Farsley was pa ...
about north-west of
Pudsey
Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...
town centre. It was opened as a 'new' station for Pudsey; there is no place called New Pudsey.
The station is situated just under a mile west of the location of the former
Stanningley railway station (formerly ''Stanningley for Farsley''), which closed on 1 January 1968,
having supposedly been replaced by New Pudsey, although the two catchment areas were largely different.
New Pudsey was one of the first railway stations to be specifically built as a ''railway station for motorists'', being situated on the convergence of several main roads and the
ring road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
, and after opening was featured in a film by
British Transport Films for this reason.
Services
Eastbound
During Monday to Saturday daytimes, there are four trains an hour to Leeds; in the evenings this service runs twice hourly. One train each hour continues beyond Leeds to
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and a second to
Selby
Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731.
The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...
. On Sundays there is a thrice hourly service with one train each hour continuing to York. From the winter 2019 timetable change, a new service to via Selby has been introduced in place of the former Huddersfield - Bradford - Leeds service (which now only runs on Sundays), restoring through journey opportunities to local stations east of Leeds that were removed in December 2018.
Westbound
During Monday to Saturday daytimes there are four trains an hour to Bradford Interchange and Halifax. Two trains each hour continue to Manchester Victoria (one limited stop, the other serving all stations to , then Rochdale only and now running through to ), one runs to
Blackpool North via and one terminates at
Halifax. The service is thrice-hourly in the evenings with two trains per hour running to Manchester Victoria (one to Chester) and to Blackpool North. From the December 2019 timetable change, Huddersfield passengers now need to change at Bradford as the current through service has been curtailed there on weekdays and Saturdays (though the overall service pattern will remain unchanged, with a Hull to Halifax service taking its place). On Sundays, there are three trains per hour - one each to Manchester, Blackpool North and Huddersfield.
Transport links
The next bus stops are on Stanningley Bypass (express services between Bradford and Leeds and local services between Pudsey Owlcotes Centre and Leeds), in Bradford Road (services to Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax). A stop of the frequent service between Pudsey and Seacroft is located at the corner of Bradford Road and Old Road, approximately from the station.
New Pudsey Station on television
The station was featured in a 1969
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
sketch (''Science Fiction Sketch/Man Turns Into Scotsman'') in which Harold Potter (
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
) is turned into a Scotsman by creatures from the planet Skyron in the galaxy of Andromeda.
Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two P ...
and
Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...
(with Idle in
drag) briefly appear on Platform 1 early in the sketch as Mr and Mrs Samuel Brainsample. After the camera pans off Chapman and Idle, Palin is shown walking up the ramp from the platform toward town. At the beginning of the sketch reference is made to the alien visitors coming "to conquer and destroy the very heart of civilisation", with a fade-in to the sign reading "New Pudsey". Laughter follows.
References
External links
{{West Yorkshire railway stations
Railway stations in Leeds
DfT Category E stations
Railway stations opened by British Rail
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1967
Northern franchise railway stations
Pudsey