Woodlesford railway station serves Woodlesford and Rothwell in

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 ...

. It lies on the

Hallam Line The Hallam Line is a railway connecting Leeds and Sheffield via Castleford in the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England. It is a slower route from Leeds to Sheffield than the Wakefield line. Services on this line are operated by N ...

and the Pontefract Line, south of .

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but a self-service ticket machine is provided to allow passengers to buy before travelling or collect advance purchase tickets. The platforms are staggered either side of the (now disused) foot crossing, with the Leeds-bound platform the more northerly of the two. Waiting shelters, timetable posters and digital CIS displays are provided on each platform, with automated announcements also offered to give train running information. Step-free access is available to both platforms (via the ramps on the footbridge for platform 2).

Service

Monday to Saturdays there is a half-hourly service 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 popul ...

and an hourly service to

Sheffield Sheffield is a 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 historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

on the

and hourly towards

Knottingley Knottingley is a market town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the old A1 road before it was bypassed as the A1(M). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 13,503, inc ...

on the Pontefract Line. A single through train to runs in the evening. Sundays, there is an hourly service to Leeds and train every two hours to Sheffield and Knottingley respectively. Woodlesford station

History

The station was opened in 1840 and formed part of the original

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at wha ...

from

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 g ...

built by

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the ...

. During the early 20th century, coal trains from the nearby Water Haigh colliery provided regular goods traffic, as did the Armitage Quarries and Bentley's Yorkshire Brewery which had their own sidings. Parcels headed for the nearby town of Rothwell were unloaded here. For much of its life, the station had a

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 ama ...

building on the northbound platform that housed the booking hall, waiting room and station master's office, along with a signal box (dating from 1899) at the end of the southbound platform. Both were demolished in the early 1970s - the former in 1971 (after the station had been downgraded to an unmanned halt the previous year) and the latter after its abolition in January 1972. Woodlesford station 2

In late 2010 a footbridge was erected at the station to replace the crossing.

Accidents and incidents

In 1850, a train was in a rear-end collision with an excursion train at the station. The cause was a signal not being lit at night.

References

External links

* The Story of Woodlesford Station http://www.woodlesfordstation.co.uk {{West Yorkshire railway stations Railway stations in Leeds DfT Category F1 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Northern franchise railway stations Rothwell, West Yorkshire