Ardsley railway station

File:Ardsley station Up Local train from Leeds approaching geograph-2317093-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

Approaching the station in 1961

Ardsley railway station was situated on the Great Northern Railway between Tingley and Lofthouse and Outwood on the main line and west of Stanley on the LNER & LMS Methley Joint Railway. It was built to serve the village of East Ardsley near Wakefield in the English county of West Yorkshire.

History

The station was opened by the Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway on 5 October 1857 as part of their Wakefield to Leeds main line. Five days later, it became a junction with the completion of a branch line to Bradford via Morley by the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway. Both lines soon became part of the rapidly expanding Great Northern Railway network in the area and by 1866 the opening of the jointly owned West Riding and Grimsby Railway from Wakefield to Doncaster put the station on the main line between Leeds and London King's Cross. The GNR subsequently became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station was eventually closed by the British Railways Board on 2 November 1964 as part of the Beeching cutbacks, with the line to Bradford following suit on 4 July 1966.

To the south of the station, to the east of the main line was situated the engine shed which provided the passenger locomotives for the Wakefield services and freight locomotives for the colliery traffic generated in the area.

Station site today

Trains still pass the site of the station between Leeds and Wakefield Westgate stations on the Wakefield Line, although little remains of the actual station.

Land adjacent to The Site of Ardsley Station is now developed for 88 residential houses and apartments by Miller Homes.

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| style="background:#; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:0px none; border-bottom:0px none;" |  

| rowspan="1" style="vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-left: 1px #aaa solid; border-right: 1px #aaa solid; border-top:solid 1px #aaa; border-bottom:0px none;" | <div style="height:8px; background-color:#; color:inherit; border:none; margin:0 -5px -2px;">

| style="background:#; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:0px none; border-bottom:0px none;" |   | rowspan="1" style="vertical-align: middle; text-align:center; border-left: 1px #aaa solid; border-right: 0px none; border-top: 1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;"|Stanley |}

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, Template:ISBN
• Haigh, A. (1978 reprint) The Railways of Yorkshire - A New Edition Dalesman Publishing, Clapham, North Yorkshire. Template:ISBN

External links

• Stations on navigable 1947 O.S. map.