Sowerby Bridge railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Parameter validation".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "check for deprecated parameters".

Sowerby Bridge railway station serves the town of Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Caldervale Line Script error: No such module "convert". west of Halifax and Script error: No such module "convert". west of Leeds.

History

The original station was opened on 5 October 1840 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, on a site Script error: No such module "convert". further west (on the other side of the River Ryburn) of the current site.[1] Prior to opening, in August 1840, Branwell Brontë was engaged as 'assistant clerk in charge' at Sowerby Bridge, for which his salary was £75 per annum; he transferred to Luddendenfoot on 1 April 1841.[2] The station became a junction from 1 January 1852, when a branch line from nearby Milner Royd Junction to Halifax was opened by the M&L's successor company the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway; this allowed through trains to operate to Template:Rws and eventually Leeds via Stanningley from 1854. Ahead of the opening of the Rishworth branch in the 1880s, a new station was built on the current site[3] - this opened on 1 September 1876.[1]

Regular passenger services along the original M&L main line via Template:Rws (to Template:Rws and Template:Rws) were withdrawn by British Rail on 5 January 1970. Through trains between Manchester & York over the route had ended in the mid-1960s (due to the Beeching Axe), leaving a much-reduced DMU service in later years that started/terminated here and connected with the Calder Valley trains via Bradford. The route remained in use for freight and was subsequently re-opened to passengers on a limited basis in 2000, with an all day service restored in 2007.

A major fire in 1978 resulted in the demolition of most of the buildings by British Rail in 1980. New canopies were erected in 1981 on the remaining platforms, with a ticket office housed in the surviving wing of the 1870s station, however this closed in 1983[3] and the station is now unstaffed.[4] In 2008, the former ticket office building was re-opened as a bar called the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms.[5]

A ticket machine was installed in 2011, allowing passengers to buy tickets before boarding for the first time in almost 30 years. Recent work has seen the installation of an electronic passenger information system (PIS), giving details of forthcoming departures, and the car park enlarged[6] which is currently free to use. Step-free access is available to both platforms via the inclined subway linking them or from adjoining roads.[4]

A volunteer group, The Friends of Sowerby Bridge Railway Station, was founded in 2010, to improve the station's environs.[7]

Accidents and incidents

  • On 22 October 1903, an express passenger train was in collision with a light engine due to a signalman's error. Another passenger train collided with the wreckage at low speed. One person was killed.[8]
  • On 13 January 1963, a diesel train working from Template:Rws to Liverpool caught fire as it entered the tunnel to the west of the station. The 70 passengers de-trained and walked back through the railway to the station. Although the last coach was on fire and the passengers evacuated past the blazing coach, there were no casualties.[9]

Services

Template:Northern (train operating company) route 9 The station now has a twice hourly basic service on weekdays and Saturdays. Eastbound trains run to Leeds via Bradford and via Dewsbury (hourly to each, plus a few peak extras). Westbound there are two trains per hour to Manchester Victoria, one of which continues to Template:Rws and the other to Template:Rws. Weekday service to Chester service via Template:Rws began at the May 2019 timetable change. The York to Template:Rws service that previously stopped here all week now only does so on Monday-Saturday evening peak services and Sundays, which has led to complaints from the local rail user group with regard to the reduction in service levels.[10]

Sundays see an hourly service each way between York and Blackpool North trains (as noted above) and an hourly service between Leeds and Manchester Victoria (which now continues to Chester).[11] All these service go via Halifax and Bradford Interchange, there are no services from Sowerby Bridge via Dewsbury on a Sunday.[12]

Route

At Milner Royd Junction, approximately a quarter of a mile to the east of the lines to Halifax and Brighouse diverge. Immediately east of the station, the dismantled branch line to Ripponden and Rishworth diverged to the southwest, until its closure in 1958.[13] This had at one time its own separate wooden platform south of the main station and linked to it by a short footpath.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Mytholmroyd   Script error: No such module "If empty".<div style="height:8px; background-color:#Script error: No such module "If empty".; color:inherit; border:none; margin:0 -5px -2px;">   Halifax
    Brighouse
Disused railways
Luddendenfoot   Script error: No such module "If empty".<div style="height:8px; background-color:#Script error: No such module "If empty".; color:inherit; border:none; margin:0 -5px -2px;">   Copley
  Script error: No such module "If empty".<div style="height:8px; background-color:#Script error: No such module "If empty".; color:inherit; border:none; margin:0 -5px -2px;">   Greetland
Watson's Crossing Halt style="background:#Template:LYR colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |   L&YR
Rishworth branch 		style="background:#Template:LYR colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |   Terminus

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ December timetable update Waring, J.S; "HADRAG" website article; Retrieved 18 December 2019
  11. ↑ Template:NRtimes
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:Routemap Template:West Yorkshire railway stations

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Sowerby_Bridge_railway_station&oldid=2128996"