Station Name: BRADFORD EXCHANGE

 

[Source: Chris Armour]
Date opened: 9.5.1850
Location: On the south side of Hall Ings
Company on opening: Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway/Great Northern Railway (joint)
Date closed to passengers: 14.1.1973
Date closed completely: 14.1.1973
Company on closing: British Railways (North Eastern Region)
Present state: Demolished, but the part of the perimeter wall and the former entrance steps still remain.
County: Yorkshire
OS Grid Ref: SE166330
Date of visit: January 2005

Notes: The original Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway terminus in Bradford was situated at Adolphus street, but the facilities were inadequate and inconveniently situated. The station was closed to passengers in 1867 and the line was extended into Exchange station situated closer to the city centre near to the wool exchange, after which it was named.

By the 1880's this too was outgrown and a 'new' 10 platform Exchange station was built on the site. The terminus was modeled on London Kings Cross with two arched roofs, each 100 feet wide and 450 feet long. It was a joint project between the L&YR & the Great Northern. Each company had five platforms which were operated independently from each other; crossing over meant using Mill Lane junction half a mile up the 1 in 50 gradient out of the station. There were two separate booking offices, an arrangement which continued until January 1940.

By the 1970's, the station was deemed too large for the volume of transport using it, and in 1973 the station was closed and replaced by a smaller four platform station fifty yards up the track. The adjoining Bridge Street goods depot was demolished around the same time and a bus & coach station was built on the site. The old station was demolished in 1976 and the site was used as a car park and in 1983 the new station was renamed Bradford Interchange. The new crown court was built on the site of the original station in 2000.


Bradford Exchange Station in spring 1967
Photo by Gary Miller




Bradford Exchange Station in the early 1970's

Bradford Exchange Station in June 1973, shortly after the track was lifted
P
hoto by Nigel Brassington

An entrance to Bradford Exchange Station still extant in January 2005
P
hoto by Chris Armour

Aerial view of Bradford Exchange Station in about 1965. The site of the new station is the area of cleared land to the right

1976

1976

2005


Click on thumbnail to enlarge

 

 

 

[Source: Chris Armour]





Last updated: Friday, 13-Feb-2009 17:36:50 GMT
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