History
When the Leeds and Bradford Railway built the first railway link into Bradford in 1846, they did not take the shortest route, but a flatter and slightly longer one up Airedale to Shipley then south along Bradforddale to Bradford. They built stations at several places along the route, including Shipley, which opened in July 1846.
In 1847, the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway was built from Shipley to Keighley and Skipton, creating the triangle of lines which surrounds today's station. The north curve was opened in 1848 and was on a much tighter alignment than the present 1883 curve. The original curve would pass through the car park.
The Leeds and Bradford was absorbed by the Midland Railway in 1851, and the Midland successively became part of the LMS and British Railways.
The Ordnance Survey map of Shipley in 1852 (surveyed between 1847 and 1850) shows the station some 500 m south of the present one, where Valley Road crosses the line to Bradford. However, an article in the Bradford and Wakefield Observer in February 1849 describes the station in its present position. It is not clear if it was moved in its first few years or there is an error on the map.
The present station was built at some time between 1883 and 1892, nestling between the western (Bradford-Skipton) and eastern (Leeds-Bradford) arms of the triangle. It was designed by the Midland's architect Charles Trubshaw. Platform 3 (on the Bradford-Leeds arm) was lengthened in 1990, to serve full-length InterCity trains. The northern (Leeds-Skipton) arm of the triangle is distant from the main station and had no platforms until May 1979. Before then, trains on the Leeds-Shipley-Skipton run had to come through the station to the Bradford branch and reverse. From 1979, there was a single platform there, on the inside of the triangle, so Skipton-Leeds trains had to cross over to reach it. The current platform 1 on the north side was built in 1992.
It is now one of two remaining triangular stations in the UK: the other being Earlestown station in Merseyside. Ambergate station was previously triangular but only retains one platform and Queensbury station was closed to passengers in 1955.
Until the Beeching Axe closures of 1965, the next stations from Shipley were Saltaire on the Airedale Line to the west, Baildon on the Wharfedale Line to the North, Apperley Bridge in the east towards Leeds, and Frizinghall in the south towards Bradford. Baildon station closed in 1953, but on 20 March 1965, the other three of these stations closed, along with another dozen stations and the local service between Bradford and Leeds. Most of the services through Shipley were under threat and hung in the balance until the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive adopted them in the 1970s. Three of these adjacent stations have since been reopened (Baildon on 5 January 1973, Saltaire in April 1984, and Frizinghall in 1987). There are currently no intermediate stations between Shipley and Leeds although there are approved plans to reopen the station at Apperley Bridge and construct a new station at Kirkstall Forge by 2012.
Between 1875 and 1931, there was a second station, Shipley and Windhill railway station on Leeds Road very close to Shipley Station.
Read more about this topic: Shipley Railway Station
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