Ardsley railway station

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.

Ardsley
LNER C14 7450 at Ardsley locomotive depot in 1947
General information
Location	East Ardsley, City of Leeds England
Coordinates	53.732600°N 1.537800°W / 53.732600; -1.537800
Grid reference	SE305263
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
5 October 1857	Station opens
2 November 1964	Station closes

Approaching the station in 1961

History

The station was opened by the Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds Railway on 5 October 1857^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Tingley or Beeston		London and North Eastern Railway Great Northern Railway		Lofthouse and Outwood
		London and North Eastern Railway Methley Joint Railway		Stanley

Notes

1. Body, p. 29
2. Haig, p. 11
3. Body, p. 46

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Haigh, A. (1978 reprint) The Railways of Yorkshire - A New Edition Dalesman Publishing, Clapham, North Yorkshire. ISBN 0-85206-459-4
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.

External links

• Stations on navigable 1947 O.S. map.