page_title: Apperley Bridge railway station
section_title: Original station
hierarchical_section_title: Apperley Bridge railway station / Original station
caption_attribution_description: Pre-1914 photograph of the old Apperley Bridge railway station building, of around 1847.
context_page_description: Apperley Bridge station is situated in Bradford on the line between Leeds and Shipley, West Yorkshire, England. It serves the district of Apperley Bridge in the north-east of the city.
  The station opened in 2015. A previous station with the same name was opened in a different location in 1846 but closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching Axe.
context_section_description: The Leeds and Bradford Railway opened on 30 June 1846. At first, there were no intermediate stations. Temporary stations were provided, including Apperley Bridge, which opened some time during July 1846. A permanent structure followed about a year later. It comprised two platforms, partly covered by an overall roof. The main building ran parallel to the railway on the south side up at road level. A principal customer was Woodhouse Grove School, whose land had been crossed by the Railway. About 1849, the railway agreed to purchase gas from the school to light the station.
  The Leeds and Bradford Railway was leased to the Midland Railway from just before its opening, an event of some importance in terms of railway politics. It contributed to the downfall of George Hudson and helped ensure that Bradford never had a through railway. It had previously been thought that the Leeds and Bradford might join with the Manchester & Leeds Railway.
  The railway was widened to four tracks in about 1900, taking more land from Woodhouse Grove School, who used the money to build a swimming baths. The station was enlarged to four platforms, with a distinctive wooden building above at road level. The original station building was demolished when the cutting was widened to accommodate the new "fast lines" on the south side. Platform four, on the up slow line, remained the original of 1847 as there was not room to develop it. The other platforms, number 1 on the down fast line and numbers 2 and 3, the island between the up fast and down slow, were longer, wider and higher. Steps were needed to board trains on platform 4. There were canopies above all four platforms.
  The station became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, and passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was transferred to the North Eastern Region in 1957 and gained ten tangerine totem signs about 1961.
  A goods yard operated in the angle between the main line and the Ilkley branch. It handled domestic coal until closure in June 1964. By that time the cattle dock was overgrown. A small housing estate now stands on the site. The passenger station gained an enhanced service, almost at regular intervals, when diesel multiple units were introduced in January 1959. Just one stopping train remained steam-hauled, the 6.24 pm to Leeds, which conveyed more parcel vans than  passenger stock. It was named the "Derby Slow" and continued to Derby after a lengthy pause at Leeds.
  The station was used by about 80 passengers a day, that is 80 joining and 80 alighting. With 40 stopping trains, that was an average of two per train, but a total usage (by current calculations of "footfall") of over 50,000 journeys a year.
  The original station was closed by the British Railways Board, as a result of the Beeching Axe, at about 9.30 pm on 20 March 1965. The station handled parcels by passenger train right up to the final day. The delivery area was then transferred to Guiseley station.
caption: Old Apperley Bridge station building, before 1914
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