Thwaites railway station

Thwaites railway station was a railway station located just east of Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, on the Midland Railway line through the Aire Valley between Keighley and Shipley. It opened to traffic in 1892 and closed 17 years later in 1909 due to poor patronage.

Thwaites
Site of Thwaites railway station
LocationKeighley, City of Bradford
England
Coordinates 53.8687°N 1.8872°W / 53.8687; -1.8872
Grid referenceSE075413
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyMidland Railway
Key dates
1 June 1892 (1892-06-01)Station opened
1 July 1909Station closed

History

The Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway (L&BER) opened up from Shipley to Keighley in 1847.[1] By 1846, amalgamations had seen the L&BER become part of the Midland Railway (MR) The population centres in the Aire Valley were served by the line at Shipley, Bingley and Keighley. Demands from local people that the MR build a station at Crossflatts went unheeded, but they did build a station at Thwaites, a suburb in the eastern part of Keighley.[2]

The station opened in 1892 during a period of improvements on the line; Bingley railway station was resited in 1892 and the widening of the line between Bingley and Thwaites Junction was started at that time.[3] Thwaites railway station was only open for a mere 17 years before it was closed by the Midland Railway in 1909.[4] The station was a small concern being able to handle only passenger and parcels traffic;[5] no goods sidings were installed at the station, although just east of the station was the Keighley Gas Works[6] and Thwaites Junction,[7] where the line ran along a quadruple track section to the outskirts of Bingley railway station.[2]

Falling passenger numbers and dwindling income led the MR to close the station. In the Bradshaw timetable for 1896, only two trains per day stopped at the station.[8] The MR had hoped that the Keighley Tramway would be extended to Thwaites, so a station was deemed to no longer be necessary.[9] The tramway never extended into Thwaites itself, and the tram system was abolished in Keighley by 1925. Thereafter, buses from Keighley ran past the site.[10]

References
  1. Whitaker, Alan (1986). Bradford railways remembered. Clapham: Dalesman. p. 8. ISBN 0-85206-870-0.
  2. Bairstow 2004, p. 15.
  3. Baughan 1987, p. 278.
  4. Haigh, A J (2013). Railways in West Yorkshire : Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield & the West Riding : an illustrated general history of the railways in the West Riding from the grouping to the present time. Xpress Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-901056-44-0.
  5. The Railway Clearing House handbook of railway stations, 1904 (1 ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. 1970. p. 534. ISBN 0-7153-5120-6.
  6. Bairstow 2004, p. 18.
  7. Bairstow 2004, p. 2.
  8. Bradshaw 1906 at the Internet Archive
  9. Baughan 1987, p. 313.
  10. Stand, Alistair (22 October 2015). "Early days of public transport". Keighley News. Retrieved 19 June 2019.

Sources
  • Bairstow, Martin (2004). Railways through Airedale and Wharfedale. Farsley: Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-28-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Baughan, Peter E (1987). The Midland Railway north of Leeds; the Leeds Settle Carlisle Line and its branches (2 ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8852-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Keighley
Line open, station closed		   Midland Railway
Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway		   Bingley
Line open, station closed
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