Sowerby Bridge's original railway station opened in 1841. It was inconveniently sited and the public lobbied the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway asking for a new one.
They got it in 1876. The building below was opened on September 1st 1876 and was deemed a great improvement, although there was criticism that there was still no easy access from Wharfe Street, the town's main thoroughfare.
This station building was destined to last 104 years, but the last phase of it's existence was a shoddy and derelict one.
The picture dates from September 1965. During that decade, Sowerby Bridge was a regular prizewinner in a 'Best Kept Station' contest.
Nick Lambert
By the early 1970's however, it declined greatly, "drowned in diesel-age dismality", according to one local critic.
Staff had been pruned and the station was no longer manned round the clock. The vandals moved in and the long slow decline of Sowerby Bridge station began.
In 1978 there was a serious fire which wrecked the booking hall and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. British Rail made only the most basic repairs and a year after the fire, the station was being described as a "bomb site".
British Rail decided that demolition was the answer and despite a rearguard action by Sowerby Bridge Civic Society, two thirds of the station was rapidly demolished in November 1980.
During the 1990s, some improvements were made to what was left of the station, but they did not prevent it being voted the worst unmanned stsion in West Yorkshire
Courier 1957
Courier 1958
Nick Lambert
Graham Jagger
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