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Where is this old photo - West Yorkshire?

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crosscity

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Platform 3 was always used by trains towards Bradford/Leeds/Harrogate until it was closed in the rationalisation. Then the island platforms 1 & 2, which used to be served by trains to Manchester and Huddersfield, became used by Bradford trains on platform 2 and Manchester trains on platform 1, and has remained thus until the present day - a situation now becoming unacceptable with the increase in trains [when the rationalisation took place, there was just an hourly service in both directions, with trains to Huddersfield [and Penistone] having been withdrawn.

When the Calder Valley was turned over to dmu operation in 1962, the steam-hauled Bradford/Leeds portion working at Low Moor was abandoned, allowing the closure of Low Moor, as the dmus could easily reverse in Bradford Exchange with little extra journey time being necessary. The opportunity was also taken to combine the existing Bradford Exchange/Leeds/Harrogate service, [which originated with the first dmus, the Derby Lightweights introduced c.1954], with the new Calder Valley service, thus creating a Liverpool Exchange/Manchester Victoria/Bradford/Leeds/Harrogate service.

It worked out very neatly - trains departing Liverpool at x30 past the even hour, x25 [and every hour] from Manchester, arriving Bradford x30, departing x35 past the next hour, arriving Leeds Central x57 and Harrogate x25 the next hour; returning at x35, Leeds x00/06, Bradford x25/x30 and Manchester x30 the following hour.

Most services during the day ran through to Harrogate but were curtailed at Leeds during the early morning, after tea-time and all day Sunday.

This pattern was then cut-back around 1965-66 as you say -[I'd gone away to university at that stage and lost touch with the local scene], and became the basic one train per hour, Manchester to Leeds you mention.

Further information can be found on the RailcarUK site:-

https://www.railcar.co.uk/type/class-110/operations
This is really great information. I never realised the steam service from Halifax to Leeds and Bradford involved portion working. I presume the Leeds bit went via the Bowling Jct-Laisterdyke line. How did portion-working work the other way without a reversing movement to join the two together? Was there more than one steam working per hour, so that the new dmu service was a reduction in service?

As to me thinking Leeds trains left platform 4, I'll put that down to memory lapse - it was more than fifty years ago!
 

Welshman

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There was only one steam working per hour.

The service of 3 coaches from Leeds left at x55 and, travelling via the Laisterdyke-Bowling Junction spur as you rightly presume, arrived Low Moor in the main up platform approx. x15 the next hour. There the tank engine unhooked and ran clear, to return via the down line to the mpd, as the service from Bradford [leaving at x13] arrived about x20 the other side of the platform, hauled by the train engine. After passengers had boarded/alighted and the shunter had entered the rearmost vestibule, the train ran forward on to the Halifax line and once clear of the points and shunting signal, was guided back on to the front of the Leeds portion, and after coupling and removing the boards restoring a through gangway between the portions, the train was away about x25.

It was a slick operation [which probably wouldn't be allowed now even if it were necessary], but meant passengers from Leeds spent about 10 minutes surveying the wonders of Low Moor and wondering what on earth was happening! Hence the dmus with their reversal in Bradford added no extra time to journeys from Leeds to Halifax and westwards, and at least gave the thrill of travelling non-stop through Low Moor, even if only at about 45 mph!
 

Bevan Price

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Your first one [#28] looks like Chester General, and the second [#29] Llangollen - looking towards Corwen.
Agree about Chester General. Train entering what is now Platform 4 after passing under the (now removed) footbridge at the west end of the station. There were once three footbridges here; the other "removed" footbridge was at the east end of the station.
 

crosscity

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I'm scanning some old photos taken by a deceased friend and I've come across this one that I can't identify. I'm pretty sure it's in West Yorkshire, but I can't place it. At left there's a platform sign - 5 & 6, so clearly a big through station. There's a totem, but you can't read it.

Does anyone have any idea where my friend was?

There was only one steam working per hour.

The service of 3 coaches from Leeds left at x55 and, travelling via the Laisterdyke-Bowling Junction spur as you rightly presume, arrived Low Moor in the main up platform approx. x15 the next hour. There the tank engine unhooked and ran clear, to return via the down line to the mpd, as the service from Bradford [leaving at x13] arrived about x20 the other side of the platform, hauled by the train engine. After passengers had boarded/alighted and the shunter had entered the rearmost vestibule, the train ran forward on to the Halifax line and once clear of the points and shunting signal, was guided back on to the front of the Leeds portion, and after coupling and removing the boards restoring a through gangway between the portions, the train was away about x25.

It was a slick operation [which probably wouldn't be allowed now even if it were necessary], but meant passengers from Leeds spent about 10 minutes surveying the wonders of Low Moor and wondering what on earth was happening! Hence the dmus with their reversal in Bradford added no extra time to journeys from Leeds to Halifax and westwards, and at least gave the thrill of travelling non-stop through Low Moor, even if only at about 45 mph!
Thanks to the OP for posting the two Halifax photos taken by his friend, and to Welshman for his detailed and fascinating replies to my queries.
 

jp4712

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One more, not a mystery one because I know exactly where it is but let’s see who gets it first! In truth it’s not a hard one.
 

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jp4712

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Nope - Irwell Street (Salford Goods station).

Last one, just to say thank you - the location is no mystery being at Manchester London Road. But what a photo!
 

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Revaulx

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Nope - Irwell Street (Salford Goods station).
So it is; the new building rising in the background is the Granada Studios. Have you got a date?

The corner building in the centre of the photo has miraculously survived, surrounded for decades by either dereliction or (at best) second rate new buildings. It has recently been incorporated into a very classy new development.
Last one, just to say thank you - the location is no mystery being at Manchester London Road. But what a photo!
I particularly enjoy the rickety wooden shed on the right. The AWS ramps look pretty rickety also.
 

bishdunster

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So it is; the new building rising in the background is the Granada Studios. Have you got a date?

The corner building in the centre of the photo has miraculously survived, surrounded for decades by either dereliction or (at best) second rate new buildings. It has recently been incorporated into a very classy new development.

I particularly enjoy the rickety wooden shed on the right. The AWS ramps look pretty rickety also.
I cant see any AWS ramps, just the protective covers over the FPLs :rolleyes:
 

Revaulx

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I cant see any AWS ramps, just the protective covers over the FPLs :rolleyes:
You could be right! Still rickety though.

Any idea when AWS was installed on the WCML? It certainly hadn’t been at the time of the Harrow crash in 1952, and presumably this photo isn’t a lot later than that. Did it appear on electrification?
 

WesternLancer

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Nope - Irwell Street (Salford Goods station).

Last one, just to say thank you - the location is no mystery being at Manchester London Road. But what a photo!
So is this Piccadily now - which plaform would that be coming out of?
 

DelW

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So it is; the new building rising in the background is the Granada Studios. Have you got a date?
The Ford Cortina mk1 on the left dates it to no earlier than late 1962, though I can't help with the other end of the range.
(My first car was a 1964 Cortina, bought in 1972)
 

WesternLancer

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Loads of character in some of those recently posted shots, once again very nice to see.
 
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