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In Alan Whitaker’s book Bradford Railways Remembered he wrote of the previous station built in the area at Adolphus Street, which was nearer to the city centre than the proposed new station site at Essex Street: “This was a station which never should have been. It was inconveniently sited on a hillside overlooking Bradford city centre and within a year of its opening on August 1, 1854 the Great Northern Railway realised its poor location was deterrent to passengers.
“The company found that the vast majority of Leeds bound passengers preferred to use the Midland trains (from what became Foster Square Station) even though it was a longer journey.”
Great Northern soon decided they needed a line into Bradford to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’s station at Drake Street (later Exchange Station) though it took until January 1867 for passenger services to be transferred there.
A continuous transportation link from Bradford centre would be the only way a station at Essex Street could be a success.
M Toft, Windsor Avenue, Silsden
