The Leeds and Bradford Railway Company (L&BR)The abbreviation L&BR is more commonly seen referring to the London and Birmingham Railway. opened a railway line between the townsLeeds obtained city status in 1893; Bradford became a city in 1897. on 1 July 1846. It extended its line from Shipley through Keighley to Skipton and Colne, in 1847 and 1848.

While the extension was being constructed, the L&BR negotiated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway, with a view to leasing its line to the M&LR. George Hudson, the so-called Railway King, was chairman of the rival Midland Railway at the time and by controversial means, secured the lease of the L&BR for his own company in 1846. Five years later the Midland Railway took over the L&BR company.

The former L&BR network was used by the Midland Railway for its own extension to Carlisle, and with allied companies, into Scotland, and as the original core line became busier and more congested, widening schemes were implemented. The first Leeds terminal station has long been superseded, and the line between Skipton and Colne was closed in 1970, but most of the original network continues in use at the present day.

Origin and construction Before the Leeds and Bradford

In the early nineteenth century Bradford was the seat of the British woollen industry, and the greatest wool centre in the world.Clement E Stretton, The History of the Midland Railway, Methuen & Co, London, 1901, pages 116 to 120 The difficulty for Bradford was the poor state of transport links, although there had been a Bradford Canal from 1774.Charles Hadfield and Gordon Biddle, The Canals Of North West England, volume 1, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1970, , pages 80 and 81 Conveyance of raw materials in and finished goods out by animal power was slow and expensive. In 1840 the best passenger connection between Bradford and the railway network was at Brighouse, over 6 miles away: the demand was such that 40,000 passengers annually used the horse-drawn coach link in 1844.David Joy, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 8: South and West Yorkshire, David St John Thomas, Newton Abbot, second edition 1984, , pages 76 to 78

In the early part of the 1830s, the North Midland Railway was being planned; it was to run from Derby to Leeds; the merchants of Bradford asked the NMR company to extend to their town. However the directors of the NMR stated that building a 72-mile railway was already quite enough for them, and they declined. George Stephenson was the engineer of the NMR and advised the Bradford people that forming their own company for a line would be a practical way forward, but this advice was not acted upon. The North Midland Railway opened throughout to Leeds on 1 July 1840.Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, , page 414

Formation of the Leeds and Bradford Railway

In reaction to the lack of progress, business interests in Bradford decided to form their own company, and they considered themselves fortunate to secure the services of George Stephenson as engineer, and of George Hudson as chairman. Their company's act of Parliament, the (7 & 8 Vict. c. lix), obtained royal assent on 4 July 1844. Authorised share capital was £400,000.E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959, page 86 This was achieved in the face of opposition from rival groups, one of which intended to use atmospheric traction to overcome the difficulty of the steep gradients their line would involve. As part of the Parliamentary process of gaining authorisation, the Leeds and Bradford promoters undertook to build extensions from Shipley to Keighley and from Bradford to Halifax.A Haigh, Railways in West Yorkshire, Dalesman Books, Clapham, second edition 1978, , page 8Martin Bairstow, Railways Through Airedale and Wharfedale, self published by Bairstow, Pudsey, 1985, , page 19

The authorising act also provided for a new Wellington Station in Leeds together with a connection to the North Midland Railway at Hunslet.

Construction and opening The line was 13 miles in length. The terrain was distinctly unfavourable to railway alignment, and Stephenson routed the line north out of Bradford to Shipley, turning east there. There was a 1,300 yard tunnel at Thackley.

The Leeds and Bradford company built "a splendid new station" at Wellington, in Leeds, the first in the centre of Leeds. Up until that time the Midland Railway had been using a terminus station at Hunslet Lane, some distance from the centre of Leeds and "in an unsuitable district", but now was given the facility of using the Leeds and Bradford station, to the advantage of both companies.Joy, Yorkshire, page 39Roy Williams, The Midland Railway: a New History, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1988, , page 52

On 30 May 1846 the contractor had substantially completed the construction of the line, and arranged a day excursion from Hunslet Junction, Leeds to Bradford for the directors and their friends. The formal opening took place on 30 June 1846, and the general opening to the public followed on 1 July 1846. There were no intermediate stations at first. The Bradford station was referred to as "Market Street" until its name was changed to Forster Square in 1924.Joy, Yorkshire, page 78Donald Binns, The Skipton – Colne Railway and the Barnoldswick Branch, Trackside Publications, Skipton, 1995, , page 3

Public services began between Leeds and Bradford on 1 July 1846 with a regular hourly service, 18 trains per day in each direction on a weekday with five each way on Sundays.

Formation of the Midland Railway While the bill for the Leeds and Bradford Railway was in Parliament, the Midland Railway was formed in 1844, by an act of Parliament, the Midland Railway Consolidation Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. xviii), of 10 May 1844. It was created by the amalgamation of the North Midland Railway, the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, and the Midland Counties Railway.Grant, page378 Now the people of Bradford saw that they had another chance, and they petitioned the new Midland Railway to build a branch line to their town. Once again they were rebuffed, as the Midland board said that they "had enough irons in the fire" with the Nottingham to Lincoln line and the Syston to Peterborough line.

Leasing the line In 1845 the Manchester and Leeds Railway was expressing interest in amalgamation with the Leeds and Bradford Railway. A new line across Bradford would be built, linking the present-day Interchange and Forster Square stations. The M&LR was associated with the London and York Railway, which was to become the Great Northern Railway. Suddenly in July 1846 the Leeds and Bradford company withdrew from negotiations, accusing the M&LR of bad faith in drafting the agreements. The Leeds and Bradford immediately courted the Midland Railway. The M&LR had offered to lease the Leeds and Bradford line guaranteeing 10% on its share capital, and it was hardly tenable for the Midland to propose less than that.

George Hudson was the chairman of the Midland Railway at the time, and when the matter came on the shareholders' meeting agenda, he declared that the Midland would offer 10% to the Leeds and Bradford, of which he was also chairman. This was an obvious conflict of interest, which he should have avoided by standing down for the discussion and vote. But in a continuation of the sharp practices for which he became notorious, he faced down the calls for him to do so, and recommended acceptance of the proposal. There was uproar, but a director, John Ellis appealed for calm reflection on the interests of the Midland, and the motion was passed. The Midland would lease the Leeds and Bradford at 10% of its £900,000 share capital, and moreover it would furnish any additional capital required to complete the line. Hudson made a considerable sum of money personally from this, but his reputation was sullied forever.Joy, Yorkshire, pages 62 and 77

Stretton comments that as far as Hudson's conduct was concerned, it "shook his reputation to the very foundation and proved to be the turning point, the beginning of the end of Mr Hudson's great and remarkable railway career".

The process had more public repercussions: the Leeds and Bradford and the M&LR had planned to arrange a through connection between the two Bradford termini; this idea fell away, and the two terminus stations, 300 yards apart, remained forever unconnected.Joy, Yorkshire, page 78

Extension to Skipton and Colne

The Leeds and Bradford Railway had been authorised in 1844, and in the following parliamentary session it obtained authorisation to extend from Shipley to Skipton, there turning south-westward to Colne, where it would make a junction with the East Lancashire Railway. The ELR would give a through connection to Manchester and Liverpool.Joy, Yorkshire, page 61

Another independent company was being projected at this time, the North Western Railway, which was planned to form a junction with the Leeds and Bradford extension line at Skipton, and continue west to Morecambe Bay, making a junction en route with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. The Midland Railway's alliance with the Leeds and Bradford Railway was proving fruitful, by giving access to these proposed connecting lines.

During the parliamentary hearings for the Leeds and Bradford Railway Bill, the company had given an undertaking to extend the line as far as Keighley. In fact the company considered the matter and decided to extend still further, to Skipton and Colne. An end-on junction at Colne with the East Lancashire Railway would give through access to Liverpool and Manchester.Joy, Yorkshire, page 61 This was authorised by the (8 & 9 Vict. c. xxxviii), of 30 June 1845. This was an authorising act of Parliament, but there was never separate company for the extension: the L&BR was leased to the Midland Railway.Carter, pages 107 and 108Binns, page 7

The extension was opened in stages. The 6-mile line from Shipley to Keighley was ready for the Board of Trade inspection by Captain Simmons, which took place on 13 March 1847. Simmons approved the line for opening, and it did so on 16 March 1847.Bairstow, page 20 The line from Keighley to Skipton, 9 miles, was inspected on 28 August 1847, and opened on 8 September 1847.,Haigh, page 9 from a double junction at Shipley to Keighley on 16 March 1847. On 7 September 1847 a single line from Keighley to Skipton was in use; the line was doubled by the end of 1847. The continuation to Colne was opened on 2 October 1848. In April 1849 the connecting Lancashire lines were ready, and express passenger trains started running between Leeds and Liverpool via Colne. At 81 miles in length, the journey took about hours. For a period the LNWR trans-Pennine line was not yet open, so this was a competitive journey time. pages 162-8, 171-5M D Greville, Chronology of Lancashire Railways, Reprinted from the Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, volume 105, 1953, page 197Joy, Yorkshire, page 62G O Holt, revised by Gordon Biddle, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume X: the North West, David St John Thomas, Newton Abbot, 1986, , page 172

In August 1848 both the East Lancashire Railway and the L&BR had agreed that each would work its own line to Colne, and in the following month details were agreed as to the joint station there, which was to be built by the Leeds and Bradford Company. The line between Skipton and Colne opened on 2 October 1848. Although the line was useful in connecting intermediate communities to the railway network, it was seen as primarily a through route between Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Absorbed by the Midland Railway