Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Railways, trams, buses, etc.
martinu
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Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by martinu »

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/tra ... ath-leeds/ talks about the "old station" that lies "80 yards" below the current station, which it then gets confused with Central.

As I understand it, Central was several hundred yards away from the present Leeds (formerly City) station, raised a bit over the surrounding land, and after demolition was either bare ground or had offices built on it - certainly no station.

I can imagine that the Leeds City site has had various incarnations of buildings and platforms built on it over the years, but I can't see how there could be old platforms 80 yards (240 feet) below the present ones. That would make them under the river!

I'm sure there's a bit of truth in there somewhere - remnants of the old pedestrian subway and loos that were the way of crossing the York-bound tracks before the footbridge was built in the 80s? 90?, and no doubt other service tunnels. But surely the platforms and track of New/Wellington/City have always been at about their present level.

jma
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by jma »

It says there's no evidence of the Central Station remaining above ground but this streetview shows the lifting tower which is preserved as a listed building.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.79475 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Perhaps it wasn't part of the Central Station as such, but it was part of the railway complex there. I understand it was used to lift railway trucks between the two levels of track. A little bit further west, there were the Holbeck High Level and Low Level Stations.

I've just looked on Leodis Leeds and a search of <central station> had 42 hits, including some good aerial shots showing the extent and complexity of the railway here. Also, plenty of informed comment from people who worked or travelled on the railway in those days

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tilly
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by tilly »

For information on Leeds railways Jim is your man if he does not know then its not worth knowing.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

jim
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by jim »

Hi martinu. There are certainly no deeply buried platforms of Wellington, New, or Central stations. Central was demolished completely, and the built-up land it stood on was carted away to allow construction of the Royal Mail multi-storey building, itself now demolished and replaced by flats and offices. Most of the Leeds New (it was "new in around 1870.....) platforms are incorporated in the somewhat larger current station. The 1936 station built on the site of Leeds Wellington is now the station carpark, which is more or less at the same level as the old platform surfaces, and they may still be there under the present surfaces, but certainly not at any depth. The old Platform 6 survives as Platform 1 of the current station

There are definitely interesting and little known remnants of many of the undercroft rooms etc of the earlier c1845 Wellington Station under the Art Deco concourse (the one reaching from the present day booking offices to the entrance in City Square opposite the old Majestic) which are much more extensive than is generally realised. They were once accessible to electrical and fitting staff of the department for which I worked for 38 years from the cellar of the 1960s left luggage facility, later a general store for station equipment. I do not know if or how access is obtainable these days. These were probably somewhere in the region of eight yards (twenty four feet) down, but certainly not eighty - that would be below sea level! They extend under the whole of the concourse.

Much more info on underground survivals and history of Leeds City Station on Secret Leeds' "Leeds Railway Station's Lost World" site. To access go to "Board index" and enter title in "Search"

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Tilly!

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tilly
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by tilly »

Hi Jim i thought you would know thanks for your prompt reply.Off the subject i hope you are keeping healthy long time no see.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

jim
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by jim »

Hi Sid. Doing as well healthwise as can be hoped for at my age, and have a steadily improving social life. Hope your health problems are dealt with and well behind you.

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tilly
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by tilly »

Im fine Jim glad you are ok.Back to the thread.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

urban rambler
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by urban rambler »

Best info I could find. Hope it's of interest.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-ar ... s-station/

Bruno
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by Bruno »

A handful of the pictures which are the subject of the older thread, referred to by Jim (above) can still be seen here.

http://www.source.ie/graduate/2010/leed ... image_hold
The older I get, the better I was.

martinu
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Re: Sifting the correct from the incorrect information in this article

Post by martinu »

urban rambler wrote:Best info I could find. Hope it's of interest.
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-ar ... s-station/
I hadn't realised that Wellington was no longer in existence and was now where the car park is, and was reached through the Art Deco entrance. I thought the distinction between Wellington and New was roughly the boundary between the terminus platforms to Harrogate, Bradford FS, Skipton (1-6), and the through platforms (8 onwards) to York one way and to Wakefield, Dewsbury, Bradford Ex/Int and Normanton the other way.

I'm glad we've sorted out the issue of "old platforms" that were "84 yards below" the current station, and the confusion between City and Central. Now all I need to do is to convince my wife that not everything in that article was true...

I'd like to have seen Central station, but I'm too young to remember it, having been born in 1963. I can remember my grandpa, a keen railway enthusiast, driving me to Leeds from their house in Tingley/Woodkirk, and us going by train from there to Wakefield and back for a train ride (ie not just to get to Wakefield). I wonder if that was in the last few months of the service from Central or just after the service had switched to City. It would have been in 1967 or 68, given that we only moved back up to Leeds in late 66 or early 67, and they moved from Tingley to Ossett in 1968.

I've often thought what a useful thing it would be if humans had the ability to record everything they saw as a child, to be able to replay it later in life, to say "ah, *that's* what grandma's old house was like" or "that's what Leeds Central looked like" or "hasn't Briggate changed a lot" or "gosh, Betty's had a branch in Leeds at one time" :-)

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