Keighley railway station

Keighley railway station serves the market town of Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The station is located on the Airedale line, 17 mi north-west of Leeds. It provides electric services to Leeds, Skipton and Bradford Forster Square, operated by Northern, along with longer distance diesel services to Morecambe and Carlisle. The station is split in two: National Rail services operate from platforms 1 and 2, while platforms 3 and 4 are the northern terminus of heritage services to Oxenhope on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

History


Keighley station was first opened by the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway (LBER), on a site slightly further up the line in March 1847. The volume of traffic over the original level crossing in the town, prompted the Midland Railway, which had absorbed the LBER, to spend £60,000 in 1876 building the road bridge immediately to the north of where the present station is located. A new station was built south of this bridge in 1883–1885, designed by Charles Trubshaw who was a Midland Railway architect.

Keighley is also the northern terminus of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. This is a heritage branch line railway run by volunteers that was originally built by the Midland Railway and opened in 1867. Closed to British Railways' passenger traffic in 1962, it was reopened by the K&WVR Preservation Society six years later and is now a popular tourist attraction.

Trains on the Great Northern Railway's Queensbury lines to Bradford Exchange and Halifax also served Keighley from 1882 until closure in May 1955.

From 1892 to 1909, the Midland Railway operated a second station on the Airedale line a short distance from Keighley station at Thwaites. There is now no visible trace of this station.

In 1986, the station was given a Grade II listing by Historic England as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The listing mentions the main entrance building to be of coursed, dressed millstone grit. The two westernmost platforms have period furnishings including cast-iron lamp posts; on platform 4, a good cast-iron and glass canopy with decorative columns; and on platform 3, an 8-columned arcade, the remains of a canopy and a late 19th century engine water-filling pump.

Facilities
The National Rail side of the station is fully staffed, with the ticket office open seven days a week (except evenings). Train running information is provided via a public address system, posters and digital information screens. A waiting room is available on platform 1 and shelters on platform 2. Step-free access to both platforms from the main entrance is via ramps from the road above, whilst platform 1 also has level access from Dalton Lane.

The K&WVR has its own ticket office and access ramps from the shared main entrance to platforms 3 and 4. They also have a refreshment stand and bookstall on platform 4, which is open when the railway is operating.

Services
During Monday to Saturday daytimes and in the evenings there is a half-hourly service to Leeds, an hourly service to Bradford Forster Square and three trains per hour to Skipton. The Bradford service formerly ran twice-hourly during the day prior to the spring 2023 timetable change, but now only does so at peak times.

On Sundays there is an hourly service to Leeds and to Bradford with two per hour to Skipton. The new Northern franchise agreement, starting in April 2016, included provision to increase the Bradford service to hourly from its former two-hourly frequency, and this occurred at the December 2017 timetable change.

There are also a number of trains each day from Leeds to Carlisle (eight on weekdays and six on Sundays) and Lancaster (seven on weekdays with five extended to Morecambe; one terminates at Carnforth, and five on Sundays) - both routes are operated by Northern.

There is also a daily service from Skipton to London King's Cross (via Leeds) that calls (except Sundays), which is operated by London North Eastern Railway. A return service also operates from King's Cross to Skipton - this runs all week, including Sundays and calls to set down only.

The Keighley and Worth Valley service runs daily during the summer and at weekends in other seasons, but has resisted offers to introduce a true commuter service in conjunction with the local authority. It has a connection to the Airedale Line (via sidings) just north of the Bradford Road bridge for rolling stock transfers and occasional visits by charter trains.

Filming
The station was featured in the Head & Shoulders advert "Don't break up with your hair" in early 2009. The advert uses the platform that serves the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, notable for the period features that it has retained over the years.

The station was used in the filming of the film Yanks (1979) and in the Pink Floyd film, The Wall (1982). It was used in the filming of Peaky Blinders, a BBC television drama about criminals in Birmingham just after the First World War.

In the first episode of All Creatures Great and Small (2020 TV series), the main character, James Herriot, says goodbye to his parents and boards a train in Glasgow; these scenes were actually filmed at Keighley station. A KWVR train also appears in that episode.