Time Capsules - Old Photographs from the past

40178 at Ben Rhydding station in 1958

Ben Rhydding station is located in a suburb of Bradford and a mile to the east of Ilkley, West Yorkshire. It was built as part of the Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway and opened to passenger traffic on the 1 July 1866, eleven months after the opening of the railway.

In April 1885 the North Eastern Railway Board had "ordered that a small wooden station consisting of booking office, waiting room and retiring room for ladies be provided as a temporary accommodation at Ben Rhydding." 6 years later, in May 1871, the Joint Committee reached an agreement with the proprietor of the Ben Rhydding Hydro, that a more permanent station structures should be built at the expense of the Hydro, with a ground rent of a penny per annum.

The structures - a stone built station house on the south (down) platform and a wooden structure on the north (up) platform; were sold in 1885 to the railway company for £240. The station and suitable sidings were opened to goods traffic in 1888. A new signal box was opened in 1901, situated at the Ilkley end of the northern platform. Goods traffic ceased on 5 July 1965, and the sidings were later removed. Station staff were withdrawn on 7 October 1968, when 'pay-trains' were introduced. The stone station building was subsequently demolished, and shelter on both platforms is now restricted to simple bus-stop type covered areas. The line was electrified in the mid-1990s, and at some stage a new modern footbridge replaced the one in the photograph.

Stanier Class 3MT 2-6-2T locomotive no. 40178 was a taper boiler development of a Fowler design, built as LMS 178 on 8 April 1938 at the LMS Derby Works. It was withdrawn from service on 28 October 1961 and cut up at Crewe Works on 31 March 1962. A total of 139 were built.

Text courtesy of Peter Langsdale.

Photo © The Step Back Through Time Collection