SIR – I refer to the letter ‘Absence of stations a real puzzler’ by B Barraclough (T&A, June 1).
Mr Barraclough says he is puzzled at why the remote railway lines and their tiny stations on the West coast of Scotland have survived the Beeching axe of the 1960s, while stations and lines in the more densely-populated Bradford area did not.
Mr Barraclough saw a train heading for Glasgow empty but, in fact, passenger figures on these lines are high, and there is still some freight originating in the area.
The lines survived because of their remote nature, where often the railway is the most direct route, and also the tourist traffic is high.
In the Bradford area, although Beeching did have his say, many station closures were locally-made decisions.
The former Great Northern line from Shipley (Windhill) to Bradford via Thackley, Idle, Eccleshill and Laisterdyke carried its last passenger in 1933 due to competitions from the trams, while the loss-making GN Queensbury lines, linking Bradford with Keighley and Halifax via the triangular junction of Queensbury, sold its last ticket in 1955.
These closures were well before Beeching, so he can’t be blamed for everything!
Ironically, both lines would have made superb commuter routes in modern day Bradford.
Stations on the Aire Valley line (Apperley Bridge and Kirkstall) and on the Bradford-Halifax-Manchester line (Low Moor) would flourish today, but replicate stations closed in the 1960s.
Mark Neale, Oxford Road, Bradford
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