The line was opened in August 1865 by the Midland Railway on their line from Apperley Junction to Burley-in-Wharfedale, from where trains could travel to either Ilkley or Otley via the Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway, however, Menston station did not open until April 1873.[1][2] The route to Otley was closed in 1965, but the Ilkley line (though also listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report) avoided a similar fate, being finally reprieved in 1972.[3] Electric services at the station commenced in 1994.
Between 1883 and 1951, High Royds Hospital, which stood to the west of the line, was served by a long private siding from just south of Menston station.
Menston station was redeveloped in 2000 as part of the general improvements to the Wharfedale Line by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. The disused station building was brought back into use and a new ticket office was opened. The station now includes ticket machines where passengers can buys tickets and view services from Menston. Its current opening times are 06:15–18:00 Mon–Sat and 09:15–17:00 Sunday. A bus stop was added in the station forecourt.
It is planned for platform 1 to be extended; this is to allow for six-carriage trains in the future.[4]
Services
During Monday to Saturday daytimes services run to/from Leeds twice per hour and once per hour to/from Bradford (increasing to half-hourly in the peaks), and there are three services every hour to Ilkley (four at peak times). During weekday evenings and all day Sundays, services are hourly to/from both Leeds and Bradford Forster Square and twice-hourly to Ilkley.[5]
Onward connections
The bus stop on the station forecourt is regularly served by Connexionsbuses 962 to Otley and Ilkley[6] and their 963 to and from Otley & Garnett Wharfe.[7][8]
TLC Travel operate the 635 between Pool, Otley, Shipley and Bradford once a day, both outward and return journeys serve the station forecourt.[9]
First Leeds services 33/34 serve the station forecourt on evenings and Sundays but at other times only stop nearby on Cleasby Road.[10]
References
^Waller, Peter (2023). The railways of Bradford and Leeds: their history and development. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 72. ISBN978-1-52677-342-5.
^Joy, David (1984). South and West Yorkshire: the industrial West Riding (2 ed.). Newton Abbot: David Charles. p. 246. ISBN0-9465-3711-9.