Leeds Central railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Leeds Central
locale = Leeds
borough = City of Leeds
line = London and North Western Railway
manager = L&NWR, L&YR, GNR, NER
platforms = 8
years1 = 18 September 1854
events1 = Opened
years2 = 1 May 1967
events2 = Closed

Leeds Central was a railway station in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1854 as a joint station between the London and North Western Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Great Northern Railway and the North Eastern Railway. It replaced the cramped LNW terminus at Wellington Street, which had opened in 1848 with the line to Dewsbury. It closed in 1967, when its services were moved to Leeds City to consolidate all of Leeds train services in one station.

The station was not architecturally distinguished and was built above street level. The site is now a retail park which in turn is to be redeveloped into offices. Part of the Leeds Central station site had also since became a Royal Mail sorting office that is latterly being redeveloped into the West Central residential development and La Lumiere, a convert|170|m|sing=on high skyscraper. A goods lift and a viaduct that approached the station still remains standing as a memorial today.

The last train leaving from Leeds Central was an early evening service to Harrogate filled by the usual Birmingham RC&W DMU. (Fog) detonators were placed on the track by Railway staff which exploded as the train rolled away from the platform and past the signal box on its final departure. The return trip from Harrogate into Leeds City was strangely muted.

References

* cite book
last = Cobb
first = Col. Michael H.
title = The Railways of Great Britain - A Historical Atlas
publisher = Ian Allan Publishing
date = 2005
id = ISBN 0-7110-3002-2