Horsforth

About Horsforth

Horsforth is a town of around 19,000 people about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village in the West Riding, it became part of the City of Leeds in 1974 and now has its own town council.

It is not a major tourist destination, but it makes a handy starting point for north-west Leeds. The volunteer-run Horsforth Museum tells the town's story, Golden Acre Park offers lakeside walks and gardens, and the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey lie a few miles south.

Just north of Horsforth, the Harrogate line plunges into the two-mile Bramhope Tunnel, dug in the 1840s, before crossing the Wharfe valley on the way to Harrogate.

Arriving at Horsforth

The station sits in a cutting below Station Road, with one platform on each side of the double track. Both platforms are reached without steps from the road by ramps, and the ticket office is on the Leeds-bound side. Bus stops are close by on Troy Road. Town Street, Horsforth's main shopping street, is about 15 minutes' walk away and the museum on The Green about 20 minutes.

The station is on Station Road. Town Street, the main shopping street, is about 15 minutes' walk away, and the museum on The Green about 20 minutes.

Getting around

Northern trains run frequently to Leeds and to Harrogate and York. Golden Acre Park and Kirkstall Abbey are a few miles away, so plan on a bus, taxi or car.

Other train services and connections

• Northern (Harrogate line: Leeds, Harrogate, Knaresborough and York)

History of the station

Horsforth station opened in 1849 on the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, whose line north from Leeds had to tunnel under the ridge between Airedale and Wharfedale. The result was the Bramhope Tunnel, which starts just beyond the platforms and took four years and the lives of 24 workers to complete; the line opened to the public in July 1849. The Leeds and Thirsk soon renamed itself the Leeds Northern Railway, which in 1854 became part of the new North Eastern Railway.

Like many West Yorkshire stations Horsforth was cut back in the late 1960s: staff were withdrawn in 1969 and the buildings demolished. Growing traffic congestion into Leeds brought passengers back in the 1990s, and a 2002–03 rebuild added waiting rooms on both platforms, a ticket office on the Leeds-bound side (opened on 16 July 2003) and a larger car park on the site of old sidings. A turn-back facility added in 2012 lets extra trains start and finish here.