Which routes out of Bradford did my schoolchildren's specials take?

[Old Yard Dog]

My earliest rail trips were annual excursions circa 1960 for children of Bradford City Transport employees. We travelled on special trains from the original Bradford Exchange (resited 200yd south 13 Jan 1973) to Cleethorpes, Withernsea (CP 1964) & Liverpool Exchange (CP 1977) for the New Brighton ferry. Frustratingly, the routes are uncertain but I recall stopping behind the goal at Burnden Park just east of Bolton on the Castleton line (CP 1970).

The train to Cleethorpes almost certainly did Adwick Jn - Stainforth while the Withernsea train would have probably gone via Selby or Goole and then used Hessle Road Jn - Anlaby Road Jn - Botanic Gardens and Hedon to get through Hull.

Does anybody happen to know whether there is any way of finding out the exact routes these trains took? There were lots of possible routes around at the time, including many interesting and long gone lines avoiding Leeds. Six Bells Junction seems to do enthusiasts' railtours but not "normal" charter trains. So I still don't know whether I did one of the routes through Dudley Hill when the first two trains left Bradford - and how the specials proceeded thereafter. This gap in my knowledge really pains me!

 

[Magdalia]

Does anybody happen to know whether there is any way of finding out the exact routes these trains took?

Maybe. It would need to be a two stage process.

The first stage would be to establish dates, possibly from local newspapers or histories of Bradford City Transport. The second stage would be to try to track down Special Traffic Notices and/or contemporary reports that might give route details.

Trains across the Pennines in particular used various different routes.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

For the first part of the excursion from Bradford (Exchange) towards Lancashire, in particular a trip passing by Burnden Park stadium on the outskirts of Bolton town centre, might the most direct route from Bradford have been via Halifax, Todmorden, Rochdale, then Heywood and Radcliffe Black Lane, which latter two locations/sections of line were, I believe, still open until late 1970?

 

[Welshman]

The Bradford portions of Leeds-Kings Cross trains travelled via Laisterdyke, Dudley Hill and Morley Top to Ardsley Junction, then to Wakefield Westgate. where they were attached to the main train from Leeds Central. So its quite possible your Cleethorpes excursion would also have gone this way, using the Doncaster cut-off from Ardwick to Stainforth, and then the GC line via Barnetby to Grimsby Town and Cleethorpres. IIRC there was a single regular Cleethorpes-Leeds and return service which went this way, so the road would have been known by drivers and guards.

As Mcr Warrior says above, the Lancashire excursions would have used the Calder Valley line to Rochdale, and then by-passed Manchester Victoria by using the Castleton - Bury - Bolton link.

And, as you suggest, I suspect the Withernsea train used the same route to Wakefield Westgate as the Cleethorpes, then down to Kirkgate and on to Normanton and Castleford, then via Gascoige Wood Junction to the Leeds City-Selby-Hull line. I sometimes travelled on a odd Sundays only dmu from Sowerby Bridge to York via Gascoigne Wood and Selby, which I suspect went that way rather than via Church Fenton to retain knowledge by Bradford crews.

 

[Springs Branch]

For the first part of the excursion from Bradford (Exchange) towards Lancashire, in particular a trip passing by Burnden Park stadium on the outskirts of Bolton town centre, might the most direct route from Bradford have been via Halifax, Todmorden, Rochdale, then Heywood and Radcliffe Black Lane, which latter two locations/sections of line were, I believe, still open until late 1970?

The Bury Knowsley Street to Bolton section was closed from 5 October 1970. Until quite late, that route was used by all kinds of traffic needing to avoid Manchester Victoria, so almost certain the Bradford - Liverpool excursion went that way.

As well as avoiding Manchester, an excursion heading for Liverpool Exchange in the early to mid-1960s may well have avoided Wigan Wallgate using the Hindley to Pemberton 'Westwood Park' line.

The Westwood Park line became little-used by the late 1960s and closed in 1969, but there are photos around showing steam-hauled excursions using this line to avoid Wigan (one of a Lyons Maid factory charter from Liverpool to York in 1964 comes to mind)

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Thanks for some excellent shouts folks. I had already "coloured in" Castleton to Bury to Bolton in Baker, as I remember passing Burnden Park - and also Adwick Jn to Stainforth which I also did subsequently on a railtour.

Based on Welshman's evidence, I am going to allow myself Laisterdyke to Ardsley Jn as there were two return excursions which could have done it in either direction to avoid Leeds. I guess they could also have used the Wortley curve or even the Spen Valley line but, on the balance of probabilities, Laisterdyke to Ardsley Jn seems the likeliest best bet. Actually I travelled by rail and ferry from Bradford Exchange to Würzburg Hbf in summer 1967 and wondered whether the Bradford portion of the London train had done that route. But I have discovered that the middle section of the line had closed completely late in 1966 - and I think I was then old enough to have noticed having gone to a school in Tong.

Springs Branch - I had never heard of the Hindley to Pemberton line avoiding Wigan Wallgate so that is an excellent suggestion which, again, I am going to allow myself on the balance of probabilities.

 

[Bevan Price]

An alternative, though less likely route between Bradford Exchange and Wakefield would have been via Dudley Hill, Dewsbury (GNR) and Ossett.
Do you recall if there were any pick-up stops in the Bradford "suburbs" - that might assist to confirm the routes.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

An alternative, though less likely route between Bradford Exchange and Wakefield would have been via Dudley Hill, Dewsbury (GNR) and Ossett.
Do you recall if there were any pick-up stops in the Bradford "suburbs" - that might assist to confirm the routes.

Interesting. I was very young so I remember relatively little about the journeys, not even whether the trains were steam or diesel hauled. But I think the trains had compartments. I doubt whether there would have been pick-up stops. We all had to be organized into small groups at Exchange station with our little pink badges and a group steward. We were then taken to our compartments. The logistics would have been difficult at intermediate stations.

I do remember it being a scorching day in Cleethorpes, 91 deg F I believe (unless I'm getting mixed up with Grimsby Town vs Bradford, Easter Monday 1962 which I went to by coach).