IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Powell Street, CASTLEFORD, WF10 1EL

View eastward, towards Burton Salmon, Selby and York, also Garforth: ex-NER York/Selby - Normanton/Wakefield/Leeds main lines, junction of lines to Garforth via Kippax, to Methley (Joint) and to Pontefract Monkhill. It was named 'Castleford LNE' until 15/9/52, then 'Castleford Central' until 20/2/69. Passenger services on the line to Garforth ceased from 22/1/51; those on the loop to Pontefract (Cutsyke) had ceased from 1/11/26, but were restored from 5/5/58, ceased again 2/11/64 when the Methley Joint line was closed and were restored again from 2/1/67 for the new DMU services Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Goole and Leeds - Wakefield Kirkgate - Sheffield services, which both reverse at Castleford. Direct services on the main ex-NER line to Wakefield Kirkgate ceased from 15/9/58 and those to Burton Salmon etc. from 5/1/70, making this station a terminus - for passenger services. Several lines through Castleford Central remained open for goods for much longer, at least as long as the coal traffic survived. (See several other images of Castleford station). [Open to correction?]

These are the only buildings on the station (apart from an open-fronted waiting area and disused signal box) and they have every appearance of being disused.

56 005 + Oil train passing through Castleford Station

Younger spectators grow restless as the older ones wait stoically for the 'Scarborough Flyer' steam train, which by the time it reached Castleford from its Crewe starting point was half an hour late. The shelter on the right replaced the 1876 station buildings in 1984, the signalbox was closed in 1997.

Approaching the Railway Station from Station Road. A major transport development is scheduled here with a greatly improved station and bus interchange.

A crowd of passengers and spectators awaits the arrival of the 'Scarborough Flyer' steam excursion at Castleford as a Leeds–Knottingley train stands in the platform. The building on the right is all that remains of the once-extensive structure opened by the North Eastern Railway in 1876. View looking west towards Leeds and Wakefield.

This must be the worst railway station in the country for a town of Castleford's size (close on 40,000 people). The buildings were demolished in 1984, the platform on the left has been disused since 1992 when the summer service to Scarborough was withdrawn. Thankfully, work should soon to begin on replacing this with a combined rail and bus interchange with full passenger facilities.

With an excited crowd in attendance, locomotive 60009 'Union of South Africa' arrives at Castleford with the 'Scarborough Flyer'. These excursions, which ran each Friday in August 2008, were the first steam trains to pick up passengers at Castleford for over 40 years.