Sowerby Bridge
Platform 2 at Sowerby Bridge railway station
General information
Location	Sowerby Bridge,Calderdale England
Coordinates	53°42′29″N1°54′25″W / 53.708°N 1.907°W /53.708; -1.907
Grid reference	SE062235
Managed by	Northern
Transit authority	West Yorkshire (Metro)
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	SOW
Fare zone	5
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Original company	Manchester and Leeds Railway
Pre-grouping	Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
5 October 1840	First station opened
1 September 1876	Station re-sited
1981	Rebuilt
Passengers
2020/21	91,060
2021/22	0.274 million
2022/23	0.339 million
2023/24	0.373 million
2024/25	0.417 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Sowerby Bridge railway station serves the town ofSowerby Bridge inWest Yorkshire,England. It lies on theCaldervale Line 4.5 miles (7 km) west ofHalifax and 21 miles (34 km) west ofLeeds.

The original station was opened on 5 October 1840 by theManchester and Leeds Railway, on a site 662 yards (605 m) further west (on the other side of theRiver Ryburn) of the current site.^[1] Prior to opening, in August 1840,Branwell Brontë was engaged as 'assistant clerk in charge' at Sowerby Bridge, for which his salary was £75 per annum; he transferred toLuddendenfoot on 1 April 1841.^[2] The station became a junction from 1 January 1852, when a branch line from nearbyMilner Royd Junction toHalifax was opened by the M&L's successor company theLancashire and Yorkshire Railway; this allowed through trains to operate toBradford Exchange and eventually Leeds viaStanningley from 1854. Ahead of the opening of theRishworth branch in the 1880s, a new station was built on the current site^[3] - this opened on 1 September 1876.^[1]

Regular passenger services along the original M&L main line viaBrighouse (toWakefield Kirkgate andYork) were withdrawn by British Rail on 5 January 1970. Through trains between Manchester & York over the route had ended in the mid-1960s (due to theBeeching Axe), leaving a much-reduced DMU service in later years that started/terminated here and connected with the Calder Valley trains via Bradford. The route remained in use for freight and was subsequently re-opened to passengers on a limited basis in 2000, with an all day service restored in 2007.

A major fire in 1978 resulted in the demolition of most of the buildings byBritish Rail in 1980. New canopies were erected in 1981 on the remaining platforms, with a ticket office housed in the surviving wing of the 1870s station, however this closed in 1983^[3] and the station is now unstaffed.^[4] In 2008, the former ticket office building was re-opened as a bar called theJubilee Refreshment Rooms.^[5]

A ticket machine was installed in 2011, allowing passengers to buy tickets before boarding for the first time in almost 30 years. Recent work has seen the installation of an electronicpassenger information system (PIS), giving details of forthcoming departures, and the car park enlarged^[6] which is currently free to use. Step-free access is available to both platforms via the inclined subway linking them or from adjoining roads.^[4]

A volunteer group,The Friends of Sowerby Bridge Railway Station, was founded in 2010, to improve the station's environs.^[7]

• On 22 October 1903, an express passenger train was in collision with a light engine due to a signalman's error. Another passenger train collided with the wreckage at low speed. One person was killed.^[8]
• On 13 January 1963, a diesel train working fromYork toLiverpool caught fire as it entered the tunnel to the west of the station. The 70 passengers de-trained and walked back through the railway to the station. Although the last coach was on fire and the passengers evacuated past the blazing coach, there were no casualties.^[9]

Northern Trains Route 9
v t e
Calder Valley Line and East Lancashire Line
York Ulleskelf Church Fenton Micklefield East Garforth Garforth Cross Gates Leeds Bramley New Pudsey Bradford Interchange Low Moor Halifax Sowerby Bridge Mytholmroyd Hebden Bridge Manchester Victoria Moston Mills Hill Castleton Rochdale Smithy Bridge Littleborough Walsden Todmorden Colne Nelson Brierfield Burnley Central Burnley Barracks Burnley Manchester Road Rose Grove Hapton Huncoat Accrington Church and Oswaldtwistle Rishton Blackburn Mill Hill Cherry Tree Pleasington Bamber Bridge Lostock Hall Preston Salwick Kirkham and Wesham Poulton-le-Fylde Blackpool North Moss Side Lytham Ansdell and Fairhaven St Annes-on-the-Sea Squires Gate Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool South
Burnley Barracks,Hapton and Pleasington are request stops.

The station now has a twice hourly basic service on weekdays and Saturdays. Eastbound trains run to Leeds via Bradford and via Dewsbury (hourly to each, plus a few peak extras). Westbound there are two trains per hour toManchester Victoria, one of which continues toWigan Wallgate and the other toChester. Weekday service to Chester service viaWarrington Bank Quay began at the May 2019 timetable change. The York toBlackpool North service that previously stopped here all week now only does so on Monday-Saturday evening peak services and Sundays, which has led to complaints from the local rail user group with regard to the reduction in service levels.^[10]

Sundays see an hourly service each way between York and Blackpool North trains (as noted above) and an hourly service between Leeds and Manchester Victoria (which now continues to Chester).^[11] All these service go via Halifax and Bradford Interchange, there are no services from Sowerby Bridge via Dewsbury on a Sunday.^[12]

At Milner Royd Junction, approximately a quarter of a mile to the east of the lines to Halifax and Brighouse diverge. Immediately east of the station, the dismantled branch line toRipponden andRishworth diverged to the southwest, until its closure in 1958.^[13] This had at one time its own separate wooden platform south of the main station and linked to it by a short footpath.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Mytholmroyd		Northern Caldervale Line		Halifax
				Brighouse
	Disused railways
Luddendenfoot		L&YR Manchester - Halifax		Copley
		L&YR Manchester - Normanton		Greetland
Watson's Crossing Halt		L&YR Rishworth branch		Terminus

• 
  The station entrance
• 
  AClass 144 'pacer' (left) and aClass 158 'sprinter' (right) at the station in 2011.
• 
  AClass 150 'sprinter' arriving at platform 1 in 2018
• 
  45562 Alberta taking on water in Sowerby Bridge while working "The Cotton Mill Express" from Lancaster to Blackburn on Sat 29th Feb 2020.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSowerby Bridge railway station.

• Train times andstation information for Sowerby Bridge railway station fromNational Rail
• Milner Royd Junction

v t e Calderdale Lines
Legend
Past, present and future
toBradford toBradford Queensbury Holmfield Bailiff Bridge Lightcliffe Clifton Road Ovenden to Kirklees North Bridge Brighouse Hipperholme Pellon Elland Power Station Halifax St Pauls Elland Halifax Town South Parade Greetland Shaw Syke Rochdale Road Halt Copley West Vale Stainland and Holywell Green Sowerby Bridge Luddendenfoot Watson's Crossing Halt Mytholmroyd Triangle toBurnley Ripponden and Barkisland Portsmouth Rishworth Cornholme Hebden Bridge Stansfield Hall Eastwood Todmorden Walsden toRochdale

• Railway stations in Calderdale
• DfT Category F1 stations
• Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840
• Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1876
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1876
• Railway stations served by Northern
• Sowerby Bridge

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