Bradford, Italy
Great Horton railway station was a railway station on the Queensbury-Bradford section of the Queensbury Lines which ran between Bradford, Keighley and Halifax via Queensbury. The station opened for passengers in 1878 and closed on 23 May 1955 but remained open to goods with full staff until 28 June
1965 before it was closed, then demolished and the branch line tracks ripped up. Due to the relatively steep inclines, tunnels and a viaduct, the Queensbury Lines were also known as "the Alpine Route". More information about the geographical setting and history of the Queensbury Lines is available at the Lost Railways West Yorkshire website. The branch line through Great Horton was originally a land route connecting Bradford to Halifax for the transport of cloth to Manchester and elsewhere. Mail and stage coaches also used this route. An 1871 map of Bradford shows the Great Horton area as simply farmland, fields and footpaths with the Horton Beck slightly north of the station site running through this shallow valley eastwards and down towards the city centre. Clearly, this branch line and Great Horton Station, built shortly after, were instrumental in the economic development of this portion...
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