IN its heyday it attracted thousands of visitors each year but Bolton Abbey Station’s prosperous past was not enough to save it from Beeching’s axe.
The station, built in 1888, was a firm favourite with visitors to the Yorkshire Dales, including royals who would often stay at Bolton Abbey for the grouse shoots.
But the station was one of many to fall victim to the infamous Beeching Plan and was closed in 1965.
The track was ripped up and the once busy platforms disappeared beneath the undergrowth.
But as the shell of the station grew increasingly dilapidated railway enthusiasts harboured hopes of one day returning it to its former glory.
In 1994 a huge clean up operation began.Volunteers cut back the shrubs and undergrowth to give the station a new lease of life as part of the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.
Photographs from the Ilkley Gazette show the clean up operation as well as the station in 1964, top left.
A picture from Aireborough Historical Society, bottom left, shows visitors in about 1900. Station staff were pictured in Victorian times, top right, and a train is shown steaming out of the station in 2017.
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