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Leeds to Kirkstall Forge – UK Rail Journeys Series 2 – Episode 10
In ‘Leeds to Kirkstall Forge‘ I spend time in City Square in Leeds. It is Sunday morning and although the hospitality venues are already busy the square is virtually traffic free. A big change from when I was at University here.
Please click on a thumbnail to see the photographs that go with the podcast:
The Queens Hotel:
The Queens Hotel dominates one side of City Square. The front of the hotel is in Portland stone. The Art Deco style building has a Grade II listing.
I have happy memories of my time working in the hotel kitchen stores and wine cellar as a student.
Leeds City Station:
I enter the station from Aire Street on the west side of the station into the North Concourse. This entrance, behind the Queens Hotel, is much easier to use than the main entrance because of major construction work.
The station is one of the 20 managed by Network Rail and serves around 25 million passengers a year. There are 18 platforms and many food and beverage outlets.
My train leaves at 12.32 pm from platform 3B which is on the site of the old Wellington Street station. Carlisle is the 18th stop on the 2 hour and 45 minute journey from Leeds. We are travelling over the famed Settle and Carlisle route.
Roundhouse:
As we approach Armley we pass the ‘Railway Roundhouse‘ built for the Leeds and Thirsk railway in 1847. In use until 1904, there is no comparable group of railway buildings still standing in the country.
Kirkstall:
Kirkstall is famous for it’s Abbey, a ruined Cistercian Monastery, and also the once mighty Kirkstall Forge. It operated from the 12th century until closing in 2003. The longest continually used industrial site in the UK manufactured motor vehicle axels and steel bars.
Listen to the podcast to hear about the start of my journey from Leeds to Carlisle.
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Music:
AKM Music licenses Steam Railway, Quelled Storm and Thunderbolt for use in this podcast.
