An 8F loco 48080 shunts wagons from a “pick up” freight into Woodlesford’s last remaining station siding. When this photo was taken by station clerk Alan Bailey in May 1964 the loco was based at Farnley Junction shed, 55C, in Leeds. It had previously been based at Stourton and Royston. Designed by Sir William Stanier of the London Midland and Scottish Railway and built at the Vulcan Foundry in 1936, it was sent to Persia during the Second World War. It was cut up for scrap at Draper’s in Hull after being withdrawn from service in 1966.
David Johnson was born and grew up in Woodlesford. He was a pupil at Rothwell Grammar School and did his national service with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry before joining British Railways as a clerk. Here he remembers his trainspotting days and some of the people who worked at Woodlesford station in the 1950s and 1960s.
