Leeds Railway Station's 'Lost World'

[Phill_dvsn]

buffaloskinner wrote: We need someone younger to get down there and have a good look.PHILL where are you?Oh and thanks Jim, I do look forward to your short stories and facts everyday Haha lol. Hey i'm no spring chicken myself you know. I'm 43 this year Agreed with you though, It would be good to see what goes on in there. It's on my 'to look at' list when i'm next in the area

[The Doggers]

Phill_dvsn wrote: buffaloskinner wrote: We need someone younger to get down there and have a good look.PHILL where are you?Oh and thanks Jim, I do look forward to your short stories and facts everyday Haha lol. Hey i'm no spring chicken myself you know. I'm 43 this year Agreed with you though, It would be good to see what goes on in there. It's on my 'to look at' list when i'm next in the area Aha! So all this exploring you do, is actually a quest to find the fountain of eternal youth?!

[jim]

Right,I'm off down the Art Deco Concourse for a bit of research--Anyone coming?1200 hrs.

[jim]

Looking back down the river,it's not possible to see right under the car park approach road but by the appearance of the north wall the water seems to have been constrained considerably by new engineering work since the 1960s.Prior to that there was a pronounced "appendix" (if you regard the Aire as the intestine of Leeds,headed towards it's ........OK,the analogy has gone far enough) which was certainly the filled in entrance to the goit and two mill-races which existed prior to the building of Swinegate tram sheds,which laterbecame the Queens Hall.I seem to rememberthe top of an arch half or more covered in silt,mud,and tree branches when I first saw the site back in the 50s,but I can't be absolutely certain,so it's a "maybe".Looking back at"The Big Image" helpfully posted by Chameleon on the 16th at 10.17.55,(we couldn't have it again,could we?.....pretty please?),it's difficult to see where the goit was,due to a difference in shading of buildings,and possibly of actual dates,between that map and its contiguous counterpart,the Lower Briggate and Riverside sheet,but I think it probably reappears as the odd shaped site east of the boundary wall of the station approach road opposite the Booking Offices.I also remember any number of times when whole trees were washed down by the Aire when in flood only to become immovably trapped by the arch piers or,even worse,half way down the arches.Eventually they always disappeared,and I should think some poor s.....oul got the unenviable job of cutting them up in situ to prevent the arches becoming totally blocked with driftwood.Back now to Sandford Street.and we have to consider the "underworld" of the site bounded by Bishopgate Street,City Street,Aire Street,the Dressing Mill,back down the river,and,again,Sandford Street.Here I am on shakier ground,Not having being employed by the Queens Hotel (No...they gasp!) there are fair tracts of which I have no knowledge,but assure readers that there are some bits that I do know of which are obscurer than any I have so far dealt with. To be continued in our next exciting instalment......(it's like Flash Gordon at the sixpenny rush,innit?.......(thinks,should I have used anal-ogy?)

[Cardiarms]

There's some Leodis pics of work on Swinegate Goit when it was blocked off.http://tinyurl.com/8hvedt5Number 13 shows the river side of the arches of which there are many more visible that now. Is this the section that's the 'appendix' that you mention and now covered by later stations?    

[jim]

Cardiarms,these are brilliant,and really help tidy up our knowledge of this corner of the site.Here are my initial thoughts,as this requires a deal of head scratching.Firstly,pictures 1-12 are of the weirs and goits east of Neville Street and have no direct bearing on our subject fascinating though they are.Pictures 13 and 14 make all clear.12 is taken from immediately in front of the goit arch.I need to go back and count arches,but I think I'll find that some of this bit of river,and possibly a whole weir tailrace arch has been sacrificed when the 1936 rebuild took place,though it may be just the difficulty of seeing how many arches now carry the river due to the angles and overhang.Turning to picture 14,my belief that I may have seen the top of the goit arch is blown out of the window.(oh dear,never mind) The arch seen to the right is the last of the the station arches,that shown to the left,partly bricked up must have been the goit,and is far too high to be the one I thought I saw at near water level.It's the old imagination again.I'll program another visit tomorrow midday.Anyone wanting to join me please arrange. Thanks again to Cardiarms.As an afterthought,I think the title of picture 16 has resonance for me.My workplace in the late 50s was in........Ellis Court!

[cnosni]

jim wrote: Off we go again.The tubular message system was the same as those used by large department stores for central change giving.The change (or message) was popped into a cylindrical container,about the size of a large soup can,and there would be a second tube for return messages.The station system certainly served the upper floor of the booking office and"Control" on the top floor of Aire Street office block.I assume there would be a route to the Inspectors' office and probably others I don't know about.The floor levels within the central arches all had a three or four foot drop somewhere along them,as Neville Street descends noticeably,so Dark Neville Street is at a lower level.This drop occurred at different distances along different arches,and not always coincident with a partition wall,meaning that some floor plans were "interesting" to say the least.On one occasion during the period when most arches were unlit I came across a distressed and shaken lady who had got lost and fallen over one of these traps for the unwary.Back to Sandford,Street,and the cross arch,to the left is barred and gated,likewise the arch in front.Ahead can be seen a brick infill and in it a small doorway also bricked up.I think there was another doorway here but my view was blocked by parked vans.In the 5os and 60s direct access to a ledge above the roaring torrent rushing through the river arches was here,leading to an unbelievably rickety footbridge across the river,with missing planks.This led to the angled platform seen from across the river in the westernmost arch,and via cross-arches,to the lock. to be continued...... Hi JimYou probably dont realise this but all of the excellentinfo you have posted is very similar to talking dirty to our Phil,be warned!!

[jim]

Hi Cnosni,If he can stand the pain..........,oh,never mind,he'll have to use my premium rate phone no. like everybody else.

[BIG N]

Total guess here as I have never seen (or at least noticed enough to connect it with the canal branch) the large cast iron girder over the riverside enterance to the canal tunnel.Could there be enough clearence for it to have possibly carried some sort of flood gate system to be dropped into the mouth of the lock when the river was in flood.Surely there would have been a real danger of the Aire flooding the canal basin, and indeed, some of the arches when it was running high, and as such there would have had to be a defence system in place.As I say, pure guess work but worth a thought.

[chameleon]

cnosni wrote: jim wrote: Off we go again.The tubular message system was the same as those used by large department stores for central change giving.The change (or message) was popped into a cylindrical container,about the size of a large soup can,and there would be a second tube for return messages.The station system certainly served the upper floor of the booking office and"Control" on the top floor of Aire Street office block.I assume there would be a route to the Inspectors' office and probably others I don't know about.The floor levels within the central arches all had a three or four foot drop somewhere along them,as Neville Street descends noticeably,so Dark Neville Street is at a lower level.This drop occurred at different distances along different arches,and not always coincident with a partition wall,meaning that some floor plans were "interesting" to say the least.On one occasion during the period when most arches were unlit I came across a distressed and shaken lady who had got lost and fallen over one of these traps for the unwary.Back to Sandford,Street,and the cross arch,to the left is barred and gated,likewise the arch in front.Ahead can be seen a brick infill and in it a small doorway also bricked up.I think there was another doorway here but my view was blocked by parked vans.In the 5os and 60s direct access to a ledge above the roaring torrent rushing through the river arches was here,leading to an unbelievably rickety footbridge across the river,with missing planks.This led to the angled platform seen from across the river in the westernmost arch,and via cross-arches,to the lock. to be continued...... Hi JimYou probably dont realise this but all of the excellentinfo you have posted is very similar to talking dirty to our Phil,be warned!! He's already gone quiet Chris - that can only mean one thing can't it - already camping out down there waiting for the torches to charge up