hall ings depot

[samba]

does anyone have any photos or know a site the features the underground depot at bradford, i have seen some but cant remember where??

[deano]

i went on a tour with school to to that depot!!

[samba]

cool can you remember much of it when was it and did you get any photos

[simon]

went round a few times in the 80 s with permission off site foreman of course ,great in the winter always warm under there but dark so no good for photo s remember seeing a trashed 6142 down there 1 day . you could see the vehicles from where the shop hopper used to start if you looked through the glass panes but of course been dark meant visibility was not all that good.

[samba]

yeah i remember you could look through but it was always dark, you could see the paint shop around the corner quite clearly.

[riclam]

and what a waste bradford interchange is and was!! another way to spend taxpayers money!

[deano]

why is it a waste?
its a good bus station with easy access between the trains and buses

[riclam]

in some ways its a waste becuase of many reasons, firstly, half of it was surplus by 1989, seconfdly the depot closed bearly 20 years after it was opened! i always liked the design of the roof etc, but it has always been unpopular with people espec cos off all the people who got attacked in the old interchange at night! The depot was poorly designed in anycase as was the deck due to vibrations and the water leakage problem into the depot! it was buitl at the wrong time and was massively oversized. it was built with the right intentions but went about it all wroong, its a bit far from centre too, always been a trek up bridge street in cold wind and rain!

[samba]

this was a geat feat when it was biult and good in its hey day and thats why its been revamped recently! dont slag it off it was a unique place.

[riclam]

Im from Bradford and im not slagging it off, i was a fan of the original and wish it was still up but from certain points of view what I say is quite true! the new bus concourse is awful! there was so much they could have done to refurbish the old one!! Its sad to think it took from 1973 to 1977 to build and by 1990, half was surplus, in 1995 half was demolished then september 1997 the depot closed! who knows maybe if metro never existed we might still have the original considering the whole place was a British Rail and Bradford City Transport joint effort! I will slag off the 'recent refurbishment' because it was unessacery when you look at what could have been done to the original however short comings in design etc ment it was unfit for further use

[westyorkshirebus]

I think more could have been done to Bradford Interchange without demolishing it all

Of course it looked bad in the 90s but that was because it was still in it's original 70s condition, the bus stands looked like they hadn't had any sort of refurbishment at all.

A good refurbishment of the stands, new windows, automatic doors could have worked out

Metro could have used stands E, F etc for storage if not in use

[riclam]

westyorkshirebus said:

I think more could have been done to Bradford Interchange without demolishing it all

Of course it looked bad in the 90s but that was because it was still in it's original 70s condition, the bus stands looked like they hadn't had any sort of refurbishment at all.

A good refurbishment of the stands, new windows, automatic doors could have worked out

Metro could have used stands E, F etc for storage if not in use

exactly the point i was making above, but because of problems with the building, it was no doubt unfit ie water leakage and vibration problems below. The interchange idea was switched off in the 1990s when half closed and instead of paying off the interchange debt, metro infact bought new offices in leeds with the money when yorkshire rider was privatised in 1988

[samba]

i always remember going on coach holidays from there in the 8os from the F stands where national express went from. i loved it when they kept buses in the interchange overnight when they were pulling half of it down and they kept a load over the street too.

[jameyboy06]

the hall ings depot was good i remenber wen i was a kid and i was down there quite abit and in the little office and i enoyed being there and it wasn't dark unless a bulb went in certain places

[576 Gemini 2]

I when into the depot in 1982 when bradford was celebrating 100 years of public transport. I remember the first Leyland Olympians in the maintainence bays being prepared for service.
The old Bradford Interchange really had character a over head walkway provided a good view of all of the buses at the stands

[westyorkshirebus]

Imagine if that overhead walkway was still there now, it'd be a meeting place for local youths

If you want a blast of the past, enter/exit the Interchange via the Hall Ings footbridge route, its totally unrefurbished. I'd go that way only if you were in a group though

[576 Gemini 2]

I went that way a few years ago. It stinked of urine