Pontefract Tanshelf railway station
Pontefract Tanshelf railway station is the most central station in the town of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England, and serves Pontefract Races, the racecourse located just down the street from the station. It lies on the Pontefract Line operated by Northern and is 8 miles (13 km) east of Wakefield Kirkgate. In the days of coal mining in the Pontefract area, the station served the needs of the local workforce with regular and frequent services timed for the beginning and the end of mining shifts. The station is the closest to the former Prince of Wales Colliery which closed in August 2002. The station serves Beechnut Lane, the home ground of Pontefract Collieries F.C.
The view from platform 1, Class 156 DMU no. 156479 in old Arriva Trains Northern livery in August 2006
A British Rail Class 141 DMU no. 141113 in red/cream West Yorkshire Metro livery at Pontefract Tanshelf station in June 1996
A British Rail Class 142 and British Rail Class 150 in multiple coupled at Pontefract Tanshelf station in July 2019
Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wakefield district and had a population of 30,881 at the 2011 Census. Pontefract's motto is Post mortem patris pro filio, Latin for "After the death of the father, support the son", a reference to the town's Royalist sympathies in the English Civil War. Small villages and settlements in the immediate area include Stapleton.
Pontefract Market Place
Painting of Pontefract Castle in the early 17th century by Alexander Keirincx
The new church within the old. After All Saints' Church was damaged during the civil war a new one was built within.
Pontefract Town Hall, now used as a registry office