Bury Bolton Street | |
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Station on heritage railway | |
General information | |
Location | Bury, Greater Manchester England |
Coordinates | 53°35′36″N2°17′59″W / 53.5934°N 2.2997°W |
Grid reference | SD802107 |
Managed by | East Lancashire Railway |
Platforms | 4 |
Key dates | |
28 September 1846 | Opened as Bury |
February 1866 | Renamed Bury Bolton Street |
17 March 1980 | Closed by British Rail |
25 July 1987 | Re-opened as heritage railway station |
Bury Bolton Street railway station is a heritage railway station in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. Located on the East Lancashire Railway.
It was formerly the main station serving the town, with links north to Ramsbottom, thence via Stubbins Junction either to Rawtenstall and Bacup or to Haslingden and Accrington; and south to Radcliffe Central, Whitefield, Prestwich and Manchester Victoria or via Radcliffe Bridge to Clifton Junction and the Bolton line. There was also a local branch to Holcombe Brook and a curve to connect with Bury Knowsley Street station.
The station was opened by the East Lancashire Railway (ELR), on 28 September 1846, as Bury station. The ELR was absorbed by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway on 13 May 1859. The station was renamed Bury Bolton Street in February 1866. The building is situated in a cutting with a low level yard on the east side, approached by an incline from Bolton Street and a flight of steps from Bank Street. To the north is the Bolton Street Tunnel.
In its original incarnation, it boasted the headquarters of the East Lancashire Railway, situated on the up platform adjacent to the yard. This fine neo-classical structure in the Italianate style had the usual station accommodation on the ground floor and the company offices (including a boardroom) on the upper floors. The headquarters building supported an overall train shed roof in the Paxton style, supported on the other side by a row of iron columns on an island platform. The west side had through lines and a rope-hauled incline giving access to the wagon works, now the site of Bury Leisure Centre.
The station was rebuilt in the 1880s and the existing platform canopy dates from that time. Street frontage buildings were also provided.
The Manchester - Prestwich - Radcliffe Central - Bury line was electrified in 1916.
The station passed to the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. From 1 January 1948, the station was operated by British Railways.
The street level buildings were destroyed by fire on 14 May 1947 and were replaced with a new brick and concrete entrance and footbridge in 1952. The old headquarters building was demolished in January 1974.
British Rail closed the station on 17 March 1980, when it was replaced by a new bus/rail interchange station further east into the town centre. Bury Interchange railway station served up until 1991 before the entire Bury Line was converted to light rail operation. It reopened in 1992 for Metrolink operation.
The station was extensively remodelled by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (the company absorbed the ELR in 1859) who gave it its present form. There are four platforms, viz:
Platform 1. A bay platform at the south east end.
Platform 2. The up platform on the east side.
Platform 3. The down platform, one side of the island platform.
Platform 4. A bidirectional platform, one side of the island platform and adjacent to the Western retaining walls which had a unique bidirectional signal mounted on a wall bracket.
The platforms were equipped with normal canopies and a new entrance was created on Bolton Street, with street frontage buildings across the tracks accessing a footbridge.
Since re-opening as part of the heritage railway operated by the East Lancashire Railway, a new platform building, incorporating a façade from the former Bury tram depot, has been erected on the up platform and the station is undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment and redevelopment plan. It is once again signalled and the old Bury South box is back in operation.
Passenger trains on the Holcombe Brook branch ended in 1952. Those on the lines to Accrington, Bacup & Clifton Junction were withdrawn in 1966, with the Rawtenstall trains following suit in 1972. That left only the link to Manchester Victoria which in turn was severed in 1980 with the opening of Bury Interchange. Bolton Street Station, with its original features, was rescued from demolition and placed in the care of the East Lancashire Railway, a preservation group. The line to Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall was re-opened as a heritage railway, under the name East Lancashire Railway in 1987 and has since been extended to Heywood. The line and station have since become a leading tourist attraction in the area.
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Preceding station | Heritage railways | Following station | ||
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Heywood | East Lancashire Railway | Burrs Country Park | ||
Disused railways | ||||
Terminus | Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Bury and Tottington District Railway | Woodhill Road Line and station closed | ||
Withins Lane Line and station closed | Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway East Lancashire Railway | Summerseat Line and station open | ||
Knowsley Street Line open, station closed |
The East Lancashire Railway is a twelve-and-a-half-mile (20 km) heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, Burrs Country Park, Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with the line crossing the border into Rossendale serving Irwell Vale and Rawtenstall. Before closure, the line terminated at Bacup.
Bury is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846.
Rossendale is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Bacup and its largest town is Rawtenstall. It also includes the towns of Haslingden and Whitworth. The borough is named after the Rossendale Valley, the upper part of the River Irwell.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern England.
Castleton is an area of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south-southwest of Rochdale town centre and 8 miles (13 km) north-northeast of the city of Manchester.
Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872.
The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed by an Act in 1845 to link Liverpool and Bury via Kirkby, Wigan and Bolton, the line opening on 20 November 1848. The line became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's main line between Liverpool, Manchester and Yorkshire. Most of it is still open.
The East Lancashire Railway operated from 1844 to 1859 in the historic county of Lancashire, England. It began as a railway from Clifton via Bury to Rawtenstall, and during its short life grew into a complex network of lines connecting towns and cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Preston, Burnley and Blackburn.
Rawtenstall is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles north of Manchester, 22 miles east of Preston and 45 miles south east of Lancaster. The town is at the centre of the Rossendale Valley. It had a population of 23,000.
Castleton railway station serves Castleton in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It is 8¾ miles (14 km) north of Manchester Victoria on the Caldervale Line operated and managed by Northern.
Bury Knowsley Street is a former railway station in Bury.
Bury Interchange is a transport hub in the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. Opened in 1980, it is the northern terminus of the Manchester Metrolink's Bury Line, which prior to 1992 was a heavy-rail line. It also incorporates a bus station.
Ramsbottom railway station is a heritage station serving the town of Ramsbottom in Greater Manchester, England.
Rawtenstall railway station serves the town of Rawtenstall in Lancashire, England, and is the northern terminus of the East Lancashire Railway.
Prestwich is a tram stop in the town of Prestwich, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the Bury Line of Greater Manchester's light rail Metrolink system.
Radcliffe Bridge railway station was a Railway Station in Radcliffe built on the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway line, between Bury and Clifton, both in Greater Manchester. It was opened on 25 September 1846, and was closed 7 July 1958.
Stubbins railway station served the village of Stubbins, Rossendale, Lancashire, England. Opened by the East Lancashire Railway in 1847 on their line from Bury Bolton Street into Rossendale, it was situated next to the junction of the lines toward Accrington and to Rawtenstall and Bacup, but only had platforms on the latter route.
Helmshore railway station served the village of Helmshore, Rossendale, Lancashire between 1848 and 1966.
The Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway, opened in 1846, ran between Clifton, Bury and Rossendale in Lancashire, England. The company merged with the Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington & Colne Extension Railway (BBA&CER) to form the East Lancashire Railway.
The Bury Line is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink running from Manchester city centre to Bury in Greater Manchester. Originally a railway line, it was, along with the Altrincham Line, converted into a tram line during 1991–92, as part of the first phase of the Metrolink system.