East Lancashire line | |||
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![]() A Northern Rail Class 142 at Colne | |||
Overview | |||
Owner | Network Rail | ||
Locale | Lancashire Blackburn Burnley Pendle North West England | ||
Termini | |||
Service | |||
System | National Rail | ||
Operator(s) | Northern | ||
History | |||
Opened | 1849 | ||
Technical | |||
Number of tracks | Mainly Double Track, with Single Track from Burnley Barracks to Colne | ||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
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East Lancashire line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The East Lancashire line is a railway line in the Lancashire region of England, which runs between Preston and Colne, through Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley (Barracks and Central) and Nelson. The line formerly ran onto Skipton but this closed in 1970.
It is operated by Northern. Services on this line stop at every station on the line, although Pleasington, Hapton and Burnley Barracks are now request stops only. [1] It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in November 2006. [2]
The line was built by the Blackburn and Preston Railway and the Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington and Colne Extension Railway. Both companies were absorbed by the East Lancashire Railway on 3 August 1846 and 21 July 1845 respectively. The East Lancashire Railway was, in turn, absorbed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on 13 May 1859.
The line connected end-on at Colne with the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway's line to Skipton and Bradford. This 11+1⁄2-mile (18.5 km) link closed in 1970. [3] The Skipton–East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership campaigns to reinstate it. The section from Colne to Nelson was singled the following year, with the rest of the line to Gannow Junction being so treated in December 1986.
In the 1870s the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built the North Lancashire Loop (also known as the Great Harwood Loop), a 9-mile (14 km) route through Great Harwood, Simonstone and Padiham, which bypassed Accrington. The line between Padiham and Rose Grove opened in 1875; west of Padiham it opened two years later as a result of difficulties in constructing the embankments between Great Harwood and Simonstone. Regular use of the North Lancashire Loop ceased in 1957; the route closed completely in 1964, with only the section from Rose Grove to Padiham Power Station remaining until 1993. [4]
Trains from Preston to Colne usually begin at Blackpool South, on the Blackpool branch line, which makes the whole length of the line a total of 50 miles (80 km).
Services via the Roses line routing encompass the Calder Valley line semi-fast trains from Blackpool North stopping at Preston, Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley Manchester Road, heading towards West Yorkshire, currently terminating at York. Since May 2015, trains from Blackburn to Manchester Victoria via Todmorden also uses this route, providing a direct link from Accrington and Burnley to Manchester via Rochdale.
Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west.
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.
The Calder Valley line is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes between Leeds and Manchester, and the northernmost of the three main trans-Pennine routes.
Blackburn railway station serves the town of Blackburn in Lancashire, England. It is 12 miles (19 km) east of Preston and is managed and served by Northern Trains.
Colne railway station serves the town of Colne, in Lancashire, England, which is situated close to Pendle Hill. The station, which is managed by Northern, is the eastern terminus of the East Lancashire Line. Trains from Blackpool South run through Preston and Blackburn to Burnley and Colne.
Accrington railway station serves the town of Accrington in Lancashire, England. It is a station on the East Lancashire line 6+1⁄4 miles (10.1 km) east of Blackburn railway station operated by Northern.
Burnley Manchester Road is the main railway station in Burnley, Lancashire, England. It is situated on the Calder Valley Line 24+1⁄2 miles (39.4 km) east of Preston, near to the route's junction with the East Lancashire Line.
Todmorden railway station serves the town of Todmorden in West Yorkshire, England, originally on the Yorkshire and Lancashire border. It was built by the Manchester and Leeds Railway and is on the Calder Valley line 23 miles (37 km) west of Leeds and 17 miles (27 km) north-east of Manchester Victoria.
Nelson railway station serves the town of Nelson in Lancashire, and is situated on the East Lancashire Line 2 miles (3 km) away from the terminus at Colne. The station is managed by Northern, which also provides its passenger service. The station was opened on 1 February 1849 by the East Lancashire Railway as Nelson Inn, Marsden named after the public house adjacent to the station.
Burnley Central railway station is a station in the town of Burnley, Lancashire and is on the East Lancashire Line. It is managed by Northern, which also provides its passenger service.
Burnley Barracks railway station is in Burnley, England, on the East Lancashire Line 1⁄2-mile (800 m) west of Burnley Central railway station. Following the singling of the track in December 1986, Burnley Barracks has one platform in use, with only a basic shelter in place, and no other buildings on the platform.
Huncoat railway station is a railway station which serves the village of Huncoat, between Accrington and Burnley in Lancashire, England. The station is 8 miles (13 km) east of Blackburn railway station on the East Lancashire Line operated by Northern.
Rose Grove railway station in Lancashire, England serves the Rose Grove area in the west of Burnley, and the nearby town of Padiham. It is served by both the Caldervale Line and the East Lancashire Line. It was once the terminus of the Great Harwood Loop between Blackburn and Burnley via Great Harwood and Padiham. The station is now a junction station for both the Caldervale and East Lancashire lines.
The Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) is a campaign that is looking to reopen the Skipton to Colne railway line, as part of connecting the Lancashire town of Colne to the North Yorkshire town of Skipton. The line between them had been closed in 1970.
The Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway was an early British railway company in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It built a line from Shipley near Bradford through Keighley and Skipton to Colne. The Skipton–Colne Line closed in 1970, but the remainder of the line is still in use today, and once formed part of the Midland Railway's main line route from London to Glasgow.
Network Rail's (NR) strategic route 23 encompassed mainly the English rural railway lines of Lancashire and Cumbria. It excluded the part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) that bisects the counties. It included the following lines:
Padiham railway station in Station Road, Padiham, Lancashire, England was on a branch line of the East Lancashire Line from Burnley to Blackburn.
Simonstone railway station was located on the east side of Simonstone Lane, 0.75 miles (1 km) south of Simonstone centre and near Padiham, Lancashire, England. It was on a branch line of the East Lancashire Line, from Burnley to Blackburn.
Great Harwood railway station was located in the south east side of Great Harwood, Lancashire, England on Station Road, which still remains. The station was on a branch line, usually known as the Great Harwood loop, of the East Lancashire Line from Burnley to Blackburn via Rose Grove, Padiham, Simonstone and Great Harwood.