Heywood railway station

For the closed railway station in Australia, see Heywood railway station, Victoria. For the heritage railway station in Gloucestershire, see Heywood railway station (Perrygrove Railway).

Heywood
Station on heritage railway
General information
Location	Heywood, Greater Manchester England
Coordinates	53°35′20″N2°12′25″W / 53.5889°N 2.2069°W / 53.5889; -2.2069
Grid reference	SD863102
Managed by	East Lancashire Railway
Platforms	1
Key dates
1841	Original station opened
1848	Resited
5 October 1970	Closed
6 September 2003	Current station opened

Heywood railway station serves the town of Heywood, in Greater Manchester, England. Formerly a stop on the national railway network, it is now the southern terminus of heritage East Lancashire Railway services.

History

v t e Railways in Rochdale
Legend
Past, present and future
Rossendale Lines to Bacup Calderdale Lines to Calderdale Broadley Littleborough Shawclough and Healey Smithy Bridge Wardleworth Rochdale Newbold Rochdale Town Centre Kingsway Business Park Milnrow East Lancs Rly to Bury Newhey Broadfield Oldham Lines to Oldham Heywood Castleton Mills Hill Middleton Manchester Lines North to Manchester

The original station was opened in 1841 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway. It was resited in 1848 when the line was extended to Bury. The station closed on 5 October 1970.

It was reopened on 6 September 2003 as an extension of the heritage East Lancashire Railway (ELR) from Bury Bolton Street. ^[1] The boundary between the ELR and the national rail network is located a short distance east of the station, at Hopwood.

A pledge of £300 million was made to link Heywood back to the National Rail network in 2009, which would have seen direct services to Manchester Victoria, via Castleton; however, this scheme was subsequently shelved due to lack of funding. ^[2] The ELR still has ambitions to run trains through to Castleton though to allow direct interchange with National Rail services there. This would form part of a larger scheme to regenerate the area and create additional tourist attractions such as a proposed Heywood Culture Park.

The original station was situated immediately opposite the terminal wharf of the Heywood Branch Canal. The ELR station is situated slightly further to the east, nearer to the former Heywood railway wagon works. ^[3]

Services

The East Lancashire Railway operates every weekend throughout the year, with additional services on some Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between Easter and the end of September. ^[4]

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Bury Bolton Street towards Rawtenstall		East Lancashire Railway		Terminus
Planned extension
Bury Bolton Street Line and station open towards Rawtenstall		East Lancashire Railway		Castleton Line closed, station open Terminus
Disused railways
Broadfield Line open, station closed		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Manchester and Leeds Railway		Castleton Line closed, station open
				Middleton Junction Line and station closed

References

1. Wood, Frank (10 September 2003). "Thousands flock to rail dream". Heywood Advertiser. MEN Media. Retrieved 19 February 2009.
2. Gray, Lisa (20 May 2009). "Money for Manchester train service is found". Heywood Advertiser. MEN Media.
3. Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 map, 1929 and 2011
4. "Timetables". East Lancashire Railway. Retrieved 5 March 2025.

Further reading

• Bairstow, Martin, The Manchester and Leeds Railway

External links

• Transport & Travel on Road, Canal & Railway
• The Castleton and Heywood Masterplan ^{[ permanent dead link ]} Study by Mouchel and& Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council to develop tourism potential of the two areas.