Kenyon Junction railway station

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Kenyon Junction
General information
Location Culcheth, Warrington
England
Coordinates 53°27′49″N2°32′19″W / 53.4637°N 2.5387°W / 53.4637; -2.5387 Coordinates: 53°27′49″N2°32′19″W / 53.4637°N 2.5387°W / 53.4637; -2.5387
Grid reference SJ642964
Platforms4 [1] [2]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Pre-grouping London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
15 September 1830 (1830-09-15)Opened as Bolton Junction
June 1843Renamed Kenyon Junction
2 January 1961Station closed to passengers [3]
1 August 1963Station closed completely [3]

Kenyon Junction was a railway station at Kenyon near Culcheth in Warrington, England. The station was built at the junction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway. [4] [5] It was situated in the historic county of Lancashire. The station opened in 1830 as Bolton Junction and closed to passengers on 2 January 1961 before closing completely on 1 August 1963. [6] The junction fell out of use when the line serving Leigh was closed in 1969. [7]

Contents

History

The station was opened on 15 September 1830 as part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. [6] It was originally named Bolton Junction before being renamed Kenyon Junction in June 1843. [3]

The early station was criticised for poor facilities and missed connections and was reconstructed in 1883. [8] The London and North Western Railway's Tyldesley Loopline from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station continued south west to Leigh, Pennington and Kenyon Junction opened in 1864. [9] [10]

The original engine shed closed before 1870. Large sidings accommodated goods and coal traffic from Bag Lane, Westleigh, Bickershaw and Abram Collieries and Jacksons and Speakmans Sidings in Bedford, Greater Manchester, Leigh. There were two signal boxes. [8] [11] All stations on the line to Bolton closed in 1954. [12] The stationmaster's house remains in occupation, complete with its own railway bridge to cross the Manchester to Liverpool line, but is not visible from the road.

Potential reopening

In 2001 a proposal to rebuild Kenyon Junction station, which met with much local opposition, was abandoned following the rejection of plans to build a leisure complex in Leigh which the rebuilt station would have served. [7] Locals have lobbied to rebuild the station and build a link to Leigh. [13]

In March 2019, Andy Burnham backed plans to reopen the station as a short-term solution to link Leigh to the rail network. [14] The plans are also backed by the Leigh MP James Grundy.

Related Research Articles

The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire, it opened for goods on 1 August 1828 preceding the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) by two years. Passengers were carried from 1831. The railway operated independently until 1845 when it became part of the Grand Junction Railway.

The Manchester and Wigan Railway refers to a railway in North West England, opened in 1864 and closed to passengers on 3 May 1969, which was part of the London and North Western Railway before the Grouping of 1923. This route was an alternative to the surviving route through Swinton, Walkden and Atherton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolton Great Moor Street railway station</span> Disused railway station in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England

Bolton Great Moor Street railway station was the first station in Bolton. It was opened on 11 June 1831 by the Bolton and Leigh Railway.

Atherleigh railway station served an area of Leigh in what was then Lancashire, England. It was located on the Bolton and Leigh Railway line which ran from Kenyon Junction to Bolton Great Moor Street.

Atherton Bag Lane railway station served an area of Atherton, Greater Manchester in what was then Lancashire, England. It was located on the Bolton and Leigh Railway line which ran from Bolton Great Moor Street to Leigh Station and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and later to Kenyon Junction.

Walkden Low Level railway station served the town of Walkden, City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England.

Little Hulton railway station served the village of Little Hulton, Greater Manchester, England.

Tyldesley railway station is a closed railway station in Lancashire. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.

The Tyldesley Loopline was part of the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The line opened on 1 September 1864 with stations at Worsley, Ellenbrook, Tyldesley, Leigh and Pennington before joining the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Kenyon Junction.

Leigh was a railway station in Bedford, Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom on the London and North Western Railway. Leigh was in the historic county of Lancashire. Its station opened as Bedford Leigh in 1864, was renamed Leigh & Bedford in 1876 and Leigh in 1914. The station closed in 1969.

Howe Bridge railway station, originally Chowbent station, is a former railway station in Atherton, Greater Manchester. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.

Pennington railway station served Pennington, Leigh, Greater Manchester, England on the Bolton and Leigh Railway. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.

Westleigh or West Leigh was a station in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England on the Bolton and Leigh Railway line. Westleigh was situated within the historic county of Lancashire. Its station opened in 1831 and closed in 1954.

Chequerbent railway station was in Westhoughton to the south-west of Bolton, Greater Manchester, on a deviation of the original Bolton Great Moor St to Kenyon Junction line. The station replaced an earlier station on the original line of the railway that had been served by a stationary engine. It was open from 1885 until 1952 for passengers and 1965 for freight.

Plodder Lane railway station served the southern part of Bolton and the western, Highfield, part of Farnworth.

Bolton Crook Street passenger station was a purely temporary facility within the Bolton Crook Street goods yard, devised by the LNWR for use while their nearby Great Moor Street station was demolished and rebuilt. It was used as such from August 1871 to September 1874, after which it reverted to use solely for goods.

Daubhill railway station was a station on the original route of the Bolton and Leigh Railway. It served the Daubhill area of south west Bolton. It was open from 1831 until its replacement in 1885 by a later station.

Rumworth and Daubhill railway station was in the Daubhill area of south-west Bolton, Greater Manchester, on a deviation of the original Bolton Great Moor St to Kenyon Junction line. The station replaced an earlier station on the original line of the railway that had been served by a stationary engine. It was open from 1885 until 1952 for passengers and 1965 for freight.

Plodder Lane engine shed was built by the LNWR to coincide with expanding its operations in the Bolton area in the 1870s and in particular the opening of a direct route from Bolton Great Moor Street station to Manchester via Walkden in 1875.

The Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway (K&LJR) was constructed to link the Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR), which terminated at the Leigh Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) at Kenyon.

References

Citations

  1. Fields, Gilbert & Knight 1980, Photos 43 & 48.
  2. James 2004, p. 11.
  3. 1 2 3 Butt 1995, pp. 38 & 130.
  4. Sweeney 1996, p. 8.
  5. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45.
  6. 1 2 Butt 1995, p. 38.
  7. 1 2 Kenyon Junction Station, subbrit.org.uk, retrieved 10 September 2010
  8. 1 2 Sweeney 1996, p. 61.
  9. Sweeney 1996, p. 71.
  10. Sweeney 2015, pp. 172–180.
  11. Holland 2001, p. 91.
  12. Sweeney 1996, p. 11.
  13. http://www.gmpte.com/upload/library/leighsoc.pdf p. 117 Archived 18 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Greater Manchester mayor determined to deliver train station for Leigh".

Bibliography

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Parkside
Line open, station closed
  London and North Western Railway   Pennington
Line and station closed
   Glazebury and Bury Lane
Line open, station closed