Lees railway station

Lees
General information
Location	Oldham England
Coordinates	53°32′23″N2°04′09″W / 53.5396°N 2.0693°W / 53.5396; -2.0693
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Opened	5 July 1856 (1856-07-05)
Closed	2 May 1955 (1955-05-02)
Original company	London and North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
2 May 1955	Closed to passengers
16 December 1963	Closed to goods traffic
13 April 1964	Line closed

Lees railway station opened on 5 July 1856 at Lees, Lancashire, when the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) opened the branch from Greenfield to Oldham. ^{[1] [2]}

The station was located to the south-east of St. John Street, where it crossed the railway. There were two running lines with platforms on the outer sides connected by a footbridge. The main building was to the south of the line and was accessed by a ramp running down from the road over-bridge. ^[3] To the south east of the station was a goods yard with a goods shed and between the station and the goods shed was a coal depôt. The goods yard was able to accommodate most types of goods including live stock and was equipped with a ten ton crane. ^{[3] [4]}

Services Initially services ran to Oldham Mumps (L&NWR) and to Greenfield with some of these continuing to Delph. From 1 July 1862 trains were extended from Oldham Mumps to Oldham Clegg Street, later that year the L&NWR closed its Mumps station replacing it with Oldham Glodwick Road. ^{[5] [6]}

By 1866 the station saw fourteen services in each direction (four on Sundays) of which three continued to Delph (none on Sundays). ^[7] By 1922 the number of services had increased to about thirty-nine each way (there was some variation on Saturdays) of which eighteen continued to Delph (none on Sundays). ^[8] In 1939 the LMS service was about the same with around thirty-eight services each way, with even more variation on Saturdays, twenty-one of which continued to Delph (except on Sundays). ^[9]

The station closed to passengers on 2 May 1955, when the Delph Donkey passenger train service to Delph via Greenfield was withdrawn. ^{[2] [10]} The station closed to goods traffic on 16 December 1963. ^[11] The line remained open until 13 April 1964. ^[12]

Not far from the station, to the north east, was Lees Engine Shed which was open from 1878 to April 1964. ^[11]

Currently the line is a cyclepath and there is no evidence of the station remaining. ^{[13] [14]}

v t e Delph Donkey
Legend
Delph Measurements Halt Dobcross Huddersfield line to Huddersfield Moorgate Halt Greenfield Grasscroft Huddersfield line to Stalybridge Lydgate tunnel Grotton and Springhead Lees Oldham Loop Line to Rochdale Oldham Glodwick Road Oldham Mumps L&YR Oldham Mumps LNWR Metrolink to Manchester Victoria Oldham Central Oldham Clegg Street LNWR Goods Depot GC Goods Depot Oldham Werneth Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bdge to Ashton-under-Lyne Oldham Loop Line to Manchester Victoria Scottfield GC Goods Depot

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Oldham Glodwick Road		L&NW Delph Donkey		Grotton and Springhead

References

Citations

1. "Opening of the new Railway to Greenfield". The Manchester Guardian (1828-1900). 7 July 1856. p. 3. ProQuest   473916112.
2. Quick 2022, p. 277.
3. "Ordnance Survey 25 inch map Lancashire XCVII.7". National Library of Scotland. 1894. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
4. The Railway Clearing House 1970, p. 29.
5. Reed 1996, p. 60.
6. Brown 2021, p. 91.
7. Bradshaw 1866, pp. tables 118 & 119.
8. Bradshaw 1985, p. 484.
9. LMS Railway 1939, p. table 150.
10. Hurst 1992, p. 10 (ref 0453).
11. Brown 2021, p. 92.
12. Hurst 1992, p. 25 (ref 1272).
13. "Oldham Cycle Network" (PDF). Visit Oldham. Cycle GM. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
14. Allsop, Stuart. "View of former Lees station". Google Maps. Retrieved 14 January 2022.

Bibliography

• Bradshaw, George (1866). Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, for Great Britain and Ireland. Liverpool: Bradshaw & Blacklock.
• Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN   978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC   12500436.
• Brown, Joe (2021). Liverpool & Manchester Railway Atlas. Manchester: Crécy Publishing. ISBN   9780860936879. OCLC   1112373294.
• Hurst, Geoffrey (1992). Register of Closed Railways: 1948-1991. Worksop, Nottinghamshire: Milepost Publications. ISBN   0-9477-9618-5.
• LMS Railway (1939). London Midland & Scottish Passenger Railway Timetable- July 3rd to September 24th, inclusive, 1939. London: LMS.
• Quick, Michael (2022) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF). version 5.04. Railway & Canal Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2022.
• Reed, Malcolm C. (1996). The London & North Western Railway: A History. Atlantic Transport. ISBN   978-0-906899-66-3.
• The Railway Clearing House (1970) [1904]. The Railway Clearing House Handbook of Railway Stations 1904 (1970 D&C Reprint ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles Reprints. ISBN   0-7153-5120-6.

Further reading

• Hooper, John (2006). An Illustrated History of Oldham's Railways. Irwell Press. ISBN   9781871608199.