Leigh railway station (Lancashire)

Last updated

Leigh
General information
Location Leigh, Wigan
England
Coordinates 53°29′48″N2°30′41″W / 53.4967°N 2.5113°W / 53.4967; -2.5113
Grid reference SD662001
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company London and North Western Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway
Post-grouping London Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 September 1864 (1864-09-01)Station opened as Bedford Leigh'
1 August 1876Station renamed as Leigh & Bedford
1 July 1914Station renamed as Leigh
5 May 1969Station closed

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.

Contents

History

Leigh's railway station was on the Tyldesley Loopline, which was opened on 1 September 1864 by the London & North Western Railway. The station was named Bedford Leigh when it opened for passengers in 1864 and its name was changed to Leigh & Bedford in 1876 before becoming Leigh in 1914. [1] [2] [3]

Post-grouping, the station became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The station closed on 5 May 1969 leaving the town without a passenger railway (Westleigh railway station, the town's other station closed in 1954). [4]

Coal deposits were the chief motivation for building a railway in the area and the railway's supporters included many local colliery owners and industrialists. [5] In 1874, John Speakman sank Bedford Colliery to the north-east of the station. The colliery railway was linked to the main line at Speakman's Sidings between Bedford Leigh and Tyldesley stations in 1882.

In 1870, the station was used by 46,906 passengers, and five years later, passenger numbers had increased to 75,223. [6] In 1894, more than 228,500 passengers were using the station. [7]

Location

Leigh station was on the Tyldesley Loopline which ran from Eccles via Tyldesley, Bedford Leigh and Bradshaw Leach (later renamed Pennington) to Kenyon Junction. [8] When built the station was in the Atherton township because of the alignment of the ancient boundaries. [9] In boundary changes made in 1894, this part of the Atherton township was added to Leigh Urban District. [10] The station was built opposite the junction of East Bond Street and Princess Street to the east of Leigh town centre. [11] [12] The town was also served by stations at Westleigh and Atherleigh on the Bolton and Leigh Railway and at Pennington.

Structure

The station as originally constructed consisted of two platforms, one on each side of the double-track line on the Leigh viaduct, a 350-yard-long structure of 22 arches that carried the railway over the eastern side of Leigh town centre and the Bridgewater Canal. [11] The station was of timber construction with a booking office under one of the viaduct's arches. The platforms were reached from separate staircases of 43 steps and each platform, also of timber construction, had an open waiting shelter. [13] [14] A crossover was located to the east of the station to facilitate changing lines for trains that terminated at Leigh. [15]

In 1875, a "Gentlemen's" waiting room was provided and a general waiting room was built next to the "Ladies" waiting room on the Manchester platform. [15]

Work costing £17,000 to rebuild the station began in March 1896 and was expected to be finished in summer 1897, but the station was not officially reopened until 1 April 1898. [16] The booking and parcels offices were built at the top of a new approach road on a slope up from the junction of Princess Street and East Bond Street. From the booking office at the top of the slope, covered walkway ramps accessed the platforms, which were widened and provided with an ironwork canopy over both platforms and four waiting rooms on each side. Space for the structures was created by smaller arches built on either side of the railway running lines. [17] [18]

The goods yard and two sheds were located at a lower level to the north, between the station and Brown Street North. [19] In 1904 the goods yard had a full range of facilities and was able to accommodate "Furniture Vans, Carriages, Portable Engines, and Machines on Wheels; Livestock; Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans; and Carriages by Passenger Train" as well as the normal goods and parcels. [20]

Services

On opening, the passenger timetable allowed for direct travel from Bedford Leigh to Manchester on eight trains on weekdays, six to Liverpool, two to Kenyon and one to Warrington, with a connection to Chester. [21]

The timetable for 1934 shows Leigh having 23 direct weekday services to Manchester, 11 to Liverpool, 4 to Tyldesley, 4 to Wigan via Pennington Junction and 1 to Warrington. [22] Services to Wigan via Pennington Junction stopped in 1942. [23]

In 1947, there were five weekday trains direct to Manchester and three services requiring a change at Tyldesley and one other service to Tyldesley. In the opposite direction there were five trains to Kenyon Junction to change for trains for Liverpool. On Sundays there were four trains direct from Leigh to Liverpool. [24]

By the 1960s, services had been rationalised and most services through Leigh were on the Manchester to Liverpool service. In 1967, 14 trains from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Exchange stopped at Leigh and three peak local trains operated between Leigh and Manchester Exchange.

Additional services were run during the annual holiday wakes weeks, usually the first two weeks of July. In 1958, it was possible to take a train to several stations on the North Wales coast, Blackpool, Bristol, Devon, Cornwall, Fleetwood (for the Isle of Man ferry), Holyhead (for the Dublin ferry), London Euston, Lancaster and Morecambe. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leigh, Greater Manchester</span> Town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan

Leigh is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, on low-lying land northwest of Chat Moss.

The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire. It opened for goods on 1 August 1828, and thus preceded 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astley, Greater Manchester</span> Human settlement in England

Astley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is crossed by the Bridgewater Canal and the A580 East Lancashire Road. Continuous with Tyldesley, it is between Wigan and Manchester, both 8 miles (13 km) away. Astley Mosley Common ward had a population of 11,270 at the 2011 Census.

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">Worsley railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Worsley railway station was opened in 1864 to serve the town of Worsley in Greater Manchester. The Tyldesley Loopline closed in 1969 as a result of the Beeching Axe.

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyldesley railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Tyldesley railway station is a closed railway station in Greater Manchester. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westleigh, Greater Manchester</span>

Westleigh, a suburb of Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, is one of three ancient townships, Westleigh, Bedford and Pennington, that merged in 1875 to form the borough of Leigh.

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. 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. The junction fell out of use when the line serving Leigh was closed in 1969.

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.

The Astley and Tyldesley Collieries Company formed in 1900 owned coal mines on the Lancashire Coalfield south of the railway in Astley and Tyldesley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The company became part of Manchester Collieries in 1929 and some of its collieries were nationalised in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedford, Greater Manchester</span> One of three townships that merged to form Leigh, England

Bedford, a suburb of Leigh, Greater Manchester is one of three ancient townships, Bedford, Pennington and Westleigh, that merged in 1875 to form the town of Leigh. Historically, Bedford was in Lancashire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennington, Greater Manchester</span>

Pennington, a suburb of Leigh, Greater Manchester is one of six townships in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Leigh, that with Westleigh and Bedford merged to form the town of Leigh in 1875. The township of Pennington covered most of Leigh's town centre.

Bedford Colliery, also known as Wood End Pit, was a coal mine on the Manchester Coalfield in Bedford, Leigh, Lancashire, England. The colliery was owned by John Speakman, who started sinking two shafts on land at Wood End Farm in the northeast part of Bedford, south of the London and North Western Railway's Tyldesley Loopline in about 1874. Speakman's father owned Priestners, Bankfield, and Broadoak collieries in Westleigh. Bedford Colliery remained in the possession of the Speakman family until it was amalgamated with Manchester Collieries in 1929.

Manchester Collieries was a coal mining company with headquarters in Walkden formed from a group of independent companies operating on the Manchester Coalfield in 1929. The Mining Industry Act of 1926 attempted to stem the post-war decline in coal mining and encourage independent companies to merge in order to modernise and better survive the economic conditions of the day. Robert Burrows of the Atherton company Fletcher Burrows proposed a merger of several independent companies operating to the west of Manchester. The merger was agreed and took place in March 1929.

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.

Haydock railway station served the village of Haydock, formerly in Lancashire, now in Merseyside, England.

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. Butt 1995, pp. 31, 141.
  2. Sweeney 1996, p. 70.
  3. "Opening of the Wigan, Eccles and Tyldesley Railway". The Manchester Guardian. 25 August 1864. ProQuest   474467608.
  4. Butt 1995, p. 141.
  5. Sweeney 1996, p. 71.
  6. Sweeney 1997, p. 215.
  7. Sweeney 1997, p. 218.
  8. Conolly 1976, p. 45, section C2–C3.
  9. Sweeney 1996, p. 72.
  10. Greater Manchester Gazetteer, Greater Manchester County Record Office, archived from the original on 18 July 2011, retrieved 18 January 2018
  11. 1 2 Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Leigh (North) 1892: Lancashire Sheet 102.03 (Map). 1:4340. Cartography by Ordnance Survey. Alan Godfrey. 2012. ISBN   978-1-84784-653-2.
  12. Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Leigh (North) 1905: Lancashire Sheet 102.03 (Map). 1:4340. Cartography by Ordnance Survey. Alan Godfrey. 1988. ISBN   978-0-85054-854-9.
  13. Sweeney 2015, p. 156.
  14. "Map of Leigh station as originally built". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  15. 1 2 Sweeney 1997, p. 216.
  16. Sweeney 1997, p. 219.
  17. Sweeney 2015, p. 158.
  18. "Map of upgraded Leigh station". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  19. Sweeney 2015, p. 162.
  20. RCH (1904) 1970, p. 312.
  21. Sweeney 2015, p. 215.
  22. Sweeney 1996, p. 29.
  23. Sweeney 2015, p. 185.
  24. "London Midland & Scottish Railway Passenger Services Timetable- June 1947 - Tables 156 & 149". Timetableworld. LMS. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  25. Sweeney 1997, pp. 234–235.

Bibliography

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Pennington
Line and station closed
  LNWR
Tyldesley Loopline
  Tyldesley
Line and station closed