Oldham Central railway station

Last updated

Oldham Central
General information
Location Oldham
England
Coordinates 53°32′16″N2°06′37″W / 53.5379°N 2.1104°W / 53.5379; -2.1104
Grid reference SD928046
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Pre-groupingLancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 November 1847 (1847-11-01)First station opened
1 July 1861Second station opened
18 April 1966 (1966-04-18)Closed

Oldham Central railway station was opened on 1 November 1847 as part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's extension of its Oldham branch line. It was eventually one of six stations in the town of Oldham and was adjacent to Clegg Street railway station.

Contents

Branch extension

The first railway to reach Oldham was the Oldham Branch Railway which opened in March 1842. This line was constructed by the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR), it ran from Oldham junction (later known as Middleton, then Middleton Junction), on the M&LR main line from Manchester to Leeds, the branch terminated at Oldham Werneth. [1]

It was soon decided that Oldham Werneth station was inconveniently located to the west of the Oldham town centre from which it was separated by higher ground. [2]

On 8 July 1847 the Manchester and Leeds Railway had changed its name to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) and later that year, on 1 November, the L&YR extended the Oldham Branch Railway just over 1 mile (1.6 km) mile via two tunnels and a cutting to Oldham Mumps. [3]

Station

The extension had one intermediate station, Oldham Central, located on the Oldham town centre side immediately beyond the second tunnel. [3] [4]

Little is known about this station and it was probably of a temporary nature, Quick (2023) reports that it was not mentioned in all the usual timetables or diagrams, nor was it mentioned by name in newspapers, although the Manchester Courier reporting on the extension mentioned three stations, the former terminus Werneth, the new terminus Mumps and the Town Station that would be of a temporary character and would be improved later, situated at the bottom of Clegg Street. [5] [6]

The second station was built on the same site, on the Oldham side of the tunnels from Werneth, it opened on 1 July 1861. [5]

In 1864 it was announced that Mr Walters was to be employed as the architect for new station at Central, the station was rebuilt during 1865 and 1866, the final cost of which was £7,587 (equivalent to £888,000 in 2023 [lower-alpha 1] ), the platforms were adjusted and offset to ensure that they did not encroach onto the lines through Clegg Street station that had opened in 1861. [5] [7] [8]

The 'up' platform began shortly after the tunnel entrance and ended at the footbridge adjacent to the road-bridge carrying Clegg Street over the lines. [lower-alpha 2] [10]

The booking office was at street level in a small square at the junction of Wellington Street and Clegg Street. [11] The down platform was accessed by an inclined passage running alongside and behind the booking office, the up platform had similar access after crossing the lines via the footbridge adjacent to Clegg Street. [12] [13]

There were waiting rooms on both platforms. The platforms had ridge and furrow glazed canopies that originally extended the length of the buildings but were cut back by 1957. [12] [14]

Although Central was conveniently located close to the town centre it was selected for closure, shutting on 18 April 1966. [5]

The name of the station survives in the Oldham Central tram stop, which opened on 27 January 2014 and is located on Union Street. [15]

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Oldham Werneth   Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Oldham Loop Line
  Oldham Mumps

Notes

  1. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", MeasuringWorth , retrieved 7 May 2024
  2. Down trains usually headed away from the major conurbation, usually London, some railway companies ran 'up' to their headquarters location. In this case 'down' was away from Manchester, where the company was based. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway</span> Pre-1923 grouping British Railway company

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 Oldham Branch Railway was an early railway of the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company connecting Oldham to Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester and Leeds Railway</span> Former British railway company

The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the valley of the River Calder for much of the way, making for easier gradients but by-passing many important manufacturing towns. Crossing the watershed between Lancashire and Yorkshire required a long tunnel. The line opened throughout in 1841.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool and Bury Railway</span> Railway line in England

The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed by an Act in 1845 to link Liverpool and Bury via Kirkby, Wigan and Bolton, the line opening on 20 November 1848. The line became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's main line between Liverpool, Manchester and Yorkshire. Most of it is still open.

The Oldham Loop Line was a suburban-line in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail.

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

Oldham Werneth railway station was situated on the Oldham Loop Line, 6+14 miles (10 km) northeast of Manchester Victoria. The station was situated on Featherstall Road South, in the Werneth area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Opened on 31 March 1842 it was the oldest of the six railway stations that at one time existed in Oldham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halifax railway station (England)</span> Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

Halifax railway station serves the town of Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Calder Valley line and is 17 miles (27 km) west from Leeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashton-under-Lyne railway station</span> Railway station in Greater Manchester, England

Ashton-under-Lyne railway station serves the town of Ashton-under-Lyne, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the Huddersfield Line 6½ miles (10 km) east of Manchester Victoria and is operated by Northern Trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaw and Crompton tram stop</span> Manchester Metrolink tram stop

Shaw and Crompton is a tram stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 16 December 2012 and is located in Shaw and Crompton, a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, England.

The Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Junction Railway (OA&GB) was a British railway company, which opened in 1861, connecting Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge. The company survived until it was nationalised in 1948.

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

Middleton Junction railway station was an early junction station on the Manchester and Leeds Railway, it opened when the branch to Oldham opened in 1842.

Oldham Clegg Street railway station was the Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne and Guide Bridge Junction Railway station that served the town of Oldham in northwest England, it had three associated goods stations.

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

Park Bridge Railway Station was a railway station on the Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne and Guide Bridge Junction Railway (OA&GB) that served the village of Park Bridge, in the Medlock Valley near Ashton-under-Lyne's border with Oldham. It was sometimes known as Parkbridge, and one photograph of the station shows the station name board with the name as one word and immediately adjacent the signal box with it shown as two. The station opened on 26 August 1861 when the line opened.

For other stations named Ashton, see Ashton railway station (disambiguation)

Oldham Glodwick Road railway station opened on 1 November 1862 when the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) revised the termination of the branch to Oldham from its main-line at Greenfield.

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.

Manchester Oldham Road station opened in 1839 as the terminus station of the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR) in Collyhurst, Manchester. When the M&LR opened Manchester Victoria in 1844 as its new Manchester passenger station Oldham Road was converted to a goods station which it remained until its closure in 1968.

Oldham Mumps (L&NWR) railway station opened on 5 July 1856 as the terminus of the Oldham branch from Greenfield, the station served the Mumps area of Oldham. The station was probably only known as Oldham during its brief period of existence, the suffixes Mumps and L&NWR may have been added later to provide clarity between the various stations in Oldham. Hooper (1991) states the station was a temporary affair called Victoria. Several sources claim the station was only ever to be temporary.

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

Oldham Mumps was a railway station, opened in 1847, which served the town of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the Oldham Loop Line 7+12 miles (12 km) northeast of Manchester Victoria. At the time of closure, it was operated and managed by Northern Rail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldham and Rochdale Line</span> Manchester Metrolink line

The Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) is a light rail/tram line on the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester, running from North Manchester to Rochdale town centre via Oldham, reusing most of the trackbed of the former Oldham Loop railway line which closed in 2009. The line was re-opened in a modified form as a tramway from 2012 – 2014, as part of Phase 3 of the Metrolink's expansion.

References

  1. Marshall 1969, p. 59.
  2. Marshall 1970, p. 13.
  3. 1 2 Marshall 1970, p. 14.
  4. Hooper 1991, p. 2.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Quick 2023, p. 350.
  6. "News of the Neighbouring Towns: Oldham" . Manchester Courier. 23 October 1847. p. 7. Retrieved 18 June 2024 via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. Marshall 1970, p. 19.
  8. Hooper 1991, p. 25.
  9. Simmons 1997, p. 548.
  10. Wells 2002, pp. 38–39.
  11. Hooper 1991, p. 26.
  12. 1 2 Oldham - Lancashire XCVII.10.3 (Map). 1:500. Ordnance Survey. 1892.
  13. Wells 2002, p. 39.
  14. Wells 2002, p. 38.
  15. Williams, Tony (30 June 2016). "Metrolink Introduction: Manchester to Oldham and Rochdale". Light Rail Transit Association. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2024.

Bibliography