Bury Knowsley Street is a former railway station in

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

History

The station was first opened by the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway 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 ...

on 1 May 1848 (as the eastern terminus of the

Liverpool and Bury Railway The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed in 1845 and opened on 28 November 1848. The line ran from Liverpool Exchange first using a joint line with Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway before branching off to proceed via Kirkby then Wigan ...

) originally being named simply ''Bury''. Services ran east to and and west to and (and also towards Chorley, Liverpool and Preston). There was also a connection from here northwards to neighbouring

Bolton Street This is a list of notable streets in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. A B C D E F G H Heath St. Route 64. (MTA Maryland) K L M N O P R Ramsay st S U W Y Numbered streets In Balt ...

station on the

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street railway station, Bury Bolton Street, ...

line from Clifton Junction to Bacup and Accrington. The station was renamed twice: to ''Bury Market Place'' in February 1866, and to ''Bury Knowsley Street'' in 1888. The line and station were closed on 5 October 1970 as part of continuing cutbacks in

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

services and the line west to Bolton subsequently dismantled.

Accident

On 19 January 1952, the station footbridge collapsed under the weight of a large crowd entering the station following a football match. Two people were killed and 173 injured when the metal struts supporting the bridge's footway failed. No trains were in the station at the time. The accident report determined that while the bridge's design was adequate, it had been inadequately maintained and the metal struts which failed had almost certainly required replacement for 10 or 15 years prior to the accident.

Current

There is no physical trace of the station buildings (which were demolished soon after passenger services ended) or the disused platforms (these survived until the early 1990s). The line from Bury Bolton Street to Heywood through the station site was reopened in 2003 by the

. This had stayed open to freight (along with the old ELR route to

Rawtenstall Rawtenstall () is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles/24 km north of Manchester, 22 miles/35 km east of Preston and 45 miles/70 km south east of the county town of Lancaster. The town is at the cen ...

) until December 1980 and had previously (from March 1980 until final closure) crossed what is now the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Kin ...

line to

Bury Interchange Bury Interchange is a transport hub in the town of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. Opened in 1980, it is the northern terminus of the Manchester Metrolink's Bury Line, which prior to 1992 was a heavy-rail line. It also incorporates a bus sta ...

(though it was still BR-operated at that time) on the level. In order to reopen the route, a bridge (with steep approach gradients on either side known locally as the ''ski-jump'') was constructed in the early 1990s and opened to traffic in July 2003Disused Stations - Bury Bolton Street
''Disused Stations''; Retrieved 3 March 2016 to carry the ELR line over the Metrolink and this now occupies the old station site. The route towards Bolton is now overgrown and derelict and has been blocked at Bradley Fold by a housing development.

References

External links

Railscot - Photos of Bury Knowsley Street
Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Buildings and structures in Bury, Greater Manchester 1952 disasters in the United Kingdom {{GreaterManchester-railstation-stub