Delph railway station served the village of

Delph Delph (Old English ''(ge)delf'' a quarry) is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies amongst the Pennines on ...

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, in what is now

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, United Kingdom, between 1851 and 1955.

History

The station was opened on 1 September 1851 as the terminus of the London and North Western Railway branch from . The station closed on 2 May 1955, when the

Delph Donkey The Delph Donkey was a line of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in northern England which opened in 1849 to connect Oldham, Greenfield and Delph to the main Huddersfield to Manchester line. Route Both the Saddleworth villages of De ...

passenger train service from

to Delph via Greenfield was withdrawn. The station building (complete with platform) still survives as a private residence, now much hemmed in by later development. For a period after closure, the station yard became home to a small, privately owned collection of railway rolling stock, including two steam locomotives. The locomotives were a

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

''Darfield No.1'', built in 1953, and a Hunslet 0-6-0ST Brookes No. 1, built in 1941. Other stock consisted of a British Railways Mark 1 bogie coach, an oil tank wagon and a goods brake van. Both locomotives have gone on to enjoy useful lives on preserved lines, but the coach and wagons were cut up on site. One of the major features of the station was the Bailey Mill, located adjacent to the station building. The mill had been derelict since ceasing production in 1996. Evidence of the railway line still existed in front of the mill. The mill was gutted by fire in 2016 and was subsequently demolished. A 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of arson.

References

*An Illustrated History of Oldham's Railways by John Hooper () *steam '76, the official Association of Railway Preservation Societies Year Book & Steam Guide 1976

External links

Delph Station on navigable O.S. map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delph Railway Station Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1851 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1955 1851 establishments in England Saddleworth