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 The Liverpool, Ormskirk & Preston Railway in north-west England was formed in 1846. It was purchased by the East Lancashire Railway the following year and opened to traffic on 2 April 1849. The railway ran from a junction with the Liverpool an ...

before branching off to proceed via

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...

then

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

and

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

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 ...

Mergers

In 1846 the line merged with the Manchester & Leeds Railway being eventually finished after the merger to form 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 ...

(LYR). The portion of the line west of Crow Nest Junction eventually formed part of the LYR's Liverpool to Manchester route via a junction with the

Manchester and Southport Railway The Manchester and Southport Railway in England opened on 9 April 1855. It merged with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1854. The route is still in use to day as Northern's Manchester to Southport Line. Route *Manchester Victoria railwa ...

. From 1858 the line was connected to the

Skelmersdale Branch The Skelmersdale branch was a standard gauge railway (SKE) which connected the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway at Ormskirk with Rainford Junction via Skelmersdale. At Rainford it connected with the Liverpool and Bury Railway and the St. ...

and the

St. Helens Railway St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was an early railway line owned by a company of the same name in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It was later known as St Helens Railway. It ran originally from the town of St Helens, Merseyside, St ...

at Rainford Junction. A short tunnel was bored through a hill between Upholland station and Orrell station.

The line today

With the exception of the section from Bolton to Bury (closed on 5 October 1970, along with the continuation through to ) the line is still in use, though Liverpool Exchange station closed in 1977 being replaced by Liverpool Moorfields in Merseyrail's Link Tunnel. In 1946 one of the Victorian timber bridges on the line was replaced with the

Adam Viaduct The Adam Viaduct is a grade II listed concrete underbridge in Wallgate, Wigan. The bridge, constructed in 1946, is the earliest prestressed concrete railway bridge in the United Kingdom, with only some examples in Switzerland being earlier. It ...

, the first

prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" ( compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-tensioned concreted i ...

railway bridge in the United Kingdom. The line from Liverpool city centre to Kirkby is electrified with a DC

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway t ...

forming a part of

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

. At present, services from Kirkby onwards are operated by diesel trains though there are plans for the Merseyrail electrified line to be extended towards Wigan with a new terminus at . Long-term aspirations are to extend Merseyrail to Wigan on this line. The Wigan to Bolton section meanwhile is used by to Southport and

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

to local services. In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line between Bolton and Bury which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments). In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating the line between Bolton and Bury. This bid was unsuccessful however a resubmitted bid for the second round was successful. Restoring Your Railway Fund: Successful Bids
gov.uk

References

External links

Liverpool Exchange Disused Stations
Historic transport in Merseyside Pre-grouping British railway companies Rail transport in Lancashire Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Railway companies established in 1845 Railway lines opened in 1848 Railway companies disestablished in 1846 {{England-rail-transport-stub