The Rawtenstall to Bacup

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line opened in two stages, from

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 ...

to Waterfoot in 1848, and from Waterfoot to the

Bacup Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east of ...

terminus in 1852. There were stations at Rawtenstall, Cloughfold,

Stacksteads Stacksteads is a village between the towns of Bacup and Waterfoot within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. The population of this Rossendale ward at the 2011 census was 3,789. Stacksteads includes a mountain bike trail called Lee ...

and

. The line was doubled in 1880, at the same time as the line from Bacup to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

was also opened (closed 1947). Passenger and freight services operated until the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

in 1966, the last passenger train running on 5 December 1966 and the track being lifted in 1969. As the Irwell valley is quite narrow the line had many engineering features in its 5-mile length, including 14 crossings of the River Irwell alone, plus many over and underbridges, embankments and cuttings, and tunnels at Thrutch Gorge (The Glen) in Waterfoot. Most of the bridges have been demolished or infilled in the years since closure. A foot and cycle path now follows much of the route including the 1/8 mile Newchurch No. 1 Tunnel and 1/4 mile Newchurch No 2 Tunnel. However, there are proposals to reopen the line as part of the Governments strategy to reopen old rail lines in the country which have been closed in the 1960s or later cuts under British Rail.

References

*Lost Railways of Lancashire by Gordon Suggitt ()

External links

British Railways in 1960, Ramsbottom (Stubbins Jn.) to Bacup
Closed railway lines in North West England Railway lines opened in 1852 Rail transport in Lancashire Railway lines closed in 1966 1852 establishments in England {{England-rail-transport-stub