Tyldesley railway station is a closed railway station in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

. It was situated within the historic county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

Background

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

mining was the chief motivation for building a railway in the area and the railway's supporters included many local colliery owners and industrialists. The

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

obtained an Act of Parliament to build a line through

Tyldesley Tyldesley () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, southeast of Wigan ...

in 1861 and the first sod was cut by the

Earl of Ellesmere Earl of Ellesmere ( ), of Ellesmere in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1846 for the Conservative politician Lord Francis Egerton. He was granted the subsidiary title of Viscount Br ...

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...

in the September. At that time the Tyldesley had the largest population of all the

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in the old Leigh parish and was destined to become the lin‌e's "premier station". At a junction to the west of Tyldesley station, the line to

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 ...

headed north west and the branch to Bedford Leigh, Bradshaw Leach and Kenyon Junction headed south west.

History

The ceremonial opening of the line took place on 24 August 1864. A special train of 18 coaches decorated with flags set off from Hunt's Bank in Manchester before stopping at Eccles,

and Ellenbrook. The streets of Tyldesley were decorated with flags and banners and the population crowded to greet the train which left for Bradshaw Leach. The train returned to Tyldesley and set out for Wigan via Chowbent, Hindley and Platt Bridge before once again returning to Tyldesley. Here the railway directors and their guests joined a procession around the town led by a band, members of local friendly societies and more than 2,000 children. Tyldesley station, in common with other stations on the

Manchester to Wigan Line The Manchester and Wigan Railway refers to a railway in North West England, opened in 1864 and closed to passengers on 3 May 1969, which was part of the London and North Western Railway before the Grouping of 1923. This route was an alternat ...

, was opened to the public on 1 September 1864. The station joined the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

during the

grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

in 1923. It passed to the

London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irela ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. The station closed on 5 May 1969.

Structure

Tyldesley station was of timber construction, it had a booking office and first and second class waiting rooms. It had three through platforms, each was 300 feet long and protected by glass canopies. Two platforms were on an island platform reached by a subway. A goods station was built to the east.

Coal

Collieries linked to the railway include

Astley and Tyldesley Collieries The Astley and Tyldesley Collieries Company formed in 1900 owned coal mines on the Lancashire Coalfield south of the railway in Astley and Tyldesley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The company became part of Manchester Coll ...

' St George's, Nook and Gin Pit Collieries in Tyldesley connected at Jackson's sidings to the west of the station and the Shakerley, Green's

Tyldesley Coal Company Tyldesley Coal Company was a coal mining company formed in 1870 in Tyldesley, on the Manchester Coalfield in the historic county of Lancashire, England that had its origins in Yew Tree Colliery, the location for a mining disaster that killed 25 ...

and Ramsden's

Shakerley Collieries Ramsden's Shakerley Collieries was a coal mining company operating the Nelson and Wellington Pits from the mid 19th century in Shakerley, Tyldesley in the historic county of Lancashire, England. History Coal had been dug in Shakerley since the ...

had connections at sidings approximately one mile to the east of Tyldesley station.

Closure

The

Tyldesley Loopline The Tyldesley Loopline was part of the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Live ...

closed following the

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

on 5 May 1969 and Tyldesley and all other stations along the line were closed. The former trackbed within the

Metropolitan Borough of Wigan The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after the main settlement of Wigan. It covers the towns of Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Golborne, Hindley, Ince-in-Mak ...

was reserved in the Unitary Development Plan in case the rail route could be reinstated. The cutting in Tyldesley was filled in and the line of the railway was a footpath. The proposal for the Leigh-Tyldesley area, a

guided bus Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of schedules even during rush hours. Unlike trolleybuses or rubber-tired tra ...

along the former trackbed from Leigh to the A580 East Lancashire Road at Ellenbrook was approved in 2005. Construction of the

Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit The Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit scheme in Greater Manchester, England provides transport connections between Leigh, Atherton, Tyldesley, Ellenbrook and Manchester city centre via Salford. The guided busway and bus rapid transi ...

route through the site of the station was completed and opened in April 2016

External links

Link to photographs

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Closed stations Greater Manchester Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1864 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1969 History of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Beeching closures in England Tyldesley