Atherton Bag Lane railway station served an area of Atherton,

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 ...

in what was then

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 ...

, England. It was located on the

Bolton and Leigh Railway The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire, it opened for goods on 1 August 1828 preceding the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) by two years. Passengers were carried from 1831. The railway operated inde ...

line which ran from Bolton Great Moor Street to Leigh Station and the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

and later to Kenyon Junction.

History

The

(B&LR) opened Bag Lane station as one of the original stations on the line on 11 June 1831. The B&LR became part of the

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

in 1845 which became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) in 1846. The original "spartan" single platform station was constructed on the East side of the single track line in the centre of Bag Lane village, opposite the Railway Inn. The station was renamed Atherton in 1847. The station was rebuilt in 1880 when the line was doubled. The new station having two platforms with canopies. The platforms were accessed by an underground passage from a new road, Railway Street. There was an adjacent goods station capable of handling "Live Stock, Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans". The goods yard was equipped with a 10 ton crane. The L&NWR became part of 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 ...

(LMS) 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. The station was renamed Atherton Bag Lane on 2 June 1924 to distinguish it from the

Atherton Central Atherton railway station serves the town of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the line between Wigan and Manchester on the Manchester to Southport Line; according to Office of Rail and Road figures, it is the third busiest stati ...

on 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 ...

. It passed on 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 Irelan ...

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 and was closed by the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

six years later. The line closed to all traffic in the late 1960s and in 1970 the road was re-laid over its original path.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

The station on a 1948 OS map via ''npe maps''

The station via ''Disused Stations UK''

The station and line via ''railwaycodes''
{{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 1831 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954 Atherton, Greater Manchester

History

References

Sources

Further reading

External links