Bamber Bridge railway station serves the village of

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

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 Lancash ...

, England. It is situated on the

East Lancashire Line The East Lancashire line is a railway line in the Lancashire region of England, which runs between Preston and Colne, through Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley (Barracks and Central) and Nelson. The line formerly ran onto Skipton but this closed i ...

and is managed by Northern.

Description

Its railway station, in common with

Lostock Hall Lostock Hall is a suburban village within the South Ribble borough of Lancashire, England. It is located on the south side of the River Ribble, some south of Preston and north of Leyland. It is bordered on its southeastern side by the ...

, was once much larger and used by many more trains than today. Opened in 1846 by the ''Blackburn & Preston Railway'', it became a junction four years later when the B&PR's successor the

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

opened a direct route to Preston that avoided the need to use the

North Union Railway The North Union Railway was an early British railway company, operating in Lancashire. It was created in 1834, continuing independently until 1889. Formation The North Union Railway (NUR) was created by an Act of Parliament on 22 May 1834 whic ...

between

Farington Farington is a village and civil parish in the South Ribble local government district of Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 6,674. History The parish was part of Preston Rural District throughou ...

and Preston (and thus pay hefty tolls to the NUR company). The

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 ...

had in the meantime arrived at Lostock Hall in 1849, putting the village on the main line from Blackburn to Liverpool. Bamber Bridge Station 1749974 f6fda453

These newer lines all fell victim to BR economies in the aftermath of the Beeching Axe - the direct line to Preston closing to all traffic in April 1972 (services henceforth reverted to using the original 1846 line through Lostock Hall then the 1908-built Farington Curve to reach the WCML) and the Blackburn to Liverpool trains ending on 6 October 1969. The line was resignalled in 1973 and is now controlled by the power box at Preston, although the distinctive signal box still remains to supervise three level crossings (one here locally and two further east by CCTV). On the westbound platform, the station building built in 1846 survives but is no longer used as part of the station. The building has been disused recently but is now being converted into a drop-in centre for pensioners. The waiting room on the eastbound platform and the old pedestrian subway linking the two platforms have both been removed.

may not strictly be a "one-street village", but each train to pass through stops traffic; the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

cuts across the main road. Only Northern trains en route to and from Preston use Bamber Bridge. It has two platforms, but is unstaffed (so tickets must be purchased from the ticket machine or on the train when travelling from here). Passenger information screens are in operation at the station, along with a long-line P.A system to provide train running information. As of January 2018, along with other Stations on this line, a new touch screen Ticket Machine was added to the Station.

Services

Monday to Saturdays, there is an hourly service from Bamber Bridge towards Preston westbound and

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...

, eastbound. There is also an hourly service in each direction on Sundays, with westbound trains running to . In addition to the basic service, two additional calls are provided by services on the York & Leeds to Blackpool North line during the morning peak period to give additional journey opportunities to Preston for commuters & shoppers. There is also one evening peak additional train from Preston to Blackburn that stops here.

References

External links

{{coord, 53.727, N, 2.661, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in South Ribble DfT Category F2 stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Northern franchise railway stations 1846 establishments in England