Helmshore railway station
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Helmshore railway station served the village of Helmshore, Rossendale, Lancashire between 1848 and 1966.


Construction and location

Helmshore station was built by the
East Lancashire Railway 1844-1859 East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
(ELR) and opened on 17 August 1848. The ELR was merged with the
Lancashire & 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) on 13 May 1859 and this company operated the station until the merger into the
London Midland & 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 u ...
(LMSR) in 1923. The station was situated just north of where the line passed over Helmshore Road on a level crossing, a few hundred yards south of the town centre. The main station buildings were on the west side of the twin-track line with more modest buildings on the eastern platform, which served trains to Bury and
Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was ...
. Also on the east side of the tracks was a siding to the wooden goods shed and longer sidings serving the nearby Albion cotton mill. The signal box was located just south of Helmshore Road on the eastern side of the line and the signalman also operated the level crossing gates. A footbridge linked the south end of the platforms and allowed the public to cross the line whilst the gates were shut for trains to pass.


Train services from Helmshore

The July 1922 timetable shows that the LYR operated 17 northbound and 18 southbound passenger trains that stopped at Helmshore each weekday. Most were through trains between Manchester,
Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
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 ...
. In July 1946 the LMSR operated 15 northbound and 14 southbound trains, with the 8.28 a.m. service from Colne continuing via Bury, Manchester (Victoria) and
Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...
(Edgeley) to London (Euston), arriving at 2.25 p.m. By January 1956,
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
London Midland Region 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 ...
were operating 15 stopping trains both north and southbound, with several trains beginning or terminating at Colne rather than Accrington. The 1956 single third class fare for the 17 miles to Manchester being 2s 8d (13p). Diesel multiple units gradually took over from steam loco hauled trains from the later 1950s. The station was closed on 5 December 1966, with the last passenger train operating two days earlier.


Incidents

The
Helmshore rail accident Helmshore is a village in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, England, south of Haslingden between the A56 and the B6235, north of Manchester. The population at the 2011 census was 5,805. The housing in Helmshore is mixed, with some two-up, two- ...
on 4 September 1860 saw 11 people killed and 77 injured when the rear portion of a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway passenger excursion train became detached and ran back down the line where it collided with an on-coming passenger excursion train.


East Lancashire Railway and the station site today

After the withdrawal of services on the line, the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society leased the station site and a short length of the line from British Railways and moved some of their steam and diesel locomotives and rolling stock, including goods vans, to Helmshore. After the society had operated their locomotives at the site for a period, the railway line between , and became available, following cessation by British Railways of passenger services on 5 June 1972. The newly available length of line was judged to have more potential for the operation of regular steam train services, and the society therefore moved their operational base to . The rail track at Helmshore was subsequently lifted. Today, Station Road occupies part of the abandoned railway track north of the level crossing. The signal box has been converted to a dwelling house.


References


Notes


Bibliography

*) * *Bradshaw's Railway Guides for July 1922, July 1946 and January 1956 *Lost Railways of Lancashire by Gordon Suggitt () {{Borough of Rossendale culture Beeching closures in England Disused railway stations in the Borough of Rossendale Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966