Oldham Mumps was a railway station, opened in 1847, which served the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The station was a primary station located on the

Oldham Loop Line The Oldham Loop Line was a local railway route in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail. The l ...

northeast of

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 co ...

. At the time of closure, it was operated and managed by

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

. The station, and the Oldham Loop Line were closed in October 2009 for conversion into a

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

line, renamed as the

Oldham and Rochdale Line The Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester running from Manchester city centre to Rochdale town centre via Oldham, using most of the trackbed of the former Oldham Loop Line which closed in ...

(ORL) and the station was demolished in 2010. Between 2012, and 2014, a temporary tram stop operated on the site of the station, until this was closed and replaced by a permanent tram stop a short distance away. The name of the station survives in the present Oldham Mumps tram stop which is located a short distance north of the former railway station, on the realigned track of the Oldham town centre tram line.

History

Railway station (1847–2009)

Oldham Mumps railway station opened on 1 November 1847 to serve the town of

. The station was a primary station located on the

northeast of

. The name of the station is taken from its situation within the Mumps area of Oldham, which itself probably derived from the archaic word "mumper", slang for a

beggar Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public plac ...

. The first railway to reach Oldham was a branch line which opened in March 1842, constructed by the

Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...

(M&LR). This line ran from a junction at Middleton, from the Manchester to Leeds line which had opened the previous year, to Oldham Werneth railway station: Oldham Werneth was located inconveniently at the edge of the town centre, so in 1847, the line was extended one mile to Oldham Mumps station. By this time the Manchester and Leeds Railway had become part of 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 ...

(LYR). In August 1863, a six-mile (10 km) extension was opened from Oldham Mumps to , also connecting to the Manchester-Leeds line, effectively creating a loop from Middleton to Rochdale. The line between Middleton and Oldham was steeply inclined and therefore difficult to work; until 1854 the line had been cable-worked. In 1873, the LYR obtained an act to build a more direct, and less steeply inclined line between Oldham and Manchester, running via

Failsworth Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was ...

, and joining the Manchester-Leeds line at Thorpes Bridge Junction. This line was opened in May 1880, therefore completing what became known as the Oldham Loop Line. The original line from Middleton to Oldham closed in 1964. In 1957, the main station building was rebuilt by British Railways. This building was later demolished in the 1990s, and the station facilities were concentrated on the main island platform, which was reached by an underpass. The station was reached across the dual-carriageway Oldham bypass, a difficult walk from the town centre. The station closed due to the conversion of the line to Metrolink on 3 October 2009 and, by May 2010, had been completely demolished. The station canopy has been saved. It was bought by 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 ...

after a successful public fund-raising campaign. The canopy was restored, and installed at . File:Oldham Mumps railway station in 1978.jpg, The station in 1978 Image:Geograph-820158-by-Peter-Whatley.jpg, Station entrance in 1989 File:Oldham Mumps station 2007.JPG, Station entrance in 2007

Temporary tram stop (2012–14)

In June 2010, the

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the Passenger transport executive, public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester. SELNEC PTE ...

announced that as part of the conversion of the former Oldham loop, it would submit a planning application for a temporary Metrolink terminus at Oldham Mumps, close to the site of the former railway station. Services to the temporary terminus commenced on Wednesday 13 June 2012 The temporary tram stop was reached by crossing Oldham Way or could be accessed by the free

Metroshuttle free bus is a zero-fare bus system that operates in Greater Manchester. The system was first introduced in Manchester city centre in 2002, with three routes linking the city's major thoroughfares and stations with its main commercial, financia ...

service, which linked the station with the town centre and

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

. The "temporary" Oldham Mumps tram stop was used as an interim measure, while the new street running tram line through Oldham town centre was built, and was closed on 18 January 2014. Its closure allowed for a stretch of track which had run through the station to be permanently abandoned.

Permanent tram stop

The permanent tram stop opened on 27 January 2014, along with the Oldham town centre tram line on the site of the former B&Q store and is also a bus interchange.

The site since closure

In 2014, Oldham council unveiled plans to redevelop the former station site and abandoned line, with a new retail and housing development called Prince's Gate.

References

{{Greater Manchester main railway stations Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations History of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 2009