Bolton and Leigh Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bolton and Leigh Railway

Legend Bolton (Great Moor Street) SD 716 088 Bolton (Crook Street) to Manchester via Roe Green Rumworth & Daubhill SD 700 073 Daubhill SD 702 074 (Original alignment shown as a straight line) Chequerbent SD 674 061 Chequerbent SD 674 061 <-- Wigan to Manchester --> Bag Lane SD 651 003, renamed Atherton by 1847, renamed Atherton Bag Lane 1924. <-- Wigan to Manchester--> Atherleigh SD 656 013 Leigh SD 651 003, renamed West Leigh 1876 <-- Wigan to Manchester --> Bradshaw Leach SJ 646 985, renamed Pennington 1877 <-- Tyldesley to Platt Bridge --> Kenyon Junction SJ 643 964 <--Liverpool to Manchester-->

The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&L) was an early British railway.

Contents 1 History 2 Locomotives 3 Stations 3.1 Openings 3.2 Closures 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

The single-track line was built to carry goods, mainly cloth from the cotton mills. It was 7½ miles (12 km) long and opened on 1 August 1828,^[1] two years before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The engineer was George Stephenson. The first locomotive, Lancashire Witch was built by George and Robert Stephenson.^[2] It was used to haul trains up the 1 in 33 gradient at Daubhill.^[1]

The railway operated from Bolton Great Moor Street to Leigh. In 1829, the 4 miles (6.4 km) long Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway (K&LJ) was incorporated to link the Bolton & Leigh Railway with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, joining it at Kenyon Junction near Warrington.^[2] The Act of Parliament (10 George IV. Cap.36) receiving Royal Assent on 14 May 1829.^[3] At first, the railway was freight only, but a passenger service started on 11^[4] or 13 June 1831.^[5]

[edit] Locomotives

Early locomotives include Lancashire Witch and Sans Pareil, which had competed in the Rainhill Trials. Sans Pareil was used on the railway until 1844, when it was sold to the Coppull Colliery, Chorley and used as a stationary engine until 1863 when it was presented to the Science Museum.^[6]

[edit] Stations

[edit] Openings

The original stations on the line were Bolton,^[5] Bag Lane^[7] and Leigh.^[8] Kenyon Junction station, on the L&M, opened on 1 March 1831.^[9] Further stations opened at Daubhill^[10] and Chequerbent^[11] in 1846, along with Bradshaw Leach on the K&LJ.^[12] In 1871, the original station at Bolton Great Moor Street was closed by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) for reconstruction, and a temporary station opened at Crook Street, which was open from 1 August 1871 to 28 September 1874. The new Great Moor Street station opened on that date, having been rebuilt on its original site but some ten feet (three metres) higher. A new direct line to Manchester via Roe Green opened on 1 April 1875.^[5]

In the 1880s, the LNWR decided to remove the inclines at Daubhill and Chequerbent. A new alignment was built at Daubhill, and a new station opened to replace the original. The new alignment included a short tunnel. The original line was retained as a freight line at each end, but severed in the middle.^[10] The new Daubhill station opened on 2 February 1885, and was renamed Rumworth & Daubhill on the 28 April of that year.^[13] At Chequerbent, a new alignment and station was also built, but the original line remained in its entirety, serving the Chequerbent Pits.^[14] The last station to open was at Atherleigh, which the London, Midland and Scottish Railway opened on 14 October 1935 as there had been new housing development in the area.^[15]

[edit] Closures

The original stations at Daubhill and Chequerbent closed on 2 February 1885, both due to replacements opening on the new alignment.^[10][11] The station at Chequerbent closed to passengers on 3 February 1952^[14] and Rumworth & Daubhill closed to passengers on 3 March 1952.^[13] All other stations between Bolton Great Moor Street and Pennington inclusive closed to passengers on 29 March 1954,^[5] with Atherleigh,^[15] West Leigh^[8] and Pennington^[12] closing completely on this date. Some rugby and holiday special trains served Great Moor street until 1958.^[5] Atherton Bag Lane closed to freight on 7 October 1963, Chequerbent closed to freight on 27 February 1965^[7] and Rumworth & Daubhill closed to freight on 29 March 1965. The date of closure of Bolton Great Moor Street station to freight is not recorded, but the last of the rails on the line were lifted in 1969.^[5] Kenyon Junction closed to all traffic on 1 August 1963, although the line is still open to traffic.^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• British Railways in 1960 - Bolton Great Moor St. to Fletcher Street Jn.
• British Railways in 1960 - Fletcher Street Jn. to Leigh