Plodder Lane engine shed

LNWR Lines to Bolton
Legend
Deansgate Goods Bolton Great Moor St Bolton Crook Street Original alignment shown in green Rumworth & Daubhill Daubhill 1831 Plodder Lane Shed Plodder Lane Chequerbent Chequerbent 1831 Little Hulton Wigan Wallgate Manchester-Southport LYR Walkden High Level Walkden Low Level Atherton Bag Lane Wigan NW Manchester & Wigan Rly Atherleigh Westleigh Worsley Leigh Plank Lane Bridgewater Canal Tyldesley Loopline Monton Green Pennington Eccles Kenyon Junction Lime St-Manchester Chat Moss Line

Plodder Lane engine shed was built by the LNWR to coincide with expanding their operations in the Bolton area in the 1870s and in particular the opening of a new direct route from their Bolton Great Moor Street station to Manchester via Walkden in 1875.^[4]

History

The shed was built on a 5.85 acres (2.37 hectares) plot north of Plodder Lane (now the B6199) and Plodder Lane station. The shed building, 42' turntable, coaling and watering facilities were on the western side of the new line, with a goods shed and yard on the eastern side. The shed was built in Ramsbottom's hipped-roof style and could accommodate twelve locomotives.^[5]

In 1890 work started to considerably enlarge the shed's facilities. A new, six road shed, in standard northlight style, was built adjoining the original shed building, more than doubling the site's covered storage capacity. The turntable was moved to accommodate the new building and its tracks and the coaling and watering plant were replaced by a much larger version. There were minor adjustments in later years, but the basic facilities put in place in the 1890s hardly changed until closure in 1954.^[6]

In the 1930s the roof and one wall of the original shed were demolished as life expired, they were not replaced. The hand operated 42' turntable was replaced by a 60' vacuum-operated version in 1938. During World War II an air raid shelter was dug and a very distinctive aircraft spotter's hut was erected on top of the water tank.^[7]

Passenger trains were reduced during the Second World War, a process which continued thereafter. The Great Moor St to Manchester service took over twice as long as the intensive service from Bolton Trinity Street and intermediate traffic was slight, some with rail alternatives available such as at Walkden. The route to Kenyon Junction served largely small communities which either had other rail routes nearby, such as in Leigh, or had more frequent and convenient buses. Bolton Great Moor St closed to regular passenger services in March 1954. Freight traffic was undergoing gradual decline, the combined effect of this and the end of passenger workings left Plodder Lane shed with no role which could not be filled by other sheds in the area such as Patricroft. Plodder Lane shed closed in October 1954.

Unusually for that era most of the shed buildings and Plodder Lane station buildings were soon demolished, though the shed's water tank - minus lookout post - survived until the 1960s. The goods facilities on the other side of the tracks remained officially open until 30 January 1965.^[8]

All former LNWR lines in the Bolton area north of Howe Bridge and Atherton were closed by 6 January 1969.^[9]

See also

• List of British Railways shed codes

References

Sources

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995), The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens, ISBN 1-85260-508-1 
• Sweeney, Dennis J. (1996), A Lancashire Triangle Part One, Leigh: Triangle Publishing, ISBN 0-9529333-0-6 
• Holland, Bert (2001), Plodder Lane for Farnworth, Leigh: Triangle Publishing, ISBN 0-952-9333-65 
• Smith, Paul; Griffiths, Roger (2000). The Directory of British Engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: Northern England and Scotland v.2 (Vol 2). OPC Railprint. ISBN 0-86093-548-5. 

External links

• The shed and nearby station on a 1948 OS map via npe maps
• The shed on an 1885 series OS map overlay via National Library of Scotland
• The line by the shed via railwaycodes