Bamber Bridge railway station

Bamber Bridge
Bamber Bridge railway station in 2009
Location
Place	Bamber Bridge
Local authority	South Ribble
Grid reference	SD564258
Operations
Station code	BMB
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	66,867
2005/06	64,725
2006/07	64,189
2007/08	69,633
2008/09	66,488
2009/10	70,060
2010/11	77,160
2011/12	82,878
2012/13	84,876
2013/14	88,540
2014/15	83,172
History
Key dates	Opened 1846
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bamber Bridge from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bamber Bridge railway station serves the area Bamber Bridge, England 4 miles (6 km) to the south of Preston city centre on the A6 and M6 roads.

Description

Its railway station, in common with Lostock Hall, 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 opened a direct route to Preston that avoided the need to use the North Union Railway between Farington and Preston (and thus pay hefty tolls to the NUR company). The Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway had in the meantime arrived at Lostock Hall in 1849, putting the village on the main line from Blackburn to Liverpool.

The station in 1963

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.^[1]

Bamber Bridge may not strictly be a "one-street village", but each train to pass through stops traffic; the level crossing cuts across the main road. Only Northern trains en route to and from Preston use Bamber Bridge. It has two platforms, but is not manned and has no departure screens.

Services

Monday to Saturdays, there is an hourly service from Bamber Bridge towards Preston and Blackpool South, westbound and Blackburn, Burnley and Colne, eastbound. There is a two-hourly service in each direction on Sundays. In addition to the basic service, three additional calls are provided by services on the York & Leeds to Blackpool North line during peak periods to give additional journey opportunities to & from Preston for commuters & shoppers - one train from Leeds and one from York stop westbound in the morning and one to York eastbound in the evening.^[2]

References

1. "Bamber Bridge railway gets a £305,000 facelift". 2008-03-26. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
2. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 97

External links

• Train times and station information for Bamber Bridge railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 53°43′37″N 2°39′40″W / 53.727°N 2.661°W