Bury to Holcombe Brook Line

This viaduct, that spans the river Irwell, was part of the Bury to Holcombe Brook branch line built in 1882. The railway line closed in 1963 but the old track bed is still in use today as a cycle way and footpath.
Bury to Holcombe Brook Line
Legend
Holcombe Brook
Greenmount
Knowles L.C. Halt
Tottington
Sunny Wood Halt
Woolfold
To Rossendale
Brandlesholme Road Halt
Ramsbottom
Woodhill Road Halt
Summerseat
Bury Bolton Street
To Salford
To Bolton
Knowsley Street
To Manchester
Bury Interchange
East Lancashire Railway

The Bury to Holcombe Brook Line was a 3 3⁄4-mile (6.0 km) single-track railway line which ran between Bury Bolton Street railway station and Holcombe Brook railway station via seven intermediate stations, Woodhill Road Halt, Brandlesholme Road Halt, Woolfold, Sunny Wood Halt, Tottington, Knowles Halt, and Greenmount.

History

Opened in 1882 by the Bury and Tottington District Railway the line was taken over by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1888. Initially the line had stations at Woolfold, Greenmount, Tottington and Holcombe Brook with additional halts opening at Woodhill Road, Brandlesholme Road, Sunnywood and Knowles Crossing in 1905.

Passenger services operated until 1952, while freight services continued to Holcombe Brook until 1960 and Tottington until 1963.

Electrification

In 1912 Dick, Kerr & Co.‘s Preston factory were considering tendering for a Brazilian contract and approached the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to use the branch for test purposes at Dick, Kerr’s expense. The line from Bury Bolton Street Station to Holcombe Brook was electrified with the overhead 3.5 kV dc system, rolling stock was also supplied at their cost. After prolonged trials the trains entered public use on 29 July 1913. The L&Y purchased the equipment and stock on the successful completion of the trials in 1916. During 1917 work started on the branch to convert to third rail to match the Manchester to Bury system. The third rail trains started to run on 29 March 1918.

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.