Chequerbent railway station

Chequerbent
Location
Place	Chequerbent, Westhoughton
Area	Bolton
Coordinates	53°33′04″N 2°29′39″W / 53.5510°N 2.4943°WCoordinates: 53°33′04″N 2°29′39″W / 53.5510°N 2.4943°W
Grid reference	SD673061
Operations
Original company	London and North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms	2[1][2]
History
2 February 1885	Station opened
3 March 1952	Station closed to passengers[3]
25 February 1965	Station closed completely
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
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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

Chequerbent railway station was in Westhoughton to the south-west of Bolton, Greater Manchester, on the line between Bolton Great Moor St and Kenyon Junction.

History

The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) opened for goods traffic in 1828, with passenger services following in 1831. The line included a number of steep inclines. Two of these were worked using ropes hauled by stationary engines, as opposed to locomotives used on the flatter sections.^[4] To avoid these inclines and allow steam locomotives to haul trains for the entire journey, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), successor to the B&LR, built deviations over easier gradients. This required the resiting of Daubhill and Chequerbent stations.

The station opened in 1885, replacing an earlier station which had opened in 1831. The new station was sometimes known as Chequerbent for Hulton Park.^[5] The route of the new line passed under the A6, whereas the previous line had crossed at road level, so the new platforms were reached via two flights of steps.

The station closed to passengers in 1952, though local passenger trains continued to pass through for two more years and excursion traffic for four years after that. It finally closed completely in 1965.

Services

During the 1930s there were some 20 trains per day, but by the 1950s this had fallen to just six.

Freight traffic

The 1885 deviation eased the gradients somewhat, but the climb northwards from Atherton Bag Lane to Chequerbent remained arduous, with a nominal gradient of 1 in 30.5 for 1.6 miles - appreciably steeper than the Lickey Incline. This gradient was, however, purely nominal, as over the years colliery subsidence resulted in a continuous climb with an uneven gradient, including a stretch at 1 in 18.^[6] This imposed severe restrictions on loads, locomotives and men^[7] and resulted in this relative backwater becoming a Mecca for cameramen and film makers as dense loads such as sand were carried well into the 1960s.^[8][9]

References

1. Holland 2001, p. 36.
2. Dart 2010, p. 20.
3. Butt 1995, p. 59.
4. Awdry 1990, p. 62
5. Butt 1995, p. 59
6. Holland 2001, pp. 34 & 36
7. Holland 2001, pp. 99–100
8. Holland 2001, pp. 36, 92 & 128
9. DVD 2003, 24 mins from start.

Sources

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p. 62. ASIN B000Z5WUQM. CN 8983.
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.
• Dart, Maurice (2010). Images of Lancashire and Cheshire Railways: Classic Photographs from the Maurice Dart Railway Collection. Wellington, Somerset: Halsgrove. ISBN 978-0-85704-056-5.
• DVD (2003) [1959–65]. Lancashire & Yorkshire. Carnforth: Telerail. Steam World Archive Volume 4.
• Holland, Bert (2001). Plodder Lane for Farnworth. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 0-9529333-6-5.
• Sweeney, Dennis J. (1996). A Lancashire Triangle Part One. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 0-9529333-0-6.

External links

• The station via Disused Stations UK
• The station on a 1948 OS map via npe maps
• The station on an 1892 series OS map overlay via National Library of Scotland
• The station and line via railwaycodes

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Atherton Bag Lane Line and station closed		London and North Western Railway		Rumworth and Daubhill Line and station closed