Bromley Cross railway station
![]() Bromley Cross railway station in 2012. | |||||
General information | |||||
Location | Bolton, Bolton England | ||||
Grid reference | SD729131 | ||||
Managed by | Northern Trains | ||||
Platforms | 2 | ||||
Other information | |||||
Station code | BMC | ||||
Classification | DfT category E | ||||
History | |||||
Opened | 1848 | ||||
Passengers | |||||
2018/19 | ![]() | ||||
2019/20 | ![]() | ||||
2020/21 | ![]() | ||||
2021/22 | ![]() | ||||
2022/23 | ![]() | ||||
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Bromley Cross railway station, on Chapeltown Road in
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Bromley_Cross_Station_1919351_fdcaabda.jpg/220px-Bromley_Cross_Station_1919351_fdcaabda.jpg)
Grade II-listed
The working goods yard at the station was a crucial part of a country station's existence and two surviving memos sent in 1874 to Bromley Cross refer to the delivery of cheese and tins of lard etc. to the local Co-op stores and also that goods despatched could have problems; 'all in this truck very wet when received here'.[5] Plans were drawn up around 1891 for an extension to the warehouse, with new goods offices and other track and signalling works. Apart from the main station building, with waiting room built in, there was a 'waiting shed' recorded on both platforms in L&YR days. After the takeover by the LMSR in 1923, plans were drawn up for improved general waiting rooms (GWRs) on both platforms, complete with internal stove heating. The free-standing timber GWR positioned along the platform from the main station building has its full specifications revealed in surviving design plans held in the County Archives and its dimensions are given as approx 27 ft in length by 10 ft deep, which means it had approx 70 per cent of the length of the original building. It may have been at the time of adding this sizeable additional timber waiting room that the decision was taken to block off the central doorway on the main 1859 building. This originally led into a large waiting area and booking hall, complete with benches around the sides of the room and use of the second smaller internal wall clock face to aid timekeeping. After the change, this original waiting hall became the staff ticket office seen today, which swapped over from the end part of the building where the public now buy tickets. There is a boarded-over rear corner fireplace just under the modern train time display screen, hence the chimney seen on the outside rear corner of the building. The GWR on the Manchester platform can be seen in late 1960s photos but must have been removed by around 1970 and by the 1980s a new waiting room extension in stone was added on to the end of the 1859 station building, in place of the gentlemen's lean-to toilets. A small waiting room provided in the station's central section was then closed and reserved for staff use (storage). There was also a detailed LMSR design plan for the proposed reconstruction of the LYR waiting shed into a GWR on the Blackburn platform, measuring approx 25 ft by 7 ft 6in, complete with a 'Princess May No. 1 Stove' and also several 'Littleton Lamps'. This GWR, if built, had become a small closed brick waiting shed as seen on a mid-1960s photo and by the 1970s this appeared to be replaced with the very basic open-fronted brick shed (now boarded up) that exists today, alongside which is now its replacement, an open bus shelter type stand with metal swivel seating – all of which represents a substantial reduction in facilities to what had been provided in LYR and LMSR days. There was a road level crossing at the station which closed in 1966/7, with the pedestrian crossing remaining. In the early 1970s, the former goods yard with its shed, to the north of the station, whose sidings were recovered in September 1967, was redeveloped as a housing estate.
Though built as double track (and used by expresses to and from Scotland from 1880), the line to the north was singled by British Rail in 1973 as part of the East Lancashire line resignalling scheme. Some of the line southwards toward Bolton was also reduced to single track in 1985 (again due to signalling modernisation work), though the double track portion through the station was retained to act as a passing loop. The station was owned by the
Services
The former franchise operator Arriva Rail North announced a much enhanced all-day half-hourly service on weekdays and Saturdays in both directions from December 2017, rather than merely at morning and evening peak periods as before. The additional services however start/terminate at Blackburn, so the service through to Clitheroe remains hourly.[7] The Sunday service is hourly to Clitheroe. Southbound trains continue beyond Manchester Victoria to Rochdale on Mondays to Saturdays.
Facilities
Parking is adjacent to the station, with overflow parking opposite and neighbouring Turton Media Arts College. The station is staffed on a part-time basis (mornings and early afternoons only, Monday to Saturday), with a ticket office and waiting room on the southbound platform. A ticket machine is also available for use outside opening hours and for the collection of pre-paid/advance purchase tickets.[8] The platforms are fully accessible for disabled travellers (step-free access to both, northbound via the foot crossing) and there are passenger information screens and a public announcement system in place.
Station clock
The station clock was probably installed in the early 1900s and is clearly seen on a 1912 photograph,[9] with an identical clock noted on a 1905 photograph of once nearby Turton Station. The clock has a London Midland Scottish Railway (LMSR) identity number, an oval brass disc nailed onto the clock's long case (LMS 9994), this number indicating that the clock was installed by the L&YR before the creation of the LMS in 1923.[10] In 1996 the clock was restored to working order by the Railway Heritage Trust and is a rare survivor, being still hand-wound weekly.
Grade II listing
The 1848 original low-level platform, the 1859 station building, and the 1875 signal box were all Grade II listed in early 2015.[1]
Signal box
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Bromley_Cross_Station.jpg/220px-Bromley_Cross_Station.jpg)
The Grade II-listed signal box at the station is a
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Historic England (7 April 2015). "Bromley Cross Railway Station (including signal box and low level platform) (1422397)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
- ^ Tattersall, W. David (1973). The Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe & West Yorkshire Railway. Oakwood Press. p. 20.
- ^ Original railway company minutes held at National Archives, Kew on RAIL 52/4
- ^ The Bolton Chronicle, Saturday 16 January 1886 [full citation needed]
- ^ L&YR (Salford Stn) and also L&NWR (Broad St.) memos, dated July and Oct 1874, sent to Bromley Cross. At file ZZ354, Bolton Central Library
- ^ "The Nationalised Railway: 1948 – 1992". The Railways Archive. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
- ^ Table 103 National Rail timetable, May 2023
- ^ Bromley Cross station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 9 December 2016
- ^ The Lens of Sutton Collection, photograph Neg. No 13642, (railway photo archive, Longridge, Birmingham)
- ^ Lyman, Ian (2004). Railway Clocks. Mayfield Books. p. 112.
- ^ a b Board of Trade (Railway Dept) inspection report, Feb 1876, original File No. R1573, now at National Archives MT6/161/30
- ^ "Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861: Registration Sub-District 7 Cheetham". Kew, Richmond, England: National Archives. 7 April 1861. RG 9/2969. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
- ^ John Hinson; David Ingham. "Bromley Cross: Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway". The Signal Box. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
- ^ Jackson, p.192
References
Jackson, Allen (2015),Contemporary Perspective on LMS Railway Signalling Vol 1: Semaphore Swansong, Volume 1, Crowood Press Ltd,
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Train times and station information for Bromley Cross railway station from National Rail
Preceding station | ![]() |
Following station | ||
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Entwistle or Darwen |
Northern Trains Ribble Valley line |
Hall i' th' Wood | ||
Disused railways | ||||
Turton and Edgworth | Ribble Valley Line
|
The Oaks |