Liverpool and Bury Railway

Liverpool and Bury Railway
standard gauge

v t e Liverpool and Bury Railway
Legend
East Lancashire Railway Bury Interchange Manchester Metrolink Bury (Knowsley Street) Bury (Bolton Street) Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway East Lancashire Railway   Radcliffe Black Lane Bradley Fold Darcy Lever Manchester and Bolton Railway Bolton Trinity Street Ribble Valley line Lostock Junction Bolton & Preston Rly Chew Moor Westhoughton Crow Nest Junction Manchester and Southport Railway Hindley Lancashire Union Railway Whelley Loop Ince Wigan(1st station...1848-1855) Wigan (Wallgate) North Union Railway Liverpool–Wigan line Gathurst Pemberton Manchester and Southport Railway Orrell Upholland Rainford Junction Skelmersdale branch St Helens Railway Kirkby Fazakerley Preston Road Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway Kirkdale Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway Sandhills to Moorfields, Liverpool Central and Hunts Cross Liverpool Exchange

The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed in 1845 and opened on 28 November 1848.^[1] The line ran from Liverpool Exchange first using a joint line with Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway before branching off to proceed via Kirkby then Wigan and Bolton to Bury.

Mergers

In 1846 the line merged with the

. A short tunnel was bored through a hill between Upholland station and Orrell station.

The line today

With the exception of the section from Bolton to Bury (closed on 5 October 1970, along with the continuation through to Castleton) the line is still in use, though Liverpool Exchange station closed in 1977 being replaced by Liverpool Moorfields in Merseyrail's Link Tunnel.^[2] In 1946 one of the Victorian timber bridges on the line was replaced with the Adam Viaduct, the first prestressed concrete railway bridge in the United Kingdom.^[3]

The line from Liverpool city centre to Kirkby is electrified with a

In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line between Bolton and Bury which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).[5]

In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating the line between Bolton and Bury. This bid was unsuccessful however a resubmitted bid for the second round was successful. ^{[6] [7]}

References

External links

• Liverpool Exchange Disused Stations