Pennington railway station

Pennington railway station served Pennington, Leigh, Greater Manchester, England on the Bolton and Leigh Railway. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.

Pennington
Location	Pennington, Wigan England
Coordinates	53.4829°N 2.5346°W
Grid reference	SJ646985
Platforms	2[1][2]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
11 June 1831	Station opened as Bradshaw Leach
1 February 1877	Renamed Pennington
29 March 1954	Station closed

LNWR lines to Bolton
Deansgate Goods Bolton Crook Street Goods Bolton Great Moor Street Original alignment shown in grey Rumworth and Daubhill Daubhill ( original and incline ) Plodder Lane Shed Plodder Lane Chequerbent Chequerbent ( original and incline ) Little Hulton Manchester–Southport line (LYR) to Wigan Wallgate Walkden High Level Atherton Bag Lane Walkden Low Level Hindley Green Howe Bridge Manchester & Wigan Rly to Wigan North Western Plank Lane Tyldesley Loopline Atherleigh Tyldesley Westleigh Ellenbrook Leigh Bolton and Leigh Railway Kenyon & Leigh Junction Rly Worsley Leeds & Liverpool Canal Bridgewater Canal Monton Green Pennington junctions to Bury Pennington Eccles East Lancashire Road Liverpool–Manchester lines Kenyon Junction Bridgewater Canal Liverpool–Manchester lines Some stations omitted in dotted sections

Tyldesley Loopline
London & North Western Rly to Liverpool Lime Street West Coast Main Line to Warrington Bank Quay Newton-le-Willows Lowton Parkside West Coast Main Line to Wigan Kenyon Junction Glazebury and Bury Lane Pennington to Wigan via Plank Lane Flow Moss to Bolton via Chequerbent Bridgewater Canal Astley Leigh to Wigan via Hindley Green Lamb's Cottage Tyldesley Ellenbrook Barton Moss to Bolton via Walkden Low Level Worsley Patricroft Monton Green to Bury via Clifton Hall Tunnel Eccles Junction Eccles London & North Western Rly to Manchester Victoria

The station opened as Bradshaw Leach on the Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway in 1831 and was renamed Pennington in 1877. It closed in 1954. The line serving Leigh closed in 1969.

History

Pennington Station was built when the Bolton and Leigh Railway, which reached the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Leigh in 1830, was extended by the construction of the Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway to meet the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Kenyon in 1831.[3]

In 1864 the station became a junction when the Tyldesley Loopline from Tyldesley and Leigh and Bedford, built by the London and North Western Railway, joined the Kenyon and Leigh line just to the north of Bradshaw Leach Station.[4]

The station was renamed Pennington Station in 1877.[5]

The London and North Western Railway built another line via Plank Lane to Platt Bridge and Wigan NW which opened in 1885 creating a three way junction.[6][7]

1911 Map showing the location of the station (lower centre right) and the three way junction to its north

Stations on the line became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923, the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, and were closed by the British Transport Commission six years later in 1954 when the line to Bolton Great Moor Street Station closed.[8] Passenger services on the Tyldesley Loopline did not stop at Pennington but all stations and the line closed following the Beeching Axe on 5 May 1969.[7][9]

The line of the trackbed of the Bolton and Leigh Railway was used as the route of the A579 Leigh bypass.[10]

Structure

On opening the line was single track and the station buildings, a booking office and waiting room, were on the east side. The line between Pennington and Kenyon Junction was doubled for the opening of the LNWR line from Tyldesley in 1864 and a second platform was constructed with a timber waiting shelter on the new line to the west.[7]

References

Citations

1. James 2004, p. 10.
2. Suggitt 2004, p. 72.
3. Sweeney 2015, pp. 168–171.
4. Sweeney 1996, p. 54.
5. Butt 1995, p. 42.
6. Conolly 1976, p. 45.
7. Pennington Station, subbrit.org.uk, retrieved 11 September 2010
8. Sweeney 1996, p. 11.
9. Sweeney 1996, p. 114.
10. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45.

Bibliography

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
• Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976), British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.), Shepperton: Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-0320-3, EX/0176
• James, David (2004), Lancashire's Lost Railways, Catrine: Stenlake Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84033-288-9
• Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012), Railway Atlas Then and Now, Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7110-3695-6
• Suggitt, Gordon (2004). Lost Railways of Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85306-869-0.
• Sweeney, D. J. (1996), A Lancashire Triangle Part One, Leigh: Triangle Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9529333-0-4
• Sweeney, Dennis (2015), A Lancashire Triangle Revisited, Leigh: Triangle Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9550030-7-3

Further reading

• Holland, Bert (2001), Plodder Lane for Farnworth, Leigh: Triangle Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9529333-6-6

External links

• "The station on a 1948 OS map". npe maps.
• "The station on an 1845 series OS map". National Library of Scotland.
• "The station on an 1888 series OS map overlay". National Library of Scotland.
• "The station and line". railwaycodes.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Kenyon Junction		London and North Western Railway		Plank Lane
		Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway		Westleigh
		London and North Western Railway		Leigh