Ramsbottom railway station

Ramsbottom
The station viewed from the footbridge.
Location
Place	Ramsbottom
Area	Bury
Grid reference	SD792167
Operations
Managed by	East Lancashire Railway
Platforms	2
History
Key dates	Opened 1846 Closed 1972 Reopened 1987
Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Ramsbottom railway station is a heritage station serving the town of Ramsbottom in Greater Manchester, England.

The station was built by the East Lancashire Railway and opened on 28 September 1846. On that date, the line was completed from Clifton Junction through Bury and Ramsbottom to Rawtenstall, enabling through trains to operate from Manchester Victoria.

The line through Ramsbottom had initially been constructed by the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway, authorised on 4 July 1844, but that company was absorbed by the East Lancashire Railway on 21 July 1845. The line was extended by the ELR from Stubbins Junction, just north of Ramsbottom, to Accrington on 18 September 1848. In turn, the ELR was absorbed by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR) on 13 May 1859.

The station was provided with up and down platforms linked by a footbridge, canopies, and a station building on the down side. A goods yard and goods shed was located on the site of the present car park. The level crossing and signal box still remain in something like their original condition.

Extensive sidings were placed north of the crossing. Those on the down side were largely used for coal traffic, but the ones opposite constituted extensive sorting sidings. Other goods sidings served Trinity Paper works on the east side of the station, and the Square Print Works on the south west side. The latter had a private internal rail system worked by a locomotive called 'Archibald'.

From 1923 the station was operated by the London Midland & Scottish Railway until nationalisation on 1 January 1948, from which date it came under the control of the London Midland Region of British Railways. The station was rationalised from the late 1960s, bringing the demolition of the station buildings and Up platform (used by trains towards Bury). It finally closed to passengers on 5 June 1972, although the line remained open for freight until 1980. It was re-opened by the East Lancashire Railway on 25 July 1987.