Tyldesley Loopline

The Tyldesley Loopline was part of the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The line opened on 1 September 1864 with stations at Worsley, Ellenbrook, Tyldesley, Leigh and Pennington before joining the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Kenyon Junction.

The London and North Western Railway Bill received Royal Assent in July 1861 and the first sod was cut at Worsley by the Earl of Ellesmere in the September. During construction, a Roman road was uncovered at Worsley. The railway was just over 16 miles long with 88 bridges, a sandstone cutting at Parr Brow, Tyldesley and a 22-arch viaduct which took the railway through Leigh and over the Bridgewater Canal. The work was expected to have been completed by May 1863 but lasted until the summer of 1864.

Stations between Tyldesley and Wigan at Chowbent, Hindley Green and Platt Bridge opened on the same day. A branch line leaving the Tyldesley to Eccles line at Roe Green Junction with stations at Walkden, Little Hulton and Plodder Lane was authorised in 1865 and opened in 1870. The line was extended to Great Moor Street in Bolton in 1874. Monton Green station between Eccles station and Worsley station opened in 1877 to serve new housing. In 1876 Bedford Leigh was renamed Leigh & Bedford and in 1914 was again renamed to Leigh. Chowbent was renamed Howe Bridge in 1901.

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