Kenyon Junction railway station

Kenyon Junction was a railway station at Kenyon near Culcheth in Warrington, England. The station was built at the junction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Kenyon and Leigh Junction Railway.[4][5] It was situated in the historic county of Lancashire. The station opened in 1830 as Bolton Junction and closed to passengers on 2 January 1961 before closing completely on 1 August 1963.[6] The junction fell out of use when the line serving Leigh was closed in 1969.[7]

Kenyon Junction
General information
LocationCulcheth, Warrington
England
Coordinates53.4637°N 2.5387°W / 53.4637; -2.5387
Grid referenceSJ642964
Platforms4[1][2]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLiverpool and Manchester Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
15 September 1830 (1830-09-15)Opened as Bolton Junction
June 1843Renamed Kenyon Junction
2 January 1961Station closed to passengers[3]
1 August 1963Station closed completely[3]

History

The station was opened on 15 September 1830 as part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.[6] It was originally named Bolton Junction before being renamed Kenyon Junction in June 1843.[3]

The early station was criticised for poor facilities and missed connections and was reconstructed in 1883.[8] The London and North Western Railway's Tyldesley Loopline from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station continued south west to Leigh, Pennington and Kenyon Junction opened in 1864.[9][10]

The original engine shed closed before 1870. Large sidings accommodated goods and coal traffic from Bag Lane, Westleigh, Bickershaw and Abram Collieries and Jacksons and Speakmans Sidings in Bedford, Greater Manchester, Leigh. There were two signal boxes.[8][11] All stations on the line to Bolton closed in 1954.[12] The stationmaster's house remains in occupation, complete with its own railway bridge to cross the Manchester to Liverpool line, but is not visible from the road.

Potential reopening

In 2001 a proposal to rebuild Kenyon Junction station, which met with much local opposition, was abandoned following the rejection of plans to build a leisure complex in Leigh which the rebuilt station would have served.[7] Locals have lobbied to rebuild the station and build a link to Leigh.[13]

In March 2019, Andy Burnham backed plans to reopen the station as a short-term solution to link Leigh to the rail network.[14] The plans are also backed by the Leigh MP James Grundy.

References

Citations
  1. Fields, Gilbert & Knight 1980, Photos 43 & 48.
  2. James 2004, p. 11.
  3. Butt 1995, pp. 38 & 130.
  4. Sweeney 1996, p. 8.
  5. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45.
  6. Butt 1995, p. 38.
  7. Kenyon Junction Station, subbrit.org.uk, retrieved 10 September 2010
  8. Sweeney 1996, p. 61.
  9. Sweeney 1996, p. 71.
  10. Sweeney 2015, pp. 172–180.
  11. Holland 2001, p. 91.
  12. Sweeney 1996, p. 11.
  13. http://www.gmpte.com/upload/library/leighsoc.pdf p. 117 Archived 18 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Greater Manchester mayor determined to deliver train station for Leigh".

Bibliography
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Parkside
Line open, station closed		   London and North Western Railway   Pennington
Line and station closed
    Glazebury and Bury Lane
Line open, station closed
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