British Rail - London Midland Region : poster for the withdrawal of passenger services between Bolton and Rochdale via Radcliffe and Bury : 5 October 1970
After the huge on-going cull of British railway lines that had started in the 1930 but reached its climax with the Beeching Axe of the mid-1960s by 1970 there was, arguably, nothing much left to close. But a late loss was in 1970 when the Bolton to Rochdale via Radcliffe, Bury (Knowsley St) and Heywood route closed to passenger traffic and the majority of the line abandoned.
This was one of the many North of Manchester/S E Lancashire closures initiated and that basically saw only the Manchester - Bury DC electric services survive. Some of the trackbed north of Bury that closed as part of the Bacup/Accrington/Rawtenstall closures has since re-opened as the core of the preserved East Lancashire Railway and, a few years ago, this heritage line 'expanded' by gaining access to a large part of the line between Bury and Heywood closed by way of this notice. The line had at one time seen not only 'local' traffic but formed part of a route that gave the Calder Valley line and Rochdale access to west Lancashire without heading into and out of Manchester.
The closure happened, technically, under the watch of SELNEC PTE - formed in 1969 under the Transport Act of 1968 the PTEs had a role in funding local BR rail services and often did - however, this line was seen as being replacable by the PTE's orbital "Trans-Lancs Express" bus route, a limited stop service that skirted the north and eastern side of the conurbation and that was, in its day, as route 400 quite popular. Sadly it too has now bitten the dust and so radial transport around Greater Manchester is as poor as ever.
British Rail - London Midland Region : poster for the withdrawal of passenger services between Bolton and Rochdale via Radcliffe and Bury : 5 October 1970
After the huge on-going cull of British railway lines that had started in the 1930 but reached its climax with the Beeching Axe of the mid-1960s by 1970 there was, arguably, nothing much left to close. But a late loss was in 1970 when the Bolton to Rochdale via Radcliffe, Bury (Knowsley St) and Heywood route closed to passenger traffic and the majority of the line abandoned.
This was one of the many North of Manchester/S E Lancashire closures initiated and that basically saw only the Manchester - Bury DC electric services survive. Some of the trackbed north of Bury that closed as part of the Bacup/Accrington/Rawtenstall closures has since re-opened as the core of the preserved East Lancashire Railway and, a few years ago, this heritage line 'expanded' by gaining access to a large part of the line between Bury and Heywood closed by way of this notice. The line had at one time seen not only 'local' traffic but formed part of a route that gave the Calder Valley line and Rochdale access to west Lancashire without heading into and out of Manchester.
The closure happened, technically, under the watch of SELNEC PTE - formed in 1969 under the Transport Act of 1968 the PTEs had a role in funding local BR rail services and often did - however, this line was seen as being replacable by the PTE's orbital "Trans-Lancs Express" bus route, a limited stop service that skirted the north and eastern side of the conurbation and that was, in its day, as route 400 quite popular. Sadly it too has now bitten the dust and so radial transport around Greater Manchester is as poor as ever.