Helmshore railway station

Helmshore Railway Station served the village of Helmshore in Rossendale, Lancashire. It was built by the East Lancashire Railway 1844-1859 (ELR) and opened on 17 August 1848. It was closed on 5 December 1966, with the last passenger train operating two days earlier. The ELR was merged with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR) on 13 May 1859 and this company operated the station until the merger into the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMSR) in 1923.

The station was situated just north of where the line passed over Helmshore Road on a level crossing, a few hundred yards south of the town centre. The main station buildings were on the west side of the twin-track line with more modest buildings on the eastern platform, which served trains to Bury and Manchester (Victoria) station. Also on the east side of the tracks was a siding to the wooden goods shed and longer sidings serving the nearby Albion cotton mill. The signal box was just south of Helmshore Road on the eastern side of the line and the signalman also operated the level crossing gates. A footbridge linked the south end of the platforms and allowed the public to cross the line whilst the gates were shut for trains to pass.

In July 1922, 17 northbound and 18 southbound passenger trains stopped at Helmshore each weekday. Most were through trains between Manchester, Accrington and Colne. In July 1946 the LMSR operated 15 northbound and 14 southbound trains, with the 8.28 a.m. service from Colne continuing via Bury, Manchester (Victoria) and Stockport (Edgeley) to London (Euston), arriving at 2.25 p.m. By January 1956, British Railways were operating 15 stopping trains both north and southbound, with several trains beginning or terminating at Colne rather than Accrington. The 1956 single third class fare for the 17 miles to Manchester being 2s 8d (13p). Diesel multiple units gradually took over from steam loco hauled trains from the later 1950s.

Today, Station Road occupies part of the abandoned railway track north of the erstwhile level crossing.

References

*Lost Railways of Lancashire by Gordon Suggitt (ISBN 1-85306-801-2)
*The Directory of Railway Stations, R.V.J. Butt, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Yeovil, (ISBN 1-85260-508-1)
*Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies, Christopher Awdry, Guild Publishing, 1990, CN8983
*Bradshaw's Railway Guides for July 1922, July 1946 and January 1956

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