6.11.1961

Open; station closed in 1961/1973 has been demolished

Notes: In 1866 the original Burnley Manchester Road (Thorneybank) passenger station was closed and a replacement was built on the opposite (north-west) side of Manchester Road. The original passenger station was soon demolished but the goods facilities were retained and would remain in use for more than a century (equipped with a 10-ton capacity crane). The new station’s main passenger facilities were on the up platform. Considering the importance of the town it served, the main building provided by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway was a poor affair, of little architectural merit. The structure was single-storey, built of sandstone with a hipped slate roof. The door and window openings were rectangular. A similar, smaller structure stood on the opposite platform, containing two waiting rooms and a gents’ toilet. Awnings fronted the buildings on both platforms, embellished with indented valances. Vehicular and pedestrian access to the forecourt and main building was via Halstead Street, and from Manchester Road pedestrians could reach the down platform and the footbridge.

Destinations are not always made clear in Bradshaw 
# Via Padiham. Blackpool and Fleetwood for Isle of Man ferry

Signal boxes were provided at the station, known as Burnley Manchester Road East and West. The East box stood at the south-eastern end of the goods sidings, on the down side. Details of the first incarnation of this box are unclear, but in 1878 a tall Saxby & Farmer Type 9 brick box was erected on the down side, containing a 16-lever S&F frame. This box was replaced in 1901 with an LYR box with a 44-lever frame on the up side. Littleworth (2002) notes that the historical details are somewhat confused, but he understands that a new box was required as Healey Wood Road overbridge was replaced at this time and the running lines were slewed south-westwards. However the siting of the new box appears to have been unsatisfactory, with the signalmen’s vision of the layout west of the bridge obscured, and the 1901 box was replaced in 1907/08 with Burnley Manchester Road box which was sited south-east of Manchester Road bridge, beside the down loop. At the same time, Burnley Manchester Road West box (confusingly, situated just east of the passenger station) was closed. This box dated from 1878, perhaps replacing an earlier one, and possessed a 13-lever frame, probably in a brick Saxby & Farmer Type 9 structure. A further signal box stood west of Manchester Road station to control access to a sandstone quarry; known as Stuttards Sidings, the box was in existence in 1878 but had closed by 1891.

Burnley Manchester Road was the principal intermediate station on the Copy Pit route, and the table below shows its service in the year when the LYR was absorbed by the London & North Western Railway in preparation for the radical ‘Grouping’ of 1923. The majority of the trains were ‘local stopping’ services, but a few (shown in bold print) called at Manchester Road, running fast through most or all of the other Copy Pit stations. The irregular nature of the departures from Manchester Road station will be noted.

§ For Brighouse and beyond    ‡ Via Cleckheaton   † To Preston on Tuesday and Saturday
Times in bold print are limited-stop trains

In the 1930s station closures began on the Copy Pit route, with Holme and Cornholme ceasing to handle passengers, and Stansfield Hall (Todmorden) following in 1944. During World War 2 the train frequency via Copy Pit was reduced, as was the case on much of the British network; the weekday frequency of train departures from Burnley Manchester Road in 1943 was only half that of 1938, but on Sunday the peace-time service frequency was maintained.  On weekdays in July 1943 there were eight up departures (nine on Saturday) and five on Sunday; in the opposite direction there were 11 weekday (12 Saturday) and four Sunday departures.

The Copy Pit route came under British Railways’ London Midland Region [BR(LMR)] administration from January 1948. The passenger train service would not return to its pre-War level, as seen in this table for June 1950; the service on Sundays is, however, generous.

The roofing on the up platform in front of the main building was removed and a simpler, shorter awning installed in 1950. The platform lighting was half-heartedly updated with the arrival of rather ugly, angular LMS concrete standards which carried gas lamps. BR(LMR) totem signage was installed in the late 1950s.

During the 1950s there was a sense of the Copy Pit route being ‘run down’, as Towneley and Portsmouth stations closed. British Railways’ lack of commitment to this trans-Pennine route was shown starkly when in 1961 even Burnley Manchester Road, the only surviving intermediate station, was closed.

After closure Manchester Road station’s platforms remained intact for many years, as did a substantial section of the main building and the ‘modern’ awning; John Mann’s photographs of February 1971 record the station in this state. However, by autumn 1977 the platforms had gone, but the station building remained in industrial use. The building was still standing when the decision was made to reopen the station, following the successful restoration of passenger services on the Copy Pit route in 1984. On 29 September 1986 Manchester Road station reopened, unstaffed and with platforms of timber construction, capable of accommodating a 4-coach train, each with a simple shelter. The platforms were slightly staggered and were on the site of their predecessors. Unfortunately, parking provision at the station was minimal, with space for only 12 cars. The former station building was cleaned up and remained in place until c2012. At first the station carried the basic BR ‘Corporate Identity’ nameplates, but by 1993 BR ‘Network NorthWest’ signs had replaced them. These, in turn, gave way to ‘Northern’ signage c2004.

The increasing numbers of passengers carried on the Copy Pit route in the 21st century was reflected in the use of Burnley Manchester Road station. In 2003 there were about 143,000 users, rising to about 247,000 in 2012-13. The decision was made to upgrade the station in connection with the reinstatement of the ‘Todmorden Curve’ and the introduction of a direct Blackburn-Todmorden-Manchester train service. The old building was demolished and replaced with hipped-roofed stone structure of faintly similar appearance, but with more glass and a striking blue wall, rising above the roofline, carrying the station’s name. A booking office and a generous waiting area were provided within the building. The station’s car park was expanded to 50 spaces. The project cost £2.3 million and the new buildings were completed and opened in November 2014. It had been hoped that the trains via the Todmorden Curve would commence in May 2014, but owing to insufficient rolling stock being available they were not introduced until May 2015, doubling the frequency of departures from Burnley Manchester Road.

Click here for a brief history of the Copy Pit line
See also Copy Pit Route Collieries

See other stations on the Copy Pit line: Burnley Manchester Road (1st site), Towneley, Holme, Portsmouth, Cornholme, Stansfield Hall, Eastwood & Hebden Bridge (still open)