Notes: Ewood Bridge & Edenfield Station was officially opened as Ewood Bridge on 25th September 1846, but public services began on 28th September. The station was situated on the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) company’s Clifton Junction to Rawtenstall line which opened on the same date.

The idea for a line between Clifton Junction and Rawtenstall via Bury dated back to a meeting on 24th September 1843, the outcome of which was the creation of the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway (MB&RR). This company was formally incorporated on 4th July 1844. Whilst the line was under construction the MB&RR amalgamated with the Blackburn, Bury, Accrington & Colne Extension Railway, and on 21st July 1845 the new concern became the East Lancashire Railway.

At the time of opening the line through Ewood Bridge was single track so the station was provided with one platform, on the east side of the line. A bridge carried Blackburn Road over the line at the station site. A two-storey stone building stood on the platform, immediately north of the road, to which was attached a single storey booking office at road-level. A small

At the time of opening five passenger trains ran on weekdays in each direction between Manchester and Rawtenstall; there were four trains on Sundays.

On 17th August 1848 the ELR opened a route from Stubbins, just under two miles to the south of Ewood Bridge, to Accrington. This created a main line from Clifton Junction to Accrington reducing the Stubbins to Rawtenstall line, on which Ewood Bridge was located, to the status of a branch line. On 27th March 1848 the Stubbins to Rawtenstall line was extended northwards to Waterfoot and some four years later, on 1st October1852, to Bacup.  

During the early years of LYR ownership passenger train services from Ewood Bridge continued to run to Manchester via Clifton Junction. In 1878 the LYR opened a signal box at the north end of the southbound platform. By this date goods facilities, which included five sidings and a goods shed and a 5-ton crane, had been developed on the west side of the line. The station did not handle livestock. There were also two private sidings nearby, Horncliffe and Irwell Vale which had its own 2-ton crane. From 1st September 1879 Ewood Bridge’s passenger services to and from Manchester were transferred south of Bury from the route via Clifton Junction to a new line via Prestwich.   In 1891/2 Ewood Bridge station was renamed Ewood Bridge & Edenfield. In 1914 the LYR introduced a ‘Rail-motor’ service – known affectionately as ‘Little Billie’ - between Ramsbottom and Bacup; this called at all stations, including Ewood Bridge & Edenfield and supplemented trains that ran through to Manchester. From 11th April 1916 through passenger services to Manchester were diverted once more to travel via Heywood, adding a considerable mileage to their journeys. The reason for the change was that from this date electric services began on the Bury to Manchester (via Prestwich) line. Passengers for Manchester from Ewood Bridge & Edenfield were encouraged to change onto the electric trains at Bury for a quicker onward journey, and most of them did

Interestingly in the southbound direction there were twenty weekday departures, the first being for Middleton Junction at 05:36 am. The last train was for Bury Bolton Street and it left Ewood Bridge & Edenfield at 10:25 pm. The rest of the services tended to travel either to Manchester Victoria or Bury Bolton Street, but there were trains at 09:16, 10:36 and 3:11 which went to Bury Knowsley Street, as well as shorter workings to Ramsbottom. There was also a service from Bacup that terminated at Ewood Bridge & Edenfield at 08:19 am.    

On 1st January 1948 Ewood Bridge & Edenfield became part of the nationalised British Railways (London Midland Region). In 1954 the line between Bury and Bacup was considered busy enough to warrant the introduction of modern rolling stock, and it was reported in the local press that new diesel multiple units (DMUs) were to be introduced; they entered service on the line in February 1956. Ewood Bridge & Edenfield had thirty-five trains in each direction, giving a half-hourly service: the most intensive that the line would see. In the 1950s the wooden waiting shelter on the Bacup platform was replaced with a brick-built structure. Closure of the goods yard took place on 2nd November 1959, and the signal box was decommissioned on 22nd July 1962

The purpose of Reshaping of British Railways(Beeching Report) of March 1963 was to create an economically viable network, involving the closure of many loss-making passenger lines and stations. The report’s proposals for Lancashire and north Manchester were astonishing. The entire route from Manchester via Bury Bolton Street to Bacup and

With effect from 19th April 1970 the line through Ewood Bridge & Edenfield became a single track branch. The southbound line through the station was lifted, and the northbound platform became bi-directional. The station's buildings on the southbound platform fell out of use and became derelict. On 5th June 1972 the service was withdrawn and Ewood Bridge & Edenfield station closed completely. The buildings were demolished. In 1976 both platforms remained, but the northbound one was subsequently demolished. Freight trains serving a coal depot at Rawtenstall continued to pass through the Ewood Bridge & Edenfield until 1980. On 28th March 1982 a railtour passed through, and after it had departed southwards the line was officially closed A preservation group called the East Lancashire Railway after the original company entered into negotiations with British Rail with a view to reopening the line from Bury to Rawtenstall.

Tickets from Michael Stewart , route map drawn by Alan Young, timetables from Alan Young

Click here to see of film of a train journey between Bury and Bacup in 1966

See also the Ramsbottom Model Railway Club web site which features 106 old photographs of the East Lancashire Railway and photographs of the clubs excellent layout of Ramsbottom & Stubbins.

Sources:

• J Wells & E F Bentley  Scenes from the Past 13 – East Lancashire Lines Bury to Heywood & Rawtenstall. (Foxline 2000)
• John Marshall The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway: Volume 2 (David and Charles, series 1969-72)
• Christopher Awdry  Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies  (Patrick Stephens 1990)
• G Suggitt Lost Railways of Lancashire  (Countryside Books 2003)
  
• J Wells Railways in and Around Bury (BLR 1995)
• Clinker’s Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots by C R Clinker (Pub: Avon Anglia 1978)
• The reshaping of British Railways (HMSO 1963)
• Hansard: 21st December 1966 (HMSO 1966)

To see other stations on the East Lancashire Railway Clifton Junction - Bacup line click on the station name on the station name: Clifton Junction, Molyneux Brow, Ringley Road, Radcliffe Bridge, Withens Lane, Bury Bolton Street, Summerseat, Ramsbottom, Stubbins, Irwell Vale (new station on the ELR), Rawtenstall, Clough Fold, Waterfoot for Newchurch, Stacksteads & Bacup

See also Stubbins Junction to Accrington:
Helmshore, Haslingden, Baxenden & Accrington