Rishworth L & Y railway station and unsuccesful extension.

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I have been to this area a few times this year to trace what remains of the former branch line from Sowerby Bridge,

During various conversations that I had, two people of my age group said that there was once a plan to extend the branch from the terminal station to make a connection with the line into Manchester.

Does anyone know if this was true...or some rumour that has passed into the local folk lore? Any information on this matter would be useful to me.

 

[flymo]

This site says the line was originally proposed to head to Littleborough, I'm guessing to give a more direct and faster route than via Todmorden. It was surveyed in 1882 but never built. Would this proposed route need a tunnel bored through the hills there? Maybe that is why there is a route via Todmorden rather than the more direct routeing.

Just a theory.

 

[Welshman]

No, it is true.
The Manchester and Leeds railway obtained powers in 1865 for a line from Sowerby Bridge through to Littleborough, to join the existing Manchester line.

Work eventually started in 1873, and there were difficulties with Sowerby Bridge tunnel and landslips near Triangle. Due to further problems, and financial commitments elsewhere, the line got no further than Rishworth in 1881.

The station was enlarged at Sowerby Bridge to accommodate the extra traffic, but no platforms were built on the Rishworth line, so trains had to reverse in and out.

Originally conceived as double-track throughout, it settled down to the relatively quiet life of a branch line just to Rishworth, with one line only being used [carriages were stored on the other], and eventually closed to passengers in 1929 and freight in 1958.

It was a pity it was not completed through to Littleborough [although that would have meant the expense of another tunnel through the Pennines], as it was originally planned as double-track throughout, laid-out for high-speed running and was 5 miles shorter than the existing route through Todmorden.

I am indebted to David Joy - "A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Vol. 8 South and West Yorkshire" and Martin Bairstow - "The Manchester and Leeds Railway - The Calder Valley Line" for most of the above information.

Personally, I just remember its being used for freight, just before it closed completely in 1958.

The signalbox controlling entry to the branch at Sowerby Bridge is now gone, and some of the trackbed and associated sidings have now been replaced by a car-park.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

My thanks to both Welshman and flymo for this information. I did have a book on The Rishworth Branch (I think it was by the Oakwood Press) that I lent to someone very many years ago and it was never returned.