History Bromley Cross railway station

bromley cross station in 1963.

bromley cross established in june 1848, on branch line authorised act of 30 june 1845, blackburn, darwen , bolton railway , provided temporary, timber station building. founding railway co merged become bolton, blackburn, clitheroe , west yorkshire railway in 1847, later became part of lancashire , yorkshire railway (l&yr) in 1858. permanent station buildings provided along line in 1859, constructed locally quarried sandstone, joseph greenup , co of manchester. original minutes of railway company held @ national archives, kew, reveal engineers drew plans 1859 building , estimated cost £350, included building detached cottage survives next signal box. dimensions of original station building approx. 39ft in length 15ft wide. there raising of platform heights foot whole length in 1886, local newspaper reporting goodly number of men being engaged on work.

the working goods yard @ station crucial part of country station s existence , 2 surviving memos sent in 1874 bromley cross refer delivery of cheese , tins of lard etc. local co-op stores , goods despatched have problems; in truck wet when received here. plans drawn around 1891 extension warehouse, new goods offices , other track , signalling works. apart main station building, waiting room built in, there waiting shed recorded on both platforms in l&yr days. after take on lmsr in 1923, plans drawn improved general waiting rooms (gwrs) on both platforms, complete internal stove heating. free-standing timber gwr positioned along platform main station building has full specifications revealed in surviving design plans held on county archives , dimensions given approx 27ft in length 10ft deep, means had approx 70 per cent of length of original building. may have been @ time of adding sizeable additional timber waiting room decision taken block off central doorway on main 1859 building. led large waiting area , booking hall, complete benches around sides of room , use of second smaller internal wall clock face aid timekeeping. after change, original waiting hall became staff ticket office seen today, swapped on end part of building public buy tickets. there boarded on rear corner fireplace under modern train time display screen, hence chimney seen on outside rear corner of building. gwr on manchester platform can seen in late 1960s photos must have been removed around 1970 , 1980s new waiting room extension in stone added on end of 1859 station building, in place of gentlemen s lean-to toilets. small waiting room provided in station s central section closed , reserved staff use (storage). there detailed lmsr design plan proposed reconstruction of lyr waiting shed gwr on blackburn platform, measuring approx 25ft 7ft 6in, complete princess may no. 1 stove , several littleton lamps . gwr, if built, had become small closed brick waiting shed seen on mid-1960s photo , 1970s appeared replaced basic open fronted brick shed (now boarded up) exists today, alongside replacement, open bus shelter type stand metal swivel seating - of represents substantial reduction in facilities had been provided in lyr , lmsr days. there road level crossing @ station closed in 1966/7, pedestrian crossing remaining. in 1970s, former goods yard shed, north of station, sidings recovered in september 1967, redeveloped housing estate.

though built double track (and used expresses , scotland 1880), line north singled british rail in 1973 part of east lancashire line resignalling scheme. of line southwards toward bolton reduced single track in 1985 (again due signalling modernisation work), though double track portion through station retained act passing loop.

the station owned london midland , scottish railway in 1923, , london midland region of british railways, known after nationalisation in january 1948. london midland region ceased operating unit in own right in 1980s , wound @ end of 1992.