Middleton Junction railway station

Middleton Junction railway station was on the Caldervale Line, from 1842 until closure on 3 January 1966. It was located at Lane End in Chadderton, a former hamlet which later adopted the place-name Middleton Junction after the area expanded after the opening of the railway. It was opened on 31 March 1842 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, whose chief engineer was George Stephenson, as part of the branch to Oldham Werneth. The station was originally called Oldham Junction but by August 1842 it was known as Middleton Station, changing its name to Middleton Junction some ten years later.

The line was notable for a stretch of steep 1 in 27 gradient called the Werneth Incline.[1] On 12 August 1914 a goods and coal depot was opened at Chadderton. This was at the end of a 1,097-yard (1 km) long line which branched off the Oldham line approximately 400 yards (370 m) from Middleton Junction at Chadderton Junction. The line from Chadderton Junction to Oldham was closed to passengers in 1958 and completely on 7 January 1963[2] but the Chadderton goods and coal depot remained open and in use until 1988 (the track was eventually lifted in September 1991).[3]

A branch line from Middleton Junction to Middleton was opened on 5 January 1857, closing to passengers on 7 September 1964 (as a result of the Beeching Axe)[4] and completely on 11 October 1965.

References

1. Marshall, p.41
2. Marshall, p.145
3. "The history of Chadderton Goods and the trains that worked there" Chadderton Goods Branch website; Retrieved 29 March 2016
4. "Rail doctor’s medicine proved fatal for Middleton station" Jones, Chris, Manchester Evening News 11 April 2013; Retrieved 29 March 2016

• The Manchester and Leeds Railway by Martin Bairstow
• Marshall, J. (1981) Forgotten Railways: North-West England, David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, Newton Abbott. ISBN 0-7153-8003-6

Oldham Lines
Past, Present and Future  Kirklees South Lines to Huddersfield Delph Diggle Measurements Dobcross Saddleworth Uppermill Moorgate Halt Friezland Tameside Lines to Tameside Rochdale Lines to Rochdale Greenfield Shaw and Crompton Tameside Lines to Tameside Royton Grasscroft Royton Junction Grotton and Springhead Derker Lees Oldham Mumps Oldham Glodwick Road Oldham Central Oldham Central (L&YR) Oldham King Street Oldham Clegg Street Westwood Oldham Werneth Tameside Lines to Ashton Chadderton Freehold Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway South Chadderton Rochdale Lines to Middleton and Rochdale Hollinwood Middleton Junction Failsworth Manchester Lines North to Manchester Manchester Lines North to Manchester

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Manchester Oldham Road to 1844 Line and station closed Miles Platting 1844–1853 Newton Heath 1853–1872 Line open, stations closed Moston from 1872 Line and station open		L&YR Middleton branch		Middleton Line and station closed
		L&YR Caldervale Line		Mills Hill Line and station open
		L&YR MJOBR		Oldham Werneth Line and station closed