The Manchester and Wigan Railway refers to a railway in North West England

North West England

North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...

, opened in 1864 and closed to passengers on 3 May 1969, which was part of the London and North Western Railway

London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 before the Grouping of 1923 (see Railways Act 1921

Railways Act 1921

The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...

).

This route was an alternative to the surviving route through Swinton

Swinton (Manchester) railway station

Swinton railway station serves the town of Swinton and Pendlebury in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England.Swinton is one of the local stations that lie on the Manchester to Southport Line between Wigan and Manchester...

, Walkden

Walkden railway station

Walkden railway station is one of the principal stations that lie on the Atherton line, between Wigan and Manchester. The station is located 8¼ miles west of Manchester Victoria with regular Northern Rail services to these towns as well as Salford, Swinton and Hindley...

 and Atherton

Atherton railway station

Atherton railway station serves the town of Atherton, Greater Manchester, and is the main station on the line between Wigan and Manchester on the Manchester to Southport Line, and according to Strategic Rail Authority figures) is the busiest station on the line .The station is located 19 km...

 (which was part of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway before 1923).

The first part of the route remains between Manchester Victoria and Eccles

Eccles railway station

Eccles railway station serves the town of Eccles in the City of Salford district of Greater Manchester.The station is next to the M602 motorway and is 400 metres away from the Eccles Metrolink station...

 on part of the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway

Liverpool and Manchester Railway

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...

 opened in 1831. After Eccles, the line branched off in a north westerly direction crossing what is now the M602

M602 motorway

The M602 motorway is a relatively short motorway, leading traffic into Manchester and Salford by-passing the suburban town of Eccles.The motorway itself was meant to be a part of a bigger scheme, the South Lancashire Motorway...

 motorway, calling at stations at Monton Green

Monton Green railway station

Monton Green railway station is a closed station in Eccles.Opened on 1 November 1887, Monton Green was the first station on the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway, which connected Eccles with Wigan and the Tyldesley Loopline which connected Tyldesley, Leigh and Kenyon...

 and Worsley

Worsley railway station

Worsley railway station was opened in 1864 to serve the town of Worsley in Greater Manchester. The Tyldesley Loopline and all its stations closed in 1969 as a result of the Beeching Axe.-History:...

.

After Roe Green

Roe Green

Roe Green is a suburb of Worsley in the metropolitan borough of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It was anciently a hamlet built around the ancient village green...

 the line split, with one branch continuing to Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

; and the Manchester to Wigan line continuing westward to stations at Ellenbrook

Ellenbrook railway station

Ellenbrook railway station was a railway station in Ellenbrook, Worsley, then within the historic county of Lancashire, England, on the Manchester and Wigan Railway line....

 and Tyldesley

Tyldesley railway station

Tyldesley railway station is a closed railway station in Greater Manchester. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.-History:...

. After Tyldesley the line split, the Tyldesley Loopline

Tyldesley Loopline

The Tyldesley Loopline was the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The line opened on September 1st 1864...

 continued to Kenyon Junction

Kenyon Junction railway station

Kenyon Junction was a junction railway station at Kenyon on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Bolton and Leigh Railway near Culcheth in Warrington, England. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire. The station opened in 1831 and closed to passengers on 2 January 1961...

 while the Wigan line continued to the north west to Howe Bridge Station

Howe Bridge railway station

Howe Bridge railway station, originally Chowbent station, is a closed railway station in Atherton, Greater Manchester. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.-History:...

 before crossing the Bolton and Leigh Railway

Bolton and Leigh Railway

The Bolton and Leigh Railway was the first public railway in the historic county of Lancashire, England. It opened in 1828 for goods.-History:...

 line. The next station was Hindley Green

Hindley Green

Hindley Green is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The village lies to the east of Hindley and is centred on the A577 Atherton Road to its boundary with Leigh.-History:...

 on the northerly (straight) section and it then passed Platt Bridge

Platt Bridge

Platt Bridge is a settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester England, two miles south of Wigan town centre along the spine of the A573 road. Historically part of Lancashire, the area is now a residential suburb of Wigan. The first mention of Platt Bridge in documents...

 and approached a complex junction south of Wigan

Wigan

Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...

 on what is now the West Coast Main Line

West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

.

The route also served the collieries in the area. Sidings for Shakerley Collieries

Shakerley Collieries

Ramsden's Shakerley Collieries was a coal mining company operating on the Manchester Coalfield from the mid 19th century in Shakerley, Tyldesley in the historic county of Lancashire, England.-History:...

 (Ramsden's) and the Tyldesley Coal Company

Tyldesley Coal Company

Tyldesley Coal Company was a coal mining company formed in 1870 in Tyldesley, on the Manchester Coalfield in the historic county of Lancashire, England that had its origins in Yew Tree Colliery, the location for a mining disaster that killed 25 men and boys in 1858.-History:Yew Tree Farm covered...

 (Greens) were located to the east of Tyldesley Station and for Fletcher, Burrows and Company

Fletcher, Burrows and Company

Fletcher, Burrows and Company was a coal mining company that owned collieries in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. Gibfield, Howe Bridge and Chanters collieries exploited the coal mines of the middle coal measures in the Manchester Coalfield...

's Chanters Colliery between Tyldesley and Howe Bridge.

Sources

• Railway Clearing House Atlas of England & Wales 1904 (Ian Allan pubs. ISBN 978-0-7110-2778-7)
• A Lancashire Triangle by D. J. Sweeney (Triangle pubs. ISBN 978-0-9529333-2-8)