Bamber Bridge railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Bamber Bridge
code = BMB

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manager = Northern Rail
locale = Bamber Bridge
borough = South Ribble
start = 1846
platforms = 2
lowusage0405 = 66,867
lowusage0506 = 64,725
lowusage0607 = 64,189

Bamber Bridge railway station serves the village of Bamber Bridge 6 km (4 miles) to the south of Preston on the A6 and M6 roads.

Description

Its railway station, in common with Lostock Hall, was once much larger and used by many more trains than today. Opened in 1846 by the "Blackburn & Preston Railway", it became a junction four years later when the B&PR's successor the East Lancashire Railway opened a direct route to Preston that avoided the need to use the North Union Railway between Farington and Preston (and thus pay tolls to the NUR company). The ELR also built a connection to the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway west of Lostock Hall that put the village on the main line from Blackburn to Liverpool.

These newer lines all fell victim to BR economies in the aftermath of the Beeching Axe - the direct line to Preston closing to passengers on 6 May 1968 (services henceforth reverting to the original line via Farington Curve Junction) and Liverpool trains ending on 6 October 1969. The line was resignalled in 1973 and is now controlled by the power box at Preston, although the distinctive signal box still remains to supervise three level crossings (one here locally and two further east by CCTV).

On the westbound platform, the station building built in 1846 survives but is no longer used as part of the station. The building has been disused recently but is now being converted into a drop-in centre for pensioners. [cite web | url=http://www.southribble.gov.uk/section.asp?catid=359&docid=1710 | title=Bamber Bridge railway gets a £305,000 facelift | date=2008-03-26 | accessdate=2008-05-09 ]

Bamber Bridge may not strictly be a "one-street village", but each train to pass through stops traffic; the level crossing cuts across the main road. Only Northern Rail trains en route to and from Preston use Bamber Bridge. It has two platforms, but is not manned and has no departure screens.

ervices

Monday to Saturdays, there is an hourly service from Bamber Bridge towards Preston and Blackpool South, westbound and Blackburn, Burnley and Colne, eastbound. There is a two-hourly service in each direction on Sundays.

References

External links

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