Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway - Closure

Closure

Following the Beeching Report in 1963, the line was set to close. It did so, to all traffic between Chadderton Junction and Oldham Werneth on 7 January 1963. Oldham Central Station closed later in the 1960s. Soon after, on 13 March 1964, saw the pulling up and scrapping of the rails and other railway goods on the Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway. The Chadderton goods and coal depot remained open at this stage as a short freight only branch from Middleton Junction. Over the years the rest of the line which went to the Chadderton depot was closed and scrapped, and the countryside slowly took over. Over 40 years later the landscape has irreversibly changed back to other uses: apart from an area where the old line entered a cutting, and where the old Johnny Whitehead Bridge (see the map) can still be used as a crossing point for ramblers.

Coordinates: 53°32′31″N 2°09′22″W / 53.54199°N 2.15599°W / 53.54199; -2.15599