Station Master Mike welcomes you to Hollinwood, a station which has a lot of stories to tell you and all it operators that has come and gone over it life time.
Whether you are alighting here or boarding here, can I wish you a safe journey today with Mykey Explores.
Life before the rails
Before the railways idea was born, A pre-industrial moor or common on the borders of Oldham and Chadderton developed into dispute for the 8 acre land with Chadderton Township claiming the land. but a 1713 court settlement stipulated that Hollinwood Moor should be within Oldham.
Fast forward to 1880, we still seeing Oldham and Chadderton fighting over Hollinwood Moor during this time things was being built on the land; 6 Mills where due to appear on the land over the next 100 years plus the 2 colliery and the massive Ferrentis Works. you would of thought Oldham and Chadderton would of stop fighting over a developing piece of land
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Findings
With everything else going on in Hollinwood Common, a railway company was looking at building a railway line through the developing village connecting the two disputers up to stop them fighting over Hollinwood.
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was looking at building a deviation line from Thorpes Bridge Junction to Oldham Werneth avoiding the Werneth Incline which was causing problems with the existing services on the line.
A railway was originally proposed for 1848 it was resurveyed 10 years later in 1858 but construction did not start until 30th June 1875 a contract was let to Mr Evans and work commenced 2nd August 1876, Evans employed 450 men to construct the line which was completed by 1880.
The station welcomed the first train and passengers on 1st April 1881.
All about the station
| Hollinwood station was 4 ¾ miles from Manchester Victoria. It was located on the west side of Railway Road on an embankment. As the line was double-track the station was provided with two platforms. These were accessed from a street level single-storey brick building on Railway Road, which contained the booking office. The building was constructed of yellow |
brick, a favourite of the LYR. It had a short canopy above the entrance door. Inside the booking office was a ‘Benn and Cronin Traffic Indicator’ that occupied a complete wall. The indicator showed passengers what services were running by means of slots into which times and destinations could be fitted.
At the rear of the building a subway led to the platforms. Both platforms had to be accessed from the subway because immediately to the rear of the booking office there were two goods lines and a siding. The subway passed under these lines before reaching a set of steps to the’ up’ (Manchester) platform. It continued to the down platform, which was also reached by steps. On both platforms there were wooden buildings with canopies, which provided facilities for passengers. On the up platform there was also a small brick building at the north-eastern end which was used as a lamp room. A signal box also stood on this platform a little further to the north-east than the lamp room.
The 18th and 19th Century
At the time of its opening Hollinwood was served by fifteen trains towards Oldham and the same number to Manchester Victoria. On 1st January 1922 the station became part of the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) when that company took over the LYR. However on 1st January 1923 the LNWR was in turn absorbed by the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). By 1938 Hollinwood was still being served by fifteen local trains. On Friday evenings a train to Glasgow and Edinburgh via Rochdale called at the station. On Sundays-only a train that originated at Royton and ran on to Blackpool Central via Manchester Victoria served Hollinwood, as did another that started at Milnrow and ran to Southport via Manchester Victoria.
On 1st January 1948 Hollinwood became part of the nationalised British Railways (London Midland Region). During the last year of fully steam-operated services in 1958 there were eighteen trains in each direction between Manchester and Rochdale. In June 1958 British Railways introduced Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) on the Oldham Loop. A Cravens-built type of DMU (later known as class 104) which had twin power cars was used on the line as they were easily able to cope with the steep gradients. In both directions trains called at Hollinwood every twenty minutes. The northbound service destinations alternated between Rochdale and a Royton. In total there were twenty-nine trains running between Manchester and Rochdale and twenty-five between Manchester and Royton: this was Hollinwood’s highest-ever frequency of service.
Beaching era
The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report) of March 1963 recommended the closure of the Royton branch to passengers but made no reference to the Oldham Loop or any of its stations. Nevertheless, September 1964 saw a decline in services calling at Hollinwood. The service between Manchester and Rochdale became irregular, with trains calling at
at Hollinwood about every 45 minutes in each direction. Trains between Royton and Manchester Victoria were reduced to seven on weekdays in each direction, eight on Saturdays, and there were none on Sundays.
From April 1966 further changes took place, including the closure of the Royton Branch (as recommended by Beeching) but also Oldham Central station (which Beeching implied was to be retained). The service pattern was altered so that most trains serving Hollinwood ran between Manchester Victoria and Oldham Mumps, with fewer continuing onward to Rochdale. By 1968 the Hollinwood service had settled into a thirty minute frequency in each direction. Only alternate northbound trains continued beyond Oldham Mumps to Rochdale giving only an hourly frequency to that town (although services were also provided to and from Manchester Victoria via Castleton).
During the 1970s Hollinwood lost its buildings and simple ‘bus shelters’ were provided; the station also became an unstaffed.
The 20th and 21st Century
Going into millennium marked the end of Hollinwood Hey days and the start of the areas decline with numerous mills being destroyed by 2010 and all the colliery disappeared and ferrentis leaving Hollinwood.
Leaving Hollinwood looking at bit sorry for itself, with decaying train station and lack of industry in the area. It was all well sticking plasters over the wounds of Hollinwood but Today version is nothing like Hollinwood Common and Moor off yesteryear.
Sort of abandoned village as most of the house are in Chadderton and Failsworth and most of the village centre is demolished.
The Oldham Loop Dying days
GMPTE had been looking into extending the Manchester Metrolink along the existing Oldham Loop Line meaning railway services would have to cease to make way for the yellow sardine cans aka metrolink.
In 2009 the Oldham Loop Line started to look like a waiting room to railway history than it did in the hey day of the Oldham Loop Line and most of it character as now gone.
On 3rd of October 2009 the life support machine was turned off and Northern ran the last ever service to Rochdale from Manchester Victoria with a specially named train doing the honours it was special night which some quirky commentary.
The Next Stop is Hollinwood… We are now approaching Hollinwood for the last time.
The Conversion Surgery
After Gracie Fields done her last trip Rochdale, the line was shut done and the converters moved in to convert the line to light rail removing every last inch of railway history and Hollinwood was completely rebuilt and reopened on 13 June 2012.
The station hasn’t really improved the area and it sole purpose is the local youth centre and gather point for there plotting and mischief.
Oh hello, you yellow things please introduce yourself.
Hello I’m Manchester Metrolink I’m running M5000 trams on the line now with all the state of art technology, with ticket machines at every station but some people still get about me so TFGM introduced get me there a mobile and card system like the oyster card in London and nice keepsake for you if fail to use both payment methods for a ticket. a one way ticket would then cost you a nice £100 and a visit to the courts.
The video
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Station Master Mike
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