Bamber Bridge railway station

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 hefty tolls to the NUR company). The Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway had in the meantime arrived at Lostock Hall in 1849, putting 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 all traffic in April 1972 (services henceforth reverted to using the original 1846 line through Lostock Hall then the 1908-built Farington Curve to reach the WCML) and the Blackburn to 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. The waiting room on the eastbound platform and the old pedestrian subway linking the two platforms have both been removed.

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 trains en route to and from Preston use Bamber Bridge. It has two platforms, but is unstaffed (so tickets must be purchased on the train when travelling from here). Passenger information screens are in operation at the station (as of autumn 2016), along with a long-line P.A system to provide train running information.

Services

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. In addition to the basic service, three additional calls are provided by services on the York & Leeds to Blackpool North line during peak periods to give additional journey opportunities to & from Preston for commuters & shoppers - one train from Leeds and one from York stop westbound in the morning and one to York eastbound in the evening.