Place Leigh Platforms in use 2 | Grid reference SD661001 | |
Area Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Pre-grouping London and North Western Railway Post-grouping London Midland and Scottish Railway 1 September 1864 (1864-09-01) Station opened as Bedford Leigh Original company London and North Western Railway Similar Kenyon Junction railway st, Chaddock Hall, St Mary's Church - Wigan, St Peter's Church - Westleigh, Astley railway station | ||
Leigh railway station, originally Bedford Leigh and later Leigh and Bedford, was a railway station in Bedford, Leigh, in the historic county of Lancashire, England.
History
Leigh station, in common with other stations on the Tyldesley Loopline, was opened by the London and North Western Railway in the Bedford township on 1 September 1864. At a junction to the west of Tyldesley station, the line from Eccles to Wigan headed north west and the branch to Bedford Leigh, Bradshaw Leach (renamed Pennington) and Kenyon Junction headed south west.
On 1 August 1876 Bedford Leigh was renamed Leigh & Bedford and on 1 July 1914 was named Leigh. The station joined the London Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping in 1923. It passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station closed on 5 May 1969 leaving the town without a passenger railway.
Coal deposits were the chief motivation for building a railway in the area and the railway's supporters included many local colliery owners and industrialists. In 1874 John Speakman sank Bedford Colliery to the south of the railway. The colliery railway was linked to the main line at Speakman's Sidings between Bedford Leigh and Tyldesley stations in 1882.