REGISTER OF CLOSED RAILWAYS

RCH Manchester & District 1918

First OCD - Mon 30/11/1981 - following Section 56 notice - BLN 434 p12/1. LTR - Sat 29/08/1981 - 1425 SO Blackpool (North) - Leicester. This train had been announced as having ceased to run after Sat 01/09/1980 - BLN 420 p133, but was reinstated (but evidently not advertised) for the 1981 season "following objections to the 1962 Act closure, and insistence on its continuance by the Secretary of State pending the TUCC report" - BLN 426 p207-1B.

RO - Mon 17/05/1982 - "diversion of Nottingham - Glasgow trains off Settle & Carlisle route" - PSUL 1982-3 amendments p5; BLN 449 p204-16.

Second OCD - Mon 16/05/1988 - "Transport Act 1962 Section 56 (7) advance notice" - BLN 577 p1/88. Advance notice being academic as the withdrawal of the Nottingham - Glasgow service occurred from Mon 07/05/1987. Line no longer in regular use - PSUL 1986-7 amendments p6.

Was closure refused as a SDS commenced running on SuO from the start of the May 1988 timetable? This morphed into a weekly SO, later SuO, Manchester (Victoria) - Ashburys train. Presumably this was another "Section 56" train, as a minimum requirement until official closure approval. 

Third (final?) OCD - Mon 24/01/1994 - under Section 56 (7) of the Transport Act 1962. Latterly used by one train per week, the 2010 SuO Manchester (Victoria) - Ashburys - BLN 721 p10/94-50.

This section of line is another example of the nebulous world of closures in the 1980s and 90s and the at-times liberal interpretation of the Transport Act 1962 by BR. This line, like some other infamous examples (Northallerton - Eaglescliffe), saw numerous closures and reopenings over this period as a consequence of trains being scheduled over the route and then being subsequently withdrawn.

Page updated: 14/02/2022