Rose Grove railway station in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England serves the Rose Grove area in the west of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, and the nearby town of

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Calder, Lancashire, River Calder, in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, Lancashire, England. It is located north west of Burnley, and north ea ...

. It is served by both the

Calder Valley Line The Calder Valley line (also previously known as the Caldervale line) is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes ...

and the East Lancashire Line. It was once the terminus of the Great Harwood Loop between

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and Burnley via

Great Harwood Great Harwood is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, located north east of Blackburn and adjacent to the Ribble Valley. Great Harwood is part of the "Three Towns" conurbation along with the towns of Clayton-le-Moors and Ris ...

and Padiham. The station is now a junction station for both the Calder Valley and East Lancashire lines.

History

The railway reached Rose Grove in 1848, and the

East Lancashire Railway The East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbott ...

Company built the station to serve the Rose Grove area together with the town of Padiham, a slight distance away. Rose Grove was formerly the site of an

engine shed A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

, which was one of the last to house

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

on British Railways. The station became unstaffed in the 1980s, following the demolition of the station buildings. The last remnants of the Great Harwood Loop towards have also disappeared, the line having been closed in 1993 with the end of oil traffic to the power station there. The site is now occupied by the

M65 motorway The M65 is a motorway between Preston, Lancashire, Preston and Colne in Lancashire, England. It runs from Bamber Bridge just south of Preston, through major junctions with the M6 motorway, M6 and M61 motorways, east past Darwen, Blackburn, Ac ...

, which runs beside the railway at this point. During the mid to late 1980s, Rose Grove was the starting point for an Inter City "Holidaymaker" Saturday service; in the 1989 timetable this ran as the 06:50 to via Preston and

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street, also known as New Street station, is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti ...

, leaving Paignton at 14:10 for the return journey.

Services

In the spring 2023 timetable, the station has two services per hour in each direction Mondays to Saturdays. One runs between Colne and Preston (the East Lancashire Line), whilst the other runs between Blackburn and

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England, is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was c ...

via and (this resumed in 2015, after an absence of 50 years). Many of the latter services continue west of Manchester to Wigan Wallgate and . On Sundays, the East Lancashire service drops to two-hourly (but running through to/from ) while the service to/from Manchester remains hourly (and continues to ).

References

External links

{{Coord, 53.787, N, 2.282, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in Burnley DfT Category F1 stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations served by Northern