Middleton Junction railway station


Middleton Junction railway station was on the Caldervale Line, from 1842 until closure on 3 January 1966. It was located at Lane End in Chadderton, a former hamlet which later adopted the place-name Middleton Junction after the area expanded after the opening of the railway. It was opened on 31 March 1842 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, whose chief engineer was George Stephenson, as part of the branch to. The station was originally called Oldham Junction but by August 1842 it was known as Middleton Station, changing its name to Middleton Junction some ten years later.
The line was notable for a stretch of steep 1 in 27 gradient called the Werneth Incline. On 12 August 1914 a goods and coal depot was opened at Chadderton. This was at the end of a long line which branched off the Oldham line approximately from Middleton Junction at Chadderton Junction. The line from Chadderton Junction to Oldham was closed to passengers in 1958 and completely on 7 January 1963 but the Chadderton goods and coal depot remained open and in use until 1988.
A branch line from Middleton Junction to Middleton was opened on 5 January 1857, closing to passengers on 7 September 1964 and completely on 11 October 1965.