Choose one of the following : Location; History; Industry; Transport; Places to Visit; Butterworth Hall Community Centre; Clubs and Societies; Services ; Schools; Gallery; Milnrow Literary and Scientific Society; Oldham Geological Society; Rochdale Canal
Transport in Greater Manchester is supported by GMPTE
Milnrow is well served by public transport.
Buses serve Rochdale, Littleborough and Hollingworth Lake, Manchester, Middleton, Oldham and Shaw.
Bus operators:
Stagecoach
Manchester
First
Manchester
First Rochdale
BuVal
Rossendale Transport
Trains serve Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale via the 'Oldham Loop', with onward connections to Blackburn, Bolton, Clitheroe, Kirby, Liverpool, Southport and Wigan from Manchester Victoria. Other connections are available at Manchester Piccadilly to all parts of the North West and the rest of the U.K.. Connections to Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, Selby and York on the Calder valley line are available at Rochdale and nearby Smithy Bridge.
Train operator:
Northern RailFor
Oldham Loop, Calder Valley services and other services in Northern
England, Click here.:-
Milnrow
station with Manchester bound train
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In May 2002 a notice was published, proposing the closure of the Oldham Loop in May 2004. In January 2003, permission was given for the line to be closed for conversion. Dean Lane station was reprieved but Oldham Werneth and Mumps stations will close, together with the line between them, as well as sections of route where the existing railway is connected to the national network at Newton Heath and Rochdale. Estimates of when Metrolink will run through to Rochdale vary but completion dates of 2008 -2009 have been quoted, resulting in the loss of a rail service for up to five years! Metrolink.
The line did not close in May 2004 and in the Rail Regulator's review into the proposed Grand Central Railway service between Manchester Victoria and Newcastle, it was stated that the closure date was now Easter 2005.
However, on 20th July 2004 the Government cancelled the Metrolink extension because of ever increasing costs. Where would that leave the Oldham Loop? The Rail Regulator also refused permission for the Grand Central Railway service between Manchester Victoria and Newcastle.
In September 2004 First North Western introduced their autumn 'leaf fall' timetable which would last until December. In the new timetable, the express trains between Oldham and Manchester became stop at all stations, most of the trains from Manchester which 'turned back' at Shaw were withdrawn. The service between Rochdale and Manchester via Oldham became slower as it now stopped at all stations but the frequency was unaffected.
On 12th December 2004, the new franchisee, Northern Trains took over First North Western's services and those of Arriva Trains Northern. Their new timetable from December 2004 to June 2005 resulted in further reductions in the Oldham Loop services. No trains turned back at Shaw and the peak hour service was reduced resulting in some overcrowding. Travellers from Shaw, New Hey and Milnrow to Manchester via Rochdale had to change at Rochdale, with a ten minute wait for the express Calder Valley trains and a twenty minute wait for the local stopping train to intermediate stations.
With the inroduction of the Summer timetable in June, trains reverted to half hourly expresses from Rochdale with the Shaw turn backs reintroduced. This continued until September when the previous December's pattern reappeared as the new 'leaf fall' time table with the journey from Rochdale being slowed even further to fifty three minutes. However with the December to June timetable the normal half hourly service with Shaw turn backs was restored and was continued with the following June to December 2006 timetable but the Autumn 'leaf fall' timetable was used from September.
June 2006. Network Rail and Northern trains reached an agreement for the continued operation of the Loop.July 6th 2006. The new transport minister gave the go-ahead for the metrolink conversion. All three lines of the 'big bang' plane would be built;- Manchester to Oldham and Rochdale, Manchester to Droylsden and Manchester to Chorlton. However, the lines would stop short of their original planned destination and wouldn't reach Rochdale and Ashton town centres, nor the Manchester Airport. The project would be complete by 2011.
Hollingworth lake
A man
made reservoir originally
to supply the Rochdale Canal, now used for angling, sailing, wind
surfing
etc there is also an area set aside as a nature reserve.
There are walks around the lake
(ca. 40mins) and into the adjacent country side. The lake has
always
been a popular destination, having two pubs, restaurants, ice cream
parlours
and a fish and chip shop. Before the days of
general holidays,
the lake was a day trip 'mecca' for the inhabitants of the surrounding
towns and became known as 'The Weighvers (weavers)
Seaport'.
The lakeside is still a venue for an Easter funfair.
The Pennine Way
The Pennine Way runs from North
Derbyshire
along the pennine hills to Northern Cumbria. It is a long footpath
which traverses a wide variety of landscape, hills moors and dales.
People who complete the walk have achieved something! Access from
Milnrow is at the top of Blackstone Edge near 'The White House'.
Ellenroad steam engine
Following
the purchase of Ellenroad by Coates Brothers (above) the mill
was demolished but the engine house and chimney were retained.
Ellenroad Trust Limited was set up and purchased a 999 year lease on the site from Coates.
Regular steamings and operation of the engines (named Victoria and Alexandra), a stately Whitelees beam engine and a Browett Lindley steam engine take place. On the Firing Floor, you can watch coal being shovelled by hand into the stokers that feed the roaring furnaces of the Lancashire boiler.
Further information can be obtained at Ellenroad
East Lancashire Railway
A preserved railway running between Heywood and Rawtenstall. The extension from Bury to Heywood was opened in September 2003.
Sir
Nigel Gresley on The East Lancashire Railway 1996
Further information can be obtained fromThe East Lancashire Railway
More railway experiences can be obtained at The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Keighley and Oxenhope West Yorkshire.
The Rochdale Canal
Running between Manchester and West Yorkshire, the Rochdale Canal opened between Sowerby Bridge and Salford by1804. For more information on the Rochdale Canal, click here
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