The station was opened by the East Lancashire Railway (ELR), on 28 September 1846, as Bury station. The ELR was absorbed by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway on 13 May 1859. The station was renamed Bury Bolton Street in February 1866. The building is situated in a cutting with a low level yard on the east side, approached by an incline from Bolton Street and a flight of steps from Bank Street. To the north is the Bolton Street Tunnel.
In its original incarnation, it boasted the headquarters of the East Lancashire Railway, situated on the up platform adjacent to the yard. This fine neo-classical structure in the Italianate style had the usual station accommodation on the ground floor and the company offices (including a boardroom) on the upper floors. The headquarters building supported an overall train shed roof in the Paxton style, supported on the other side by a row of iron columns on an island platform. The west side had through lines and a rope-hauled incline giving access to the wagon works, now the site of Bury Leisure Centre.
The station was rebuilt in the 1880s and the existing platform canopy dates from that time. Street frontage buildings were also provided.
The Manchester - Prestwich - Radcliffe Central - Bury line was electrified in 1916.
The street level buildings were destroyed by fire on 14 May 1947 and were replaced with a new brick and concrete entrance and footbridge in 1952. The old headquarters building was demolished in January 1974.
BR closed the station on 17 March 1980, when it was replaced by a new bus/rail interchange; this has been the terminus of the Metrolink service from Manchester since 1991.
The station was extensively remodelled by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (the company absorbed the ELR in 1859) who gave it its present form. There are four platforms, viz:
Platform 3. The down platform, one side of the island platform.
Platform 4. A bidirectional platform, one side of the island platform and adjacent to the Western retaining walls which had a unique bidirectional signal mounted on a wall bracket.
The platforms were equipped with normal canopies and a new entrance was created on Bolton Street, with street frontage buildings across the tracks accessing a footbridge.
Since re-opening as part of the heritage railway operated by the East Lancashire Railway, a new platform building, incorporating a façade from the former Bury tram depot, has been erected on the up platform and the station is undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment and redevelopment plan. It is once again signalled and the old Bury South box is back in operation.
Original services
Passenger trains on the Holcombe Brook branch ended in 1952. Those on the lines to Accrington, Bacup & Clifton Junction were withdrawn in 1966, with the Rawtenstall trains following suit in 1972. That left only the link to Manchester Victoria which in turn was severed in 1980 with the opening of Bury Interchange. Bolton Street Station, with its original features, was rescued from demolition and placed in the care of the East Lancashire Railway, a preservation group. The line to Ramsbottom and Rawtenstall was re-opened as a heritage railway, under the name East Lancashire Railway in 1987 and has since been extended to Heywood. The line and station have since become a leading tourist attraction in the area.
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