Ten years of work to upgrade a former colliery railway now used as a popular walking and cycle path has reached the end of the line.
Salford City Council has completed the final upgrades on the Roe Green loopline, which is used by hundreds of commuters, dog walkers, joggers and cyclists every day.
It’s the final phase of improvements to the route which runs from Monton, through the platforms of the former Worsley station all the way to Walkden where it connects with theTyldesley loopline which runs down to the new guided busway on the A580 and up through Little Hulton to Amblecote playing fields. The route is part of National Cycle Network Route 55 which runs from Preston through Salford to Ironbridge in Shropshire.
Councillor Derek Antrobus, lead member for planning and sustainable development, cut 10 ribbons with a pair of garden shears to symbolically ‘re-open’ the completed line. The end of the work will be celebrated at Walkden’s Brazilian themed community festival Walkden de Janeiro in Parr Fold Park on Saturday July 9 and Sunday July 10.
“The last phases of work between Tynesbank and Mesne Lea school and between Anchor Lane and Mount Skip Lane are now complete. We’ve turned a muddy path into a well surfaced three metre wide track, installed new fencing and sign and tidied up overgrown vegetation,” he said.
“It’s a fast and direct route for anyone wanting to commute off road between Monton, Worsley, Walkden and Little Hulton as well as a lovely leisure walk through the woods. It’s a key part of our 36 kilometres of traffic free cycle routes in Salford.”
The Roe Green railway line opened in 1870. In 1864 the London and North Western Railway Company opened a new line from Eccles to Wigan via Tyldesley and then added a new branch to Bolton via Roe Green and Little Hulton. The Roe Green line was originally only open to colliery traffic until 1875 when the first passenger services began.
The lines supported the surrounding collieries of which Mosley Common was the biggest, employing 2,000 people by 1919. Both the Tyldesley and Roe Green lines closed in 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts to rail lines in Britain.
In 1926 several train wagons carrying bottles of sauce and Wellington boots broke free from an engine at Little Hulton and careered down the line to Roe Green. The runaway wagons were diverted into a small siding at Beesley Green where they smashed into a bridge and burst into flames, scattering sauce and boots widely. No one was injured.
Salford has invested around £4.5 million across the city to improve cycling infrastructure, from a range of funding sources including Growth Deal, the Block 3 Highways Capital Programme and the second phase of Cycle City Ambition Grant.
