Burnley Central railway station is a stop on the East Lancashire Line, it is managed by Northern Trains, which also provides its passenger service.
Architect: RL Moorcroft of British Rail 1964-1966
Described by Claire Hartwell in the Buildings of England Lancashire: North as – of blue brick, bleak.
The station was opened by the East Lancashire Railway in 1848, as part of its route from Bury and Blackburn to Colne; here, an end-on junction was made with the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway line from Skipton that had been completed several months earlier. The service from Colne through the station to Manchester Victoria, via Accrington and Bury, was well used from the outset by the owners of the local cotton mills, who travelled from their homes in the area to make their purchases of raw cotton at the Royal Exchange several times each week. It was also possible to travel from the station by direct train to Blackpool, Liverpool and Skipton and even through to London Euston, via Blackburn, Manchester Victoria and Stockport.
1964 Red Rose Collections.
However, the cutbacks of the 1960s affected the station badly, with through trains to Manchester via Bury ending in 1964 (two years before the withdrawal of the Accrington to Bury service) and those to Liverpool in 1969 whilst the line to Skipton was closed to all traffic in 1970. This left the station on a 10.5 km long dead-end branch line from Rose Grove to Colne.
The station was rebuilt in 1965, its ground floor is at street level and the first floor at platform level.
1985
On the day of my visit the hourly service to Colne was almost due, there were two passengers on the platform.
A single track to a dead end town, the booking office and waiting room locked.
Modern Mooch 
Poignant and intense. There are some very involving details and textures here – as well as messages: “I have gone home” – which is humorously minimalist in content, yet scratched like runes . . . as if home is/was somewhere final!.
It is interesting that using black & white immediately makes your photos feel that they too have gone home to the 1980s . . . bar the few giveaway signs and the postal lockers
All very best wishes, Lawrence
PS – thanks for reading my 2 Barrow pieces – much appreciated.
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In order to ride passenger back to Manchester, on the cushions so to speak, we often had to make a dramatic entrance to the parcels sidings opposite the station.
What the passengers waiting on the platform thought of our antics as we hurried to stable our loco I can only imagine….. rail tales!
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