Stations are indicated by an '#' symbol prior to the place name. Signal boxes are indicated by numbers in the left hand column. Location names are as shown in the 1960 Sectional Appendix and may be different from the station name.
| Section of Line | Opened | Closed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Throughout | 02.02.1850 | ||
| Throughout | 00.06.1850 (P) | ||
| Curve to Tyldesley line | 26.05.1884 | Apparently the Clifton Hall and Tyldesley lines crossed on a flat crossing until this date when a bridge was built. | |
| Curve to Tyldesley line | 31.05.1891* | ||
| Clifton Hall No.1 to Patricroft Junction | 28.04.1953 | One source gives the closing date as 7.4.1953. This seems to be erroneous as the official report into the collapse of Clifton Hall Tunnel refers to traffic being stopped just prior to the tunnel collapse. | |
| Molyneux Junction to Clifton Hall Sidings | 13.06.1960* | * I have another date of 16.06.1961, when Wheatsheaf Colliery closed. |
| Junctions and other features | Running Lines | Stations, Signal Boxes and Junctions | Distance from Signal Box above | Loops and Refuge Sidings | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | Down | ||||||
| Maximum permissible speed 30 m.p.h. | |||||||
| 1 |
 |
- | ↓ | Molyneux Junction (Map) | - | ||
| 2 |
--- |
↑ | - | Clifton Hall No.1 | 0m 1517yds | ||
| Pendlebury Station | |||||||
| Unkown Station | |||||||
 |
Junction | ||||||
| Patricroft Flat Crossing | |||||||
|
|
Patricroft Station | ||||||
Accident at Clifton Hall (Black Harry Tunnel) On 28th of April, 1953, part of Clifton Hall Tunnel collapsed. This is the official report into the accident and makes for fascinating reading.
After the closure of the spur to Clifton Hall No.1, apparently a half mile section of the line remained next to Patricroft shed and a brakevan special ran over it on 16.03.1963.
It would be easy to dismiss this line as an unimportant freight route, but information that has recently come to light place it in a slightly different light. When the building of the spur to the Tyldesley line was being discussed, a newspaper article in the Manchester Courier of October 10th, 1882 referred to a passenger service having operated along the line when it first opened. Not only that, but it made specfic mention of two passenger stations having existed, one at each end of Clifton Hall tunnel. both with wooden platforms. The service appears to have run from Pendlebury to Manchester via Patricroft. The new curve would have allowed this service to be revived without the need for the reversal. Whether this ever happened, I am not sure, but if it did, at least one station must have reopened, as the intention once again was to run from Pendlebury to Manchester. The idea of developing the Clifton branch as a passenger line would have finally been derailed by the opening of the L&Y via Pendlebury and Swinton to Wigan.
There were two proposed branches from the Clifton line that were never built, though in one case aome earthworks were started. This part completed line would have diverged north of Patricroft and gone to Worsley to service the Duke of Bridgewater's mines. The second branch would have run to a vitiol factory at Kersall Moor.
When the line from Eccles to Tyldesley opened in 1864 the two lines crossed on the flat.