Introduction
Perhaps Blackrod has never been a major location on the railway map, but it was once a junction station on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway with over 70 departures a day, three platforms, a goods yard and a manned ticket office. Now, just a couple of platforms and "bus shelters", Blackrod Station was once much more.
To its inhabitants, it's still known as "the village", but Blackrod is probably too large to be accurately described as such. However, when the railway came, the station was named after Blackrod's larger neighbour, Horwich. The station went through a number of name changes, starting out as "Horwich Road" before being renamed "Horwich & Blackrod". In 1870, it became "Horwich Junction" to reflect the fact that the Horwich branch had opened, but just three years later, in February 1873, the station became "Horwich and Blackrod Junction". Finally, in April 1888, the station became simply "Blackrod".