Notes: Bolton Great Moor Street was situated at the end of the Kenyon Junction to Bolton line which had opened in stages from 1828 to 1831 as the 'Bolton and Leigh Railway'. The first section of the line from Bolton to Chequerbent opened on 28.8.1828. The line had been engineered by George Stephenson and it was one of his locomotives, the Lancashire Witch, that made the inaugural run. The line had reached Leigh by March 1830 but it was not until 2.6.1831 when the line had reached Kenyon Junction on the famous Liverpool and Manchester Railway that passenger services began. The first passenger run was an excursion from Bolton to Newton for a horse racing event.

Early station facilities at Bolton would have been quite basic and a service of two trains per day from Bolton to Liverpool began on 13.6.1831. The station was initially known as Bolton with Great Moor Street being added in October 1849.

The original station was at street level. This was replaced by a temporary station, Bolton Crook Street on 1.8.1871. A contemporary newspaper report states "consequent upon the erection of a new station in a few days, the present passenger station at Bolton would be closed and a temporary opened in the goods yard at Crook Street, probably in a warehouse alongside Chandos Street". This temporary station was replaced by the new Bolton Great Moor Street built in a classic 'Italian' style on 28.9.1874. This was on approximately the same site as the original station but ten feet higher.

The station and its approaches were on a viaduct and it consisted of four platform faces of 300ft length. They covered over by a roof and provided with extensive waiting facilities. The rebuild had come about as a new direct line to Manchester had been authorised which would allow the LNWR, by this time the owning company, to compete with the L&Y who had a direct line between Bolton and Manchester. The direct line opened from Greet Moor Street to Roe Green on 1.4.1875. By the mid 1930's over 20 services operated from Great Moor Street along the Kenyon Junction line with fewer but still significant services along the Manchester line.

After nationalisation in 1948 the value of having two lines from Manchester to Bolton was being questioned. The Great Moor Street service took longer than the ex L&Y route. By 1954 only four trains per day operated towards Manchester. The Kenyon line had also declined and only six trains operated to either Kenyon Junction or Warrington. All regular services operating out of Bolton Great Moor Street ceased to operate on 27.3.1954. The last train was the 10.35pm to Kenyon Junction.

After closure Rugby League Specials and Holiday trains continued to use the station until 1958. Goods traffic continued until the early 1960's. The Manchester direct line was the first to be lifted. The Kenyon line was lifted in stages between 1963 and 1969 the southernmost section surviving the longest.

Bolton Great Moor Street station was demolished in 1966 and replaced with a leisure pool which was itself demolished in 2003. Today there are no traces of the station and the site has been partially redeveloped.

To see the other stations on the Bolton Great Moor Street - Kenyon Junction line click on the station name: Kenyon Junction, Pennington, West Leigh, Atherleigh, Atherton Bag Lane, Chequerbent 1st, Chequerbent 2nd, Daubhill 1st & Rumworth & Daubhill