Middleton Junction took its name from the railway junction where the Oldham branch of the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR) joined the main line.
Tickets were checked en route, the guard presumably having to move from carriage to carriage by means of the external footboard - just as is described in Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.
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The Manchester and Leeds Railway Company (later the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) arrived in Castleton in 1839, and it was here that the line formerly diverged to Bury, Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall, Bacup and finally rejoined the main line at Rochdale.