effort manufacturing tanks and munitions. The war led to women being employed in manufacturing at the site, but this did not continue in post-war years with occupational inequality persisting. The L&YR amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway in 1922 becoming a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, (LMS) in 1923. Horwich Works continued to build and repair locomotives for the LMS until the company was nationalised in 1948 by the Transport Act 1947, becoming British Railways. In 1962, British Railways transferred control of its main works to British Railways Workshops Division, with its headquarters in Derby. In 1970 it was renamed British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) and remained the towns most significant employer. Production changed and the last steam locomotive built at Horwich Works left on 27 November 1957, after which the works produced shunting diesel trains until 28 December 1962. It was reduced to repairing engines and maintaining railway wagons. On 18 February 1983 BREL announced that the works would close at the end of the year. Protest marches and spirited trade union resistance failed to alter the decision and at 1 pm on Friday, 23 December 1983 Horwich Works closed after 97 years. The town went through a period of high unemployment afterward, The freehold of the railway works site was transferred from British Rail to Bolton Council in the mid-1990s. A proposal to demolish the works and build 1,700 homes and a school was submitted to Bolton Council in early 2010. The initial phase of the development commenced in 2019. Asbestos used to insulate steam engines and railway carriages linked to mesothelioma has been a legacy affecting former workers and their families with asbestos dust also being carried in clothing. The redevelopment of the site required it to be cleared of contaminants before building commenced. Part of the site is planned for demolition for the creation of a link road in 2019, linking the Middlebrook Retail Park, M61 and Horwich Railway Station. With the closure of Horwich Locomotive Works and other heavy industries, the town went through a period of hardship until the development of the Middlebrook Retail Park and the arrival in the town of Bolton Wanderers Football Club, which revived the service and retail sectors, alongside this the town is now known for sub-urban residential accommodation with the benefit of access to the motorway and other transport links. The economic area