The Oldham Loop Line was a suburban-line in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail. The line closed on 3 October 2009 for conversion during 2009–2012 to light rail use for Metrolink services; the route now carries trams and is known as the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL). Description The Oldham Loop diverged from the Caldervale Line at Thorpes Bridge Junction in Newton Heath, Manchester and re-joined it at Rochdale East Junction. The line was long, and was double-track from Thorpes Bridge Junction to Shaw & Crompton, and single-line from Shaw & Crompton to Rochdale East Junction. There were two tunnels on the route between Oldham Werneth and Oldham Mumps railway stations. There were nine intermediate stations on the route. In the early 1970s the line from Shaw & Crompton to Rochdale was reduced to single track working. This was due to save money on maintenance when services were much reduced. History The history of the Oldham Loop Line was intertwined with the early history of railways in the Manchester and Oldham area, and to some extent also with the geography of Oldham which meant that there was no direct Manchester to Oldham line until quite late in the 19th century. The first railway line to be built in the area was the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR) which opened on 4 July 1839 to Littleborough and throughout on 1 March 1841. Although this line ran close to Rochdale, it missed out Middleton and more importantly Oldham as well. A station was built at Mills Hill to provide a railhead for Middleton and Oldham. This was only intended as a short time measure given that Oldham was already a substantial manufacturing centre by this date. The first railway into Oldham was a branch from Middleton Junction to Oldham Werneth which opened on 31 March 1842. This line included the Werneth Incline which had a gradient of 1 in 27 and was one of the steepest lines in the country regularly used by passenger trains. The situation of the first station in Oldham on the outskirts of town was not entirely satisfactory, and in 1847 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the successor to the M&LR, extended the line from Oldham Werneth to a new station at Oldham