A heavy rail line enters Middleton from Moston and Chadderton to the south, and passes roughly parallel to the canal as they both continue through Castleton northwards to Rochdale.

Historically a part of Lancashire, Middleton took its name from being situated in the centre of several circumjacent settlements.

The M&LR main line opened on 4 July 1839, and the branch from Middleton Junction to Oldham Werneth railway station on 31 March 1842.

It was in the second half of the 19th century, that the area became the world centre for spinning cotton yarn.

[5][6] By 1871 Oldham had more spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined.

[7] The Rochdale Canal—one of the major navigable broad canals of the United Kingdom—was a highway of commerce during this time used for the haulage of cotton, wool, coal to and from the area.

The Bank of England set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 to attempt to rationalise and save the industry.