Golborne North railway station

Golborne North
The site of the station in 2017
General information
LocationGolborne, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
England
Coordinates53°29′08″N 2°35′35″W / 53.485601°N 2.593035°W / 53.485601; -2.593035
Grid referenceSJ607989
Platforms2[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLiverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Central Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1 July 1895[2]Station opened for goods
3 January 1900[3]Station opened for passengers as "Golborne"
1 February 1949Renamed "Golborne North"
3 March 1952Station closed completely[4]

Golborne North railway station served the town of Golborne, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.[5]

The station was on the Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway line from Lowton St Mary's to the original St Helens Central railway station. It was located just east of where it crossed both the WCML[6] and what is now the A573, at the northern edge of the town.[7][8]

The station was built of wood and had very sparse facilities.[4][9]

History

Opened by the Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, as part of the Great Central Railway, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station was referred to locally as "Golborne GC" to distinguish it from the ex-LNWR Golborne station on the West Coast Main Line in the centre of the town. In 1949, the ex-LNWR station was renamed Golborne South and the ex-GCR station was renamed Golborne North.

Services

In 1922, five "down" (towards St Helens) trains called at the station on Mondays to Saturdays. They called at all stations from Manchester Central to St Helens via Glazebrook and Culcheth.[10]

By 1948, four trains plied between St Helens Central and Manchester Central, calling at all stations, Monday to Friday, reduced to three on Saturdays.[11]

A fuller selection of public and working timetables has now been published. Among other things, this suggests that Sunday services ran until 1914 but had ceased by 1922, never to return.[12]

Closure

The station was closed to all traffic by the British Railways Board in 1952, though goods traffic through the site to St Helens lingered on until 1965, and to a scrapyard in Haydock. In 1968, a new connection ("spur") was built connecting a Shell oil terminal in Haydock, and scrapyard, to the West Coast Main Line. This enabled the line through Golborne North to be closed and lifted.

The site today

By 2005, even seasoned researchers could not tell a railway had ever existed at the station site.[4]


Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Lowton St Mary's
Line and station closed 		  Great Central Railway
Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway 		  Haydock Park
Line and station closed

References

  1. ^ Pixton 1996, p. 120.
  2. ^ Dow 1965, p. 10.
  3. ^ Dow 1965, pp. 9–12.
  4. ^ a b c The station via Disused Stations UK
  5. ^ The station on a 1948 OS Map via npe Maps
  6. ^ Shannon & Hillmer 2003, p. 92
  7. ^ Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45
  8. ^ Station and line HOB1 via railwaycodes
  9. ^ Pixton 1996, p. 120
  10. ^ Bradshaw 1985, pp. 714–5
  11. ^ 1949 services via Disused Stations UK
  12. ^ Sweeney 2014, pp. 105–115.

Sources

  • Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC 12500436.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  • Dow, George (1965). Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900–1922. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0263-0. OCLC 500447049.
  • Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
  • Pixton, Bob (1996), The Archive Photographs Series Widnes and St Helens Railways, Chalford: The Chalford Publishing Company, ISBN 978-0-7524-0751-7
  • Shannon, Paul; Hillmer, John (2003). British Railways Past and Present, Manchester and South Lancashire No 41. Kettering: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85895-197-3.
  • Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012), Railway Atlas Then and Now, Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7110-3695-6
  • Sweeney, Dennis J (2014). The St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85361-292-6.