The Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, was formed in 1889, but no services ran until 1895 and then only freight. Passenger services did not start until 1900. It incorporated the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway.[1] It was taken over by the Great Central Railway in 1906.[2]
An Act to extend the time for the compulsory purchase of lands for certain railways authorised by the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1885 and the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1886 and to provide for the issue of preference or guaranteed shares or stock and for other purposes.
The railway was incorporated by the St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. cxxi) and the St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1886 (50 Vict. c. xxxiii) to enable the construction of a line from St Helens to Lowton (eight miles) and St Helens to Liverpool (ten miles). The lines had share capital of £210,000 and £340,000 respectively. The first sod was cut on 25 January 1888 by the Earl of Derby on the site of what became St Helens Central railway station (Great Central Railway). In July 1889, the St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. xci) extended the completion time until July 1893. The opening ceremony took place on 2 January 1900.[3]
The line closed to passengers in 1952. It was reduced in stages as freight traffic ebbed and flowed. The key milestones were:
1965 line closed and lifted west of Lowton Metals, Ashton (inclusive).
1968 line reinstated west of Lowton Metals to serve a new oil depot at Haydock
1968 new "Haydock Branch Curve" built to connect the line to the WCML north of Golborne
1968 line east of the new connection closed and lifted (the bridge over the WCML was removed in 1971)
1975 passenger trains ran to five race meetings, using Ashton station, experiment not repeated
1983 Haydock oil depot traffic lost to road, line cut back to Lowton Metals, Haydock.
1987 Lowton Metals ceased trading, line cut back to Golborne Colliery headshunt
1987 Kelbit opened rail-served business at Edge Green, using trackbed of Edge Green Colliery branch
1989 Golborne Colliery closed, line cut back to headshunt for the Kelbit traffic
after 2000 the Kelbit site was taken over by Hanson as their "Ashton" plant
In 2011 the site was purchased by PF Jones Ltd and began work to restore the Kelbit rail line
In 2015 very occasional trains still served the Hanson plant.
On 7 March 2015 an enthusiasts' excursion titled "Sabrina's Tea Train" traversed the line.[6]
A quarter-mile headshunt which ends at bufferstops approx 50 yards east of Bridge 13 over Edge Green Lane is the sole remaining section of the original route in use.
Re-opening
After purchasing the land surrounding the line at Edge Green in 2011, PF Jones Ltd worked with Hansons to restore the Kelbit line off the Haydock Branch Curve. The Kelbit line was reopened in 2018 and is used by Heidelberg (formerly Hanson) to transfer raw materials from Shap Quarry, Cumbria to distribute across the north west.
Between and Golborne and Glazebrook High Speed 2 proposed use of an alignment similar to the disused line in Phase 2b.[7] This "Golborne Link" was removed from HS2 plans before the northern leg was abandoned by the Conservative government in 2023.
