Golborne North railway station

Golborne North
The site of the station in 2017
General information
Location	Golborne, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan England
Coordinates	53°29′08″N2°35′35″W / 53.485601°N 2.593035°W / 53.485601; -2.593035
Grid reference	SJ607989
Platforms	2 [1]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London 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 1949	Renamed "Golborne North"
3 March 1952	Station closed completely [4]
Location

v t e GCR lines to St Helens and Wigan
Legend
Wigan Central Wigan Darlington Street Springs Branch Manchester–Southport line Ince Lower Ince Wigan avoiding line to Pemberton Hindley to Springs Branch Junction Manchester–Southport line Lancashire Union Railway Lancashire Union Railway "The Whelley Loop" Strangeways West Junction Hindley South Strangeways East Junction Platt Bridge Manchester and Wigan Railway St Helens Central (GCR) St Helens Central Liverpool–Wigan line Haydock Haydock Colliery Tunnel Bickershaw and Abram Ashton-in-Makerfield Haydock Park Park Lane Halt Golborne South West Coast Main Line Golborne North West Leigh and Bedford Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway Wigan Junction Railways Lowton St Mary's Junction Lowton St Mary's Chat Moss line Kenyon Junction Culcheth Newchurch Halt Liverpool–Manchester lines Glazebrook

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 British Railways 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 1985, p. 10.
3. Dow 1985, pp. 9–12.
4. 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 (1985) [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.

External links

• The station in Disused Stations UK
• The station on an 1888-1913 Overlay OS Map in National Library of Scotland
• 1949 services in Disused Stations UK
• The station on a 1948 OS Map in npe Maps
• The station and line overlain on many maps in Rail Map Online
• Station and line HOB1 in Railway Codes