Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway

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Liverpool, St Helens and
South Lancashire Railway
Overview
Status closed
Locale North West England
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map
1900-1968
St Helens Central (GCR)
Cowley Hill Works
St Helens Central
St Helens and
Haydock
Runcorn Gap Railway
Haydock Colliery Tunnel
Old Boston Colliery
Ashton-in-
Makerfield
Haydock Park
Garswood Hall Colliery
Golborne Colliery
Edge Green Colliery
Golborne South
West Coast Main Line
Golborne North
Wigan Junction Railways
Lowton St Mary's
Liverpool to
Kenyon Junction
Manchester Lines
Culcheth
Liverpool to
Newchurch Halt
Risley Factory
Liverpool to
Glazebrook
Manchester Lines
From 1968
Haydock Oil 1968-83
ex-Old Boston Colliery
Lowton Metals 1963-87
Ashton-in-
Race Traffic 1975
Makerfield
ex-Haydock Park
ex-Garswood Hall Colliery
Golborne Colly 1880-1989
Kelbit 1987-
Haydock Branch Curve
Golborne South
West Coast Main Line
ex-Golborne North
Wigan Junction Railways
ex-Lowton St Mary's

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]

History

The original intention was to connect to the Cheshire Lines Committee North Liverpool Extension Line at Fazakerley junction, to form a route to Huskisson Dock and Southport, but nothing ever came of the scheme west of St Helens.

Route

The line ran from St Helens Central (GCR) railway station to Lowton St Mary's[3] after which the route to Glazebrook was via the Wigan Junction Railways.

Closure

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 (bridge over the WCML 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, Ashton
  • 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 Kelbit site taken over by Hanson as their "Ashton" plant

In 2015 very occasional trains still served the Hanson plant.

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.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Sweeney 2014, pp. 5-18
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Sources

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links


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