Wigan North Western railway station

Wigan North Western
General information
Location	Wigan
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Platforms	6
Other information
Station code	WGN
History
Opened	(on present site) 1838 Rebuilt 1971- 72

Wigan North Western railway station is one of two main railway stations serving the town of Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.

It is a moderately-sized station on the West Coast Main Line. It is operated by Virgin Trains, and is also served by Northern Rail. London Midland offer a daily service to Preston during the evening rush hour on weekdays; this service also calls at Wigan.

Wigan's other main station is Wigan Wallgate, which is about 100 metres away, on the opposite side of the street named Wallgate. Both stations are centrally located on the southern fringe of Wigan town centre.

Description

The station was rebuilt in the early 1970s. The tracks are above street level and access to the six platforms is via a subway and stairs. Recently the goods lifts were modified to allow public access.

• Platform 1 is used for services to Manchester from the West Coast Mainline. This is used mostly for Transpennine Express services on Sundays.
• Platforms 2 and 3 are bay platforms, used by the few daily services to Manchester, and for trains unable to terminate at platform 6

Platform 4 is used for services to London Euston and Virgin Cross Country services to the west country, and express services to Liverpool Lime Street Platform 5 is for northbound services to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley. It is also used for services to Blackpool North and Barrow-in-Furness.

• Platform 6 is used by services arriving from the Liverpool-Wigan Line. Until recently the Liverpool services used platforms 2 and 3 while platform 6 was used infrequently. However, the construction of a new track between Wigan North Western and the junction of the line from Liverpool via St Helens has eliminated the need for these trains to cross the busy West Coast Main Line.

The platforms have heated waiting rooms. The British Transport Police have an office on platform 4 near the station's cafe.

Services

The station is served by Virgin Trains. There is an hourly service on the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, which continues northwards to Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow Central. There is also an hourly service in the opposite direction generally calling at Warrington Bank Quay, Crewe, Milton Keynes Central, Watford Junction and finally London Euston. It is also served by Virgin's services from Birmingham New Street to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh. There is also London Midland's new service from Birmingham New Street to Preston, currently one train per day.

Northern Rail operates a half-hourly local service from Liverpool Lime Street, along the Liverpool-Wigan Line via St Helens Central with a handful of services running to Liverpool via the Lowton Chord and Newton-le-Willows. There is also an hourly service from Liverpool which continues north along the West Coast Main Line to Preston, then usually on to Blackpool North (although some run to Morecambe or Barrow-in-Furness). Northern Rail also operates occasional services to Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly. In recent years, most services from Manchester have used Wigan Wallgate station.

Northern Rail services are operated by a mix of Pacer and Sprinter units. London Midland use a Class 350 EMU for their service to Preston.

Virgin Trains services southwards to London Euston and northwards to Carlisle and Glasgow are always operated by electric Pendolino trains. Other destinations are served by diesel Voyager units.

History

Key dates

3 September 1832	The Wigan Junction Railway opened between the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Parkside Junction (near Newton-le-Willows) and Wigan. The original station in Wigan was located close to Chapel Lane, and three trains per day were provided, connecting with the Liverpool and Manchester trains at Parkside.
31 October 1838	The North Union Railway opened between Wigan and Preston and connected with the line from Parkside. Wigan station was relocated to its present position.
1846	The London and North Western Railway was formed as a result of the progressive amalgamation of various earlier lines, including the Grand Junction Railway. In collaboration with the Caledonian Railway, through trains were introduced between London Euston and Glasgow.
1 August 1873	A major accident occurred at Wigan North Western. An overnight express from London to Scotland derailed while passing through the station at high speed. 13 people died and 30 were badly injured. The subsequent inquiry into the accident resulted in the introduction of facing point locks to passenger-carrying lines throughout the UK.
1888 - 1894	The station was substantially enlarged.
July 1972	During 1971 and 1972, the run-down Victorian-era station buildings were demolished and the track layout re-modelled as a prelude to electrification. The re-built station was officially opened in July 1972.
1 October 1972	All signalling through Wigan North Western and adjacent sections of the West Coast main line came under the control of the new Warrington Power Signal Box. Two large signal boxes were closed - Wigan No.1 and Wigan No.2, which had controlled train movements at the south and north ends of station respectively.
23 July 1973	Electric train services began between London Euston and Preston, via Wigan North Western. Express trains, formerly hauled by one or two Class 50 diesels, were now powered by Class 86 or new Class 87 electrics.
6 May 1974	The West Coast electrification project was complete and electric trains operated through to Glasgow.

Withdrawn passenger services

Being located on the West Coast Main Line, Wigan North Western has retained regular trains to a wide range of destinations. However there were several local passenger services from the station which fell under the Beeching Axe and earlier, and the lines have since been closed:-

• Blackburn via Chorley (passenger service a pre-Beeching withdrawal in January 1960).
  Trains departed northwards before diverging from the main line at Boar’s Head Junction, 3.6km (2¼ miles) north of Wigan. From Boar’s Head, a line ran to Adlington where it joined the Manchester to Preston Line as far as Chorley. From Chorley another branch line ran to Cherry Tree station and joined the existing line from Preston to Blackburn. In addition to the local service, this route was also occasionally used by long distance trains when these were diverted over the Settle and Carlisle line.

• Manchester (Exchange) via Tyldesley (local passenger service withdrawn January 1968, with some expresses continuing until 1969).
  The line from Wigan to Manchester Exchange via Tyldesley and Eccles was the L&NWR’s route from Manchester to the north and Scotland. Before closure, this route was used both by local trains and by long-distance expresses between Manchester and destinations such as Windermere and Glasgow. Trains from Wigan North Western to Manchester Exchange travelled south for 2.2km (1½ miles) along the main line before diverging onto the Tyldesley line at Springs Branch Junction.

• Local Trains along main line
  Passenger services were provided to a number of smaller stations located along the main line. Except for Leyland and Balshaw Lane (which was reopened in 1998 as Euxton Balshaw Lane)) these stations are now closed. Closure of some of these smaller stations started before the Beeching report (for example Boar's Head and Bamfurlong in 1949 and Golborne in 1962) and was completed in the late 1960s.

Local trains called at:-

Northwards	Southwards
Boar’s Head	Bamfurlong
Standish Junction	Golborne
Coppull	Lowton
Balshaw Lane & Euxton	Newton-le-Willows
Leyland	Earlestown
Farington	Vulcan Halt
Preston	Warrington Bank Quay

• Note that the closed station at Balshaw Lane & Euxton was at a different location to the new station named Euxton Balshaw Lane, which opened in 1998.
• There are currently proposals to re-open some of the closed local stations (e.g Golborne), but none has been approved at this stage.

Other stations in Wigan

Wigan had a third station: Wigan Central.

Wigan Central was located in Station Road, still in the town centre but some way away from the two main stations (at North Western and Wallgate). It was a terminal station on the branch line to Glazebrook and on to Manchester Central.

Wigan Central was opened by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later to become the Great Central) in October 1892 and was closed to passengers in November 1964.

Historical References

• A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain – vol.10 The North West.  G.O.Holt, pub. David & Charles (1986) ISBN 0-946537-34-8

• Electric Euston to Glasgow.  O.S.Nock, pub. Ian Allan (1974) ISBN 0-7110-0530-3

• A Lancashire Triangle – Part 1.  D.J.Sweeney, pub. Triangle Publishing (1996) ISBN 0-9529333-0-6

See also

• Wigan Central railway station

External links

• Historic map of railways in Wigan

• Train times and station information for Wigan North Western railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Warrington Bank Quay		London Midland West Coast Main Line		Preston
Bryn		Northern Rail Liverpool to Wigan Line		Terminus
St. Helens Central		Northern Rail Blackpool-Liverpool Line		Euxton Balshaw Lane
Warrington Bank Quay		Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line		Preston
St Helens Central		Glasgow Trains Proposed Open-Access Operator		Oxenholme Lake District