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Wigan North Western railway station

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

Wigan North Western
National Rail
The station building on platform 4, the main southbound platform, in 2015
General information
LocationWigan, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
England
Coordinates53°32′35″N 2°37′55″W / 53.5430°N 2.6320°W / 53.5430; -2.6320
Grid referenceSD581053
Managed byAvanti West Coast
Transit authorityGreater Manchester
Platforms6 (5 in use)
Other information
Station codeWGN
Fare zoneGreater Manchester Rail Zone 3
ClassificationDfT category B
History
Original companyNorth Union Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
31 October 1838 (1838-10-31)Opened as Wigan
2 June 1924Renamed Wigan North Western
Passengers
2018/19Increase 1.683 million
 Interchange Increase 1.265 million
2019/20Decrease 1.604 million
 Interchange Increase 1.347 million
2020/21Decrease 0.386 million
 Interchange Decrease 0.259 million
2021/22Increase 1.168 million
 Interchange Increase 0.970 million
2022/23Increase 1.183 million
 Interchange Decrease 0.695 million
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

It is a moderately-sized station on the West Coast Main Line. It is operated by Avanti West Coast, and is also served by Northern Trains.

Wigan's other station is Wigan Wallgate, which is about 110 yards (100 m) away, on the opposite side of the street named Wallgate, for services to Manchester (Victoria, Deansgate, Oxford Road & Piccadilly), Southport and Kirkby. Both stations are centrally located on the southern fringe of Wigan town centre. The station is named North Western, not because of its location but because it formerly belonged to the London and North Western Railway. The drop in usage figures for Wigan North Western in 2006/07 was due to the adjustment of the allocation between the town's two stations. In 2009 North Western station was identified as one of the ten worst category B interchange stations for mystery shopper assessment of fabric and environment[1] and was set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements.[2]

History

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The Wigan Branch Railway opened between the Liverpool and Manchester Railway on 3 September 1832 at Parkside Junction (in 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.[3]

The North Union Railway opened between Wigan and Preston and connected with the line from Parkside on 31 October 1838. Wigan station was relocated to its present position.

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 1846. In collaboration with the Caledonian Railway, through trains were introduced between London Euston and Glasgow.

On 2 August 1873, a major accident occurred at the station. 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.[4]

1888–1894: The station was substantially enlarged. The London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway connected with the North Union Railway at Springs Branch, and services to Manchester Exchange via Tyldesley which began in September 1864, terminated at the enlarged station. This line closed in 1969.

It was renamed from "Wigan" to "Wigan North Western" on 2 June 1924.[5]

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.

On 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.

On 6 May 1974, the West Coast electrification project was complete and electric trains operated through to Glasgow by British Rail.

Withdrawn passenger services

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Lines around Wigan in 1907
 
The station in 1957

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:

Trains departed northwards before diverging from the main line at Boar's Head Junction, 2+1⁄4 miles (3.6 km) 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. Until at least 1963 a "private" non-advertised return passenger service was operated for workers at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton.[note 1]
  • Manchester (Exchange) via Tyldesley (local stopping passenger service withdrawn 1962, with some remaining non-stopping local services withdrawn in January 1968: some expresses continuing until May 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 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) along the main line before diverging onto the Tyldesley line at Springs Branch Junction. In fact the timings of the non-stop express trains were such that trains between Manchester Exchange and Wigan could (and did) take the (longer) route via Lowton.
  • 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

There are proposals to re-open some of the closed local stations (e.g. Golborne), but none have been approved as of 2018.[6][7]

Wigan Central

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Main article: Wigan Central railway station

Wigan had a third station: Wigan Central which has been demolished.

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.

Platform layout

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  • Platform 1 is used for some services to Stalybridge via Bolton and Manchester Victoria on Sundays.
  • Platform 2 was a bay platform but is no longer in use after platform 3 was extended at the end of 2020.[8] The track serving it has been lifted and the face fenced off.
  • Platform 3 is a bay platform, used by early morning and late evening Northern services to Manchester Victoria and Leeds via Walkden and the Calder Valley (as the December 2022 timetable rerouted Wigan to Leeds services to operate from Wigan Wallgate), Sunday services to Manchester Victoria via Bolton and as a reversing siding allowing trains and locomotives for Springs Branch depot to approach from and leave south of the depot as it can only be entered from the north.
  • Platform 4 is used for Avanti West Coast services to London Euston and Birmingham New Street and Northern Trains services to Manchester Airport and the express service 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 to terminate Merseyrail's City Line services arriving from the Liverpool–Wigan line which is operated by Northern Trains and also rarely used for Avanti services if no other platforms are available.

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

Services

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The Northern Electrics Class 319 service operating the Merseyrail City Line from Liverpool, introduced in May 2015

Avanti West Coast

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Avanti West Coast, who manage the station, operate services on the West Coast Main Line. An hourly service runs fast to London Euston calling at Warrington Bank Quay and London Euston off-peak. An hourly service also runs northbound to Glasgow Central, with some additional peak services terminating at Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle. The journey time from London is less than two hours (1 hour and 55 minutes).[9]

It is also served by Avanti West Coast's hourly services to/from London Euston via Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street and Coventry that use the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line rather than the direct route to London which uses the Trent Valley line. In the northbound direction, 2 trains per day (tpd) run northbound to Blackpool North, 6 tpd to Glasgow Central and 7 tpd run to Edinburgh Waverley (alternating hours).

Avanti West Coast services southbound towards London Euston and northbound to Preston and Scotland are operated by electric Class 390 Pendolino trains.

Northern

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Northern Trains operates a half-hourly local stopping 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.[10] There is also an hourly service from Liverpool which continues north along the West Coast Main Line to Blackpool North. On Sundays, the Liverpool – Wigan services do not run with the hourly Blackpool North – Liverpool Lime Street services calling at the smaller intermediate stations on the route to Liverpool.

Northern also operated one electric hourly service per hour each way between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport between May 2018 & May 2019.[11] Between May 2019 and December 2022, this was replaced by an hourly diesel service between Manchester Airport and Lancaster, with most trains continuing on to either Barrow-in-Furness or Windermere. In December 2022, the Manchester Airport to Lancaster services reverted to their previous route via Chorley thus ceasing to serve Wigan. These services were replaced by limited weekday peak-only fast services to Manchester Victoria calling only at Eccles.[12] These were mainly operated by new Class 195 Civity units, whilst the electric variants (Class 331s) have started to appear on Liverpool services since Summer 2019.

In the May 2018 timetable change, two trains per hour were introduced to/from Bolton - one to Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge, the other to Manchester Piccadilly and thence Alderley Edge via Stockport. These ran on weekdays only - weekend trains were replaced by buses until November 2018 due to ongoing electrification work on the Manchester–Preston line through Bolton and Salford Crescent. From the December 2019 timetable change, most weekday services to/from Manchester via Hindley reverted to their previous route via Wallgate, with just a few trains starting or finishing here in the morning and both peak periods. From December 2020 until December 2022 however, the hourly service from Leeds started & terminated here once more throughout the day (save for a few peak period services). Most services via Hindley towards Manchester now run from Wigan Wallgate station. An hourly service operates on Sundays to Stalybridge via Manchester Victoria.

TransPennine Express

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With completion of the first stage of the North West electrification programme, most TransPennine Express services between Manchester and Scotland were re-routed via Wigan instead of Bolton by connecting with the West Coast Main Line near Newton-le-Willows. TransPennine Express now operates services between Manchester Airport and Scotland. These services no longer call at Wigan North Western and have been re-routed via Bolton now that the line is electrified (work finally being completed in early 2019 ahead of the spring timetable update).

Former services

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The single London Midland service from Birmingham New Street to Preston that used to call in the evening was withdrawn at the end of the 2007–08 timetable.

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Avanti West Coast
Northern Trains
Northern Trains
TerminusNorthern Trains
Wigan North Western - Liverpool Lime Street
Northern Trains
Wigan North Western - Leeds
(Limited service)
Northern Trains
Wigan North Western - Manchester Victoria
(Limited service)
TransPennine Express
Disused railways
Bryn   London and North Western Railway
Lancashire Union Railway 		  Boar's Head

Future train services

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Under HS2 and government proposals' high-speed trains would stop at the station from Glasgow before joining the new HS2 line south of Wigan to Birmingham and London.[13]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ PSUL 1963: 6:33 am SX Wigan North Western—Chorley R.O.F. Halt and return at 4:29 pm SX Chorley R.O.F. Halt—Wigan North Western

References

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  1. ^ Green, Chris; Hall, Sir Peter (1 November 2009). "Better Railway Stations - An Independent Review Presented to Lord Adonis". p. 117. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  2. ^ "£50m revamp for 'worst stations'". BBC News. 17 November 2009. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  3. ^ Sweeney, Dennis (2008). The Wigan Branch Railway. Triangle Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-9550030-35.
  4. ^ "The Wigan Railway Accident". The Bradford Observer. 9 August 1873. p. 8. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.  
  5. ^ 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. p. 250. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  6. ^ "Calls for stations to be reinstated". Wigan Today. 25 April 2008. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Town is forgotten by HS2 - A town in the borough is fast becoming 'forgotten" by HS2, according to its MP". Wigan Today. 12 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  8. ^ Holden, Michael (2 September 2020). "Wigan North Western station set for platform extension work". Rail Advent. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  9. ^ Table 65 National Rail timetable, Dec 2022.
  10. ^ Table 90 National Rail timetable, May 2019
  11. ^ Table 82 National Rail timetable, May 2018
  12. ^ Table 82 National Rail timetable, Dec 2022
  13. ^ "HS 2 – Phase Two". propertyexpertonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2015. Describes details of the junction south of Wigan, and HS2 stations are identified in the accompanying map.

Bibliography

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  • Holt, G.O. (1986). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain – vol.10 The North West. David & Charles. ISBN 0-946537-34-8.
  • Nock, O.S. (1974). Electric Euston to Glasgow. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0530-3.
  • Sweeney, D.J. (1996). A Lancashire Triangle – Part 1. Triangle Publishing. ISBN 0-9529333-0-6.
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