Haydock
General information
LocationHaydock, St Helens
England
Coordinates53°27′57″N 2°40′19″W / 53.465750°N 2.671916°W / 53.465750; -2.671916
Grid referenceSJ555967
Platforms2[1][2][3][4]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLiverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Central Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
1 July 1895[5]Station opened for goods
3 January 1900[6]Station opened for passengers
1930-38Down platform closed
1944Closed for goods[7]
3 March 1952[8]Station closed completely[9]

Haydock railway station served the village of Haydock, formerly in Lancashire, now in Merseyside, England.[10][11]

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 where it was crossed by what is now the A599 in the centre of the village.[12][13]

East of the station was the 99 yards (91 m) Haydock Colliery Tunnel, the only tunnel on the line. It was built at the railway's expense using the 'cut and cover' method.[14] Its sole purpose was to burrow beneath Haydock Colliery's tracks.

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 line and station passed to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, being transferred to the London Midland Region later that year.

The line through the station was originally double track and the station had two platforms. In the 1930s the down (St Helens-bound) track was changed into a long siding and all trains to and from St Helens used the up line. The station's down side shelter and signs were removed.[15]

Services

In 1922 five "down" (towards St Helens) trains called at the station, Mondays to Saturdays. These called at all stations from Manchester Central to St Helens via Glazebrook and Culcheth. The "up" service was similar.[16]

By 1948 four trains plied between St Helens Central and Manchester Central, calling at all stations, Monday to Friday, reduced to three on Saturdays.[17]

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.[18]

Closure

The station was closed to passenger traffic by the British Railways Board in 1952, though goods traffic through to St Helens lingered on until 1965, when the tracks west of Ashton-in-Makerfield were abandoned. A short stretch from Ashton through the Haydock station site to a new Shell distribution depot was reinstated in 1968. This ceased being rail-served in 1983,[19] whereafter the line was cut back to Lowton Metals' scrapyard at Ashton.[3] Tracks were eventually lifted.

The site today

By 2003 modern housing had obliterated the station site.[3]

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Line and station closed		   Great Central Railway
Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway		   St Helens Central (GCR)
Line and station closed

References

  1. ↑ Dow 1965, p. 11.
  2. ↑ Pixton 1996, p. 124.
  3. 1 2 3 Shannon & Hillmer 2003, p. 104.
  4. ↑ Suggitt 2004, p. 59.
  5. ↑ Dow 1965, p. 10
  6. ↑ Dow 1965, pp. 9–12
  7. ↑ Sweeney 2014, p. 38
  8. ↑ Pixton 1996, p. 125
  9. ↑ The station via Disused Stations UK
  10. ↑ The station on a 1948 OS Map via npe Maps
  11. ↑ Jowett 2000, Map 60.
  12. ↑ Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45
  13. ↑ Station and line HOB3 via railwaycodes
  14. ↑ Sweeney 2014, pp. 46–47
  15. ↑ Sweeney 2014, pp. 39 & 40
  16. ↑ Bradshaw 1985, pp. 714–5
  17. ↑ The station via Disused Stations UK
  18. ↑ Sweeney 2014, pp. 105–115
  19. ↑ Sweeney 2014, p. 59,

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 (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). Widnes and St. Helens Railways. Stroud: Chalford Publishing Co. 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 978-09550030-6-6
  • Suggitt, Gordon (2004). Lost Railways of Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85306-869-0.
  • Sweeney, Dennis J (2014). The St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85361-292-6.
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