Ashton-in-Makerfield railway station

Ashton-in-Makerfield
General information
Location	Haydock, St Helens England
Coordinates	53.47975°N 2.63915°W / 53.47975; -2.63915
Grid reference	SJ577983
Platforms	2[1][2]
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[3]	Station opened for goods
3 January 1900[4]	Station opened for passengers
3 March 1952[5]	Closed to regular traffic
After 4 October 1975	Closed to racecourse traffic[6]

v t e GCR lines to St Helens and Wigan
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

Ashton-in-Makerfield railway station was a railway station serving the town of Ashton-in-Makerfield, although it was located in the neighbouring village of Haydock, formerly in Lancashire (now Merseyside), England.^[7][8]

The station was located where Lodge Lane (A49) crossed the Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway line from Lowton St Mary's to the original St Helens Central railway station.^[9][10]

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 at the Grouping of 1923. The line and station passed to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, but was transferred to the London Midland Region later that year.

Services

In 1922 five "down" (towards St Helens) trains called at the station, on Mondays to Saturdays. These called at all stations from Manchester Central to St Helens via Glazebrook and Culcheth. No trains called on Sundays.^[11]

By 1948 four trains plied between St Helens Central and Manchester Central, calling at all stations, Monday to Friday, reduced to three on Saturdays. No trains called on Sundays.^[12]

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.^[13]

Closure and afterlife

The station was closed to passengers by the British Railways Board in 1952.

From 1952 until 5 October 1963 some race day specials to Haydock Park had deposited their passengers at the racecourse then travelled to St Helens for servicing, turning and to await their turn to return in the evening.^[14] Others did the same at Ashton-in-Makerfield.^[15][16][14] A more recent source states that the last such trains ran on 4 January 1965.^[17]

Enthusiasts' railtours travelled the line on 29 September 1956^[18][19] and 21 September 1963.^[20][21]

The final such tour visited the station on 24 August 1968.^[22][23][24] Although a last, this tour was also a first, being the first passenger train over a new connection between the line to Ashton and the WCML at the new "Haydock Branch Junction" north of Golborne, which had opened on 22 April 1968.^[25][26] By providing this connection the line between Edge Green and Lowton St Mary's could be abandoned and, in particular, its bridge over the to-be-electrified WCML could be removed. This occurred in 1971.^[27]

Services to and through Ashton finally ended in 1988, but its last years were not mere decline. Two services used the station and one passed through it. In 1963 Lowton Metals started to use the station's goods yard as a rail-served base for its scrap metal business. This traffic ended in 1987.^[28][29] In July 1968 the line to the west was reopened to serve a new oil distribution depot at Haydock. This traffic continued until 1983.^[27] In 1975 an experiment was conducted in reviving race traffic, using Ashton station instead of Haydock Park. Special trains were run to at least five meetings, but the experiment was not continued.^[30]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Haydock Park Line and station closed		Great Central Railway Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway		Haydock Line and station closed

The site today

The station site has been landscaped as part of a business park.

References

1. Pixton 1996, p. 122
2. Fields, Gilbert & Knight 1980, Photo 123
3. Dow 1965, p. 10
4. Dow 1965, pp. 9–12
5. James 2004, p. 24.
6. Sweeney 2014, p. 71
7. The station on a 1948 OS Map via npe Maps
8. Jowett 2000, Map 60.
9. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45
10. Station and line SOH via railwaycodes
11. Bradshaw 1985, pp. 714–5
12. "Disused Stations: St. Helens Central Station". disused-stations.org.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
13. Sweeney 2014, pp. 105–115.
14. "Disused Stations: Haydock Park Racecourse Station". disused-stations.org.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
15. Tolson 1982, p. 123.
16. Sweeney 2014, p. 61.
17. Sweeney 2014, p. 70.
18. Railtours via sixbellsjunction
19. Sweeney 2014, p. 98.
20. Railtours via sixbellsjunction
21. Sweeney 2014, p. 31.
22. Makerfield Miner railtour via sixbellsjunction
23. "Disused Stations: Ashton-in-Makerfield Station". disused-stations.org.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
24. Sweeney 2014, p. 91.
25. The new connection HOB2 via railwaycodes
26. Yonge, Padgett & Szwenk 2013, map 26C
27. Sweeney 2014, p. 80.
28. Shannon & Hillmer 2003, p. 103
29. Haydock Park traffic via Disused Stations
30. Sweeney 2014, p. 71.

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.
• Fields, N; Gilbert, A C; Knight, N R (1980), Liverpool to Manchester into the Second Century, Manchester Transport Museum Society, ISBN 978-0-900857-19-5
• James, David (2004), Lancashire's Lost Railways, Stenlake Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84033-288-9
• 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
• Sweeney, Dennis J (2014). The St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85361-292-6.
• Tolson, J.M. (1982). St. Helens railway : its rivals and successors. Usk: Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-292-6.
• Yonge, John; Padgett, David; Szwenk, John (2013). Gerald Jacobs (ed.). British Rail Track Diagrams - Book 4: London Midland Region (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-7-4. OCLC 880581044.

External links

• Ashton in Makerfield at Disused Stations
• The station on an 1888-1913 Overlay OS Map via National Library of Scotland
• 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 HOB2 via railwaycodes