Skelmersdale railway station

Skelmersdale
Location
Place	Skelmersdale
Area	West Lancashire
Coordinates	53°33′02″N 2°48′38″W / 53.5506°N 2.8105°W / 53.5506; -2.8105Coordinates: 53°33′02″N 2°48′38″W / 53.5506°N 2.8105°W / 53.5506; -2.8105
Grid reference	SD464063
Operations
Line	Skelmersdale Branch
Original company	East Lancashire Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
History
1 March 1858	Opened as Blaguegate
1 August 1874	Renamed Skelmersdale
5 November 1956	Closed (passenger services)
4 November 1963	Closed (all services)
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Skelmersdale railway station was a station located on the Skelmersdale Branch at Skelmersdale, England. The station was originally named Blague Gate, having its name changed to Skelmersdale on 8 August 1874 and carried passengers from 1858 to 1956.^[1]

History

The station was one of several built by the East Lancashire Railway on their branch line from Ormskirk to Rainford Junction. It opened on 1 March 1858, but after a year became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway system when the ELR was taken over by that company. The station consisted of two platforms with the main building on the northbound side. A wooden signal box was provided to control the adjacent level crossing, passing loop and nearby goods yard. The line towards Ormskirk was subsequently doubled in 1875, the year after the station was renamed.

Throughout its life the route operated as a self-contained branch, though connections were available for Preston, Liverpool & Blackpool at Ormskirk and for St Helens Central, Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria at Rainford. The service was also generous, with the L&Y running a steam railmotor service of 19 trains per day in each direction from 1906. A similar pattern continued after the route became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in January 1923, but increasing road competition after World War II and the subsequent nationalisation of the railways in 1948 saw traffic levels decline.

The station was closed to passenger traffic by the British Transport Commission on 5 November 1956,^[2] with the line south to Rainford closing completely on 16 November 1961 and the rest on 4 November 1963, when goods traffic at the station ceased.^[3] The track was lifted in 1968 and station was demolished soon afterwards; the B5312 road (known as Railway Road) now passes through the site.

Ironically this was done just as the town was undergoing a significant increase in population levels and associated housing development, having been designated as one of the second wave of new towns in 1961 (it was chosen, along with Runcorn as an overspill town for Liverpool).

Re-opening proposals

There have been proposals made to reopen Skelmerdale railway station, which would require three-mile rail restoration.^[4] In January 2009, the Liverpool Echo newspaper reported that recommendations have been put to councillors to endorse the £60m plan to build a new railway station in Skelmersdale, reconnecting the town with Liverpool.^[5]

In June 2009, the Association of Train Operating Companies, in its Expanding Access to the Rail Network report, called for funding for the reopening of this station as part of a £500m scheme to open 33 stations on 14 lines closed in the Beeching Axe, including seven new parkway stations.^[6] The report proposes extending the line from Ormskirk by laying 3 miles of new single track along the previous route to the town, at a cost estimated to be in the region of £31million. The route is largely intact, though a deviation north of Westhead would be required. The proposed station would be on the north west corner of town near the Skelmersdale Ring Road, right next to where the old station once was.^[7] A feasibility study on the project jointly funded by Merseytravel, Merseyrail, Lancashire County Council & West Lancs Borough Council is due to begin in the autumn of 2013.^[8]

References

External links

• Description on Disused stations
• The coming of the railway