Wigan Central railway station

Lines around Wigan in 1907

Wigan Central railway station was a railway station near the centre of Wigan, Lancashire, England.

GCR Lines to St Helens and Wigan
Legend
Wigan Central Wigan Darlington Street Springs Branch Ince Lower Ince Hindley Southport to M'cr Pemberton, avoiding Wigan Springs Branch Jct "The Whelley Loop" (Lancashire Union Rly) Strangeways West Jct Hindley South Strangeways East Jct Platt Bridge Manchester & Wigan Rly Bickershaw and Abram Park Lane Halt West Leigh and Bedford St Helens Central (GCR) St Helens Central Liverpool to Wigan Line Haydock Haydock Colliery Tunnel Ashton-in-Makerfield Haydock Park Golborne South WCML Golborne North LSH&SLR WJR Lowton St Mary's Jct Lowton St Mary's Kenyon Junction Chat Moss Line Culcheth Newchurch Halt Glazebrook Liverpool-M'cr CLC

Location and construction

Wigan Central station was on Station Road, some way from the two main stations (North Western and Wallgate) which are on the western edge of the town centre.^[4]

Wigan Central was the eventual terminus of the Wigan Junction Railways from Glazebrook West Junction.^[5][6] It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later to become the Great Central) and opened on 3 October 1892, when it replaced the temporary Wigan Darlington Street terminus, which had opened on 1 April 1884. Central was about a third of a mile nearer the town centre than Darlington Street.

Operations

According to Beeching's Reshaping of British Railways (see Appendix Passenger Line Usage Map) the line was more heavily used than many which did not close, however, as with many unmodernised and heavily used commuter lines it was deemed uneconomic. The line's main passenger traffic was workers travelling from the Wigan area to industrial plants in Cadishead and Partington and around the docks in Salford and Manchester; until the late 1970s the Lancashire United bus company operated a replacement bus service from Wigan to Partington.

Steam remained the dominant motive power to the end of services,^[7] though some DMUs made an appearance.^[8][9]

Services

The service patterns in 1895, 1947 and 1962 are fully documented in the authoritative Disused Stations website.^[10]

In April 1884 the service pattern to Wigan (Darlington Street temporary terminus) was straightforward. Seven "Down" trains arrived from Manchester Central, one "express" called at Glazebrook only and three called at All Stations. The remaining threr missed some stations between Manchester and Glazebrook. With the exception of the "express" all trains called at all stations between Glazebrook and Wigan. The "Up" service was similar.^[11]

In 1922 six "Down" trains arrived, All Stations from Manchester Central on "Weekdays" (Mondays to Saturdays), with a further evening train from Lowton St Mary's only. Three other trains arrived, apparently All Stations from Culcheth, but it is possible they originated at Liverpool Central and turned west to north at Glazebrook West Junction. One of these trains ran on Fridays and Saturdays Only and the other two ran on Saturdays Only. The "Up" service was broadly similar, but the mix of Saturday Only trains was even more complicated. There was no Sunday service.^[12]

Closure and after

The station closed to passengers on 2 November 1964 and closed to all traffic the following April. It was demolished in 1973.^[13][14] The Grand Arcade Shopping Centre was built between 2006 and 2008 on the station site, of which no trace remains.^[15]

See also

• List of closed railway stations in Britain
• Wigan North Western railway station
• Wigan Wallgate railway station
• Liverpool, St Helens & South Lancashire Railway
• Old railway lines in Wigan

References

Sources

• Bradshaw (1986) [1922]. Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide (reprint). Guild Publishing London. 
• Butt, R. V. J. (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 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 
• Cooke, B.W.C. (December 1964). Cooke, B.W.C., ed. "Panorama". The Railway Magazine (London: Tothill Press Ltd) 110 (764). 
• Dow, George (1962). Great Central, Volume Two: Dominion of Watkin, 1864-1899. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1469-8. 
• Fields, N; Gilbert, A C; Knight, N R (1980), Liverpool to Manchester into the Second Century, Manchester Transport Museum Society, ISBN 0 900857 19 6 
• James, David (2004), Lancashire's Lost Railways, Stenlake Publishing, ISBN 1 84033 288 3 
• Shannon, Paul; Hillmer, John (2003). British Railways Past and Present, Manchester and South Lancashire No 41. Kettering: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1 85895 197 6. 
• Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012), Railway Atlas Then and Now, Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 978 0 7110 3695 6 
• Sweeney, Dennis (2013). The Wigan Junction Railways. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 978-09550030-5-9. 

External links

• The station via Disused Stations UK
• The station on a 1948 OS Map via npe maps
• The station on a 1888-1913 OS map via National Library of Scotland
• The line and mileages via railwaycodes