Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway

The Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, was formed in 1889, but no services ran until 1895 and then only freight. Passenger services did not start until 1900. It incorporated the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway.^[1] It was taken over by the Great Central Railway in 1906.^[2]

Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway
Overview
Status	closed
Locale	North West England
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Legend 1900–1968 St Helens Central (GCR) Cowley Hill Works St Helens Central St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway Haydock Haydock Colliery Tunnel Old Boston Colliery Ashton-in-Makerfield Haydock Park Garswood Hall Colliery Golborne Colliery Edge Green Colliery Golborne South West Coast Main Line Golborne North Wigan Junction Railways Lowton St Mary's Liverpool– Manchester lines Kenyon Junction Culcheth Newchurch Halt Risley Factory Liverpool– Manchester lines Glazebrook From 1968 to St Helens Central Haydock Colliery Tunnel Haydock Oil 1968–83 Old Boston Colliery 1963–1987 Lowton Metals Ashton-in- Makerfield Race Traffic 1975 Haydock Park Garswood Hall Colliery 1880–1989 Golborne Colliery Haydock Branch curve Kelbit 1987– Golborne South West Coast Main Line Golborne North to Glazebrook

History

St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1885
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	48 & 49 Vict. c. cxxi
Text of statute as originally enacted

St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1886
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	50 Vict. c. xxxiii
Text of statute as originally enacted

St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1889
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	52 & 53 Vict. c. xci
Text of statute as originally enacted

Liverpool, St. Helens and South Lancashire Railway Act 1891
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to extend the time for the compulsory purchase of lands for certain railways authorised by the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1885 and the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1886 and to provide for the issue of preference or guaranteed shares or stock and for other purposes.
Citation	54 & 55 Vict. c. cxv
Dates
Royal assent	21 July 1891
Text of statute as originally enacted

The railway was incorporated by the St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. cxxi) and the St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1886 (50 Vict. c. xxxiii) to enable the construction of a line from St Helens to Lowton (eight miles) and St Helens to Liverpool (ten miles). The lines had share capital of £210,000 and £340,000 respectively. The first sod was cut on 25 January 1888 by the Earl of Derby on the site of what became St Helens Central railway station (Great Central Railway). In July 1889, the St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. xci) extended the completion time until July 1893. The opening ceremony took place on 2 January 1900.^[3]

The original intention was to connect to the Cheshire Lines Committee North Liverpool Extension Line at Fazakerley junction, to form a route to Huskisson Dock and Southport, but nothing ever came of the scheme west of St Helens.

Henry Seton-Karr was chairman of the railway at its opening.^[4]

Route

The line ran from St Helens Central (GCR) railway station to Lowton St Mary's.^[5]

Closure

The line closed to passengers in 1952. It was reduced in stages as freight traffic ebbed and flowed. The key milestones were:

• 1965 line closed and lifted west of Lowton Metals, Ashton (inclusive).
• 1968 line reinstated west of Lowton Metals to serve a new oil depot at Haydock
• 1968 new "Haydock Branch Curve" built to connect the line to the WCML north of Golborne
• 1968 line east of the new connection closed and lifted (the bridge over the WCML was removed in 1971)
• 1975 passenger trains ran to five race meetings, using Ashton station, experiment not repeated
• 1983 Haydock oil depot traffic lost to road, line cut back to Lowton Metals, Haydock.
• 1987 Lowton Metals ceased trading, line cut back to Golborne Colliery headshunt
• 1987 Kelbit opened rail-served business at Edge Green, using trackbed of Edge Green Colliery branch
• 1989 Golborne Colliery closed, line cut back to headshunt for the Kelbit traffic
• after 2000 the Kelbit site was taken over by Hanson as their "Ashton" plant
• In 2011 the site was purchased by PF Jones Ltd and began work to restore the Kelbit rail line

In 2015 very occasional trains still served the Hanson plant.

On 7 March 2015 an enthusiasts' excursion titled "Sabrina's Tea Train" traversed the line.^[6]

A quarter-mile headshunt which ends at bufferstops approx 50 yards east of Bridge 13 over Edge Green Lane is the sole remaining section of the original route in use.

Re-opening

After purchasing the land surrounding the line at Edge Green in 2011, PF Jones Ltd worked with Hansons to restore the Kelbit line off the Haydock Branch Curve. The Kelbit line was reopened in 2018 and is used by Heidelberg (formerly Hanson) to transfer raw materials from Shap Quarry, Cumbria to distribute across the north west.

Between and Golborne and Glazebrook High Speed 2 proposed use of an alignment similar to the disused line in Phase 2b.^[7] This "Golborne Link" was removed from HS2 plans before the northern leg was abandoned by the Conservative government in 2023.

References

1. "St. Helens Central Station". Disused Stations. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
2. Sweeney 2014, pp. 5–18
3. "Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway". Lancashire Faces & Places. 1 (6): 94–96. June 1901.
4. "Mr Henry Seton-Karr, MP". Lancashire Faces & Places. 1 (6): 86. June 1901.
5. "Lowton St. Mary's Station". Disused Stations. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
6. The Railtour Files, via SixBellsJunction
7. "HS2 Phase 2b: Lowton to Bamfurlong route key plan" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2020.

Sources

• Sweeney, Dennis J (2014). The St. Helens and Wigan Junction Railway. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 0-85361-292-7.

External links

• Haydock Branch Jct and Kelbit via Wigan World