Wigan North Western railway station

Wigan North Western railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is a moderately-sized station on the West Coast Main Line. It is operated by Virgin Trains, and is also served by Northern Rail. London Midland used to offer a daily service to Preston during the evening rush hour on weekdays which called here, but this was withdrawn at the end of the 2007-08 timetable.

Wigan's other station is Wigan Wallgate, which is about 110 yd away, on the opposite side of the street named Wallgate, for services to Manchester (Victoria, Deansgate, Oxford Road & Piccadilly), Southport and Kirkby. Both stations are centrally located on the southern fringe of Wigan town centre. The station is named North Western, not because it is situated in the North West of the town but because it was at one point operated by the London and North Western Railway (see below). The drop in usage figures for Wigan North Western in 2006/07 was due to the adjustment of the allocation between the town's two stations. In 2009 North Western station was identified as one of the ten worst category B interchange stations for mystery shopper assessment of fabric and environment, and was set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements.

Description
The station was rebuilt in the early 1970s to a contemporary functional style (see picture, right). The tracks are above street level and access to the six platforms is via a subway and stairs. Recently the goods lifts were modified to allow public use.
 * Platform 1 is used for services to Manchester from the West Coast Mainline. This is used mostly for Transpennine Express services on Sundays.
 * Platforms 2 and 3 are bay platforms, used by the few daily services to Manchester (frequent Manchester services serve Wigan Wallgate), and for trains unable to terminate at platform 6
 * Platform 4 is used for Virgin Trains services to London Euston and Birmingham New Street, and express services to Liverpool Lime Street
 * Platform 5 is for northbound services to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley. It is also used for services to Blackpool North and Barrow-in-Furness.
 * Platform 6 is used by services arriving from the Liverpool-Wigan Line. Until recently the Liverpool services used platforms 2 and 3 while platform 6 was used infrequently. However, the construction of a new track between Wigan North Western and the junction of the line from Liverpool via St Helens has eliminated the need for these trains to cross the busy West Coast Main Line.

The platforms have heated waiting rooms. The British Transport Police have an office on platform 4 near the station's cafe.

Services
The station is served by Virgin Trains. There is an hourly service on the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, which continues northwards to Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow Central. The journey time from London is less than two hours (1 hour and 55 minutes): see National timetable, table 65. There is also an hourly service in the opposite direction generally calling at Warrington Bank Quay and London Euston only (although certain trains call additionally at one of Crewe, Rugby or Milton Keynes Central). It is also served by Virgin's services from Birmingham New Street to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh. The single London Midland service from Birmingham New Street to Preston that used to call in the evening was withdrawn at the end of the 2007-8 timetable.

Northern Rail operates a half-hourly service from Liverpool Lime Street, along the Liverpool-Wigan Line via St Helens Central with a handful of services running to Liverpool via the Lowton Chord and Newton-le-Willows. There is also an hourly service from Liverpool which continues north along the West Coast Main Line to Preston, then usually on to Blackpool North. Northern Rail also operates occasional services to Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly. In recent years, most services from Manchester use Wigan Wallgate station.

Northern Rail services are operated by a mix of Pacer and Sprinter units. Virgin Trains services southwards to London Euston and northwards to Carlisle and Glasgow are always operated by electric Pendolino trains. Other destinations are served by diesel Voyager units.

Future train services
Wigan could have another direct link to Glasgow as Glasgow Trains would run the new Liverpool-Glasgow service, running two trains a day calling only at Preston and Carlisle. According to Glasgow Trains outline proposals these services would be operated by carriages hauled by Class 67 locomotives. Under HS2 and Government proposals High Speed trains would stop here from Glasgow before joining the new HS2 line to Birmingham and London.

It is also proposed for 2 new hourly fast services between Wigan and Manchester Via parts of the WCML and Manchester - Liverpool line (after electrification of the Manchester to Liverpool line) and an additional hourly fast to Liverpool Lime Street. The Glasgow and Edinburgh services to Manchester will be redirected via Wigan but its not currently known if they will call.

Withdrawn passenger services
Being located on the West Coast Main Line, Wigan North Western has retained regular trains to a wide range of destinations. However, there were several local passenger services from the station which fell under the Beeching Axe and earlier, and the lines have since been closed:-
 * Blackburn via Chorley (passenger service a pre-Beeching withdrawal in January 1960: see Lancashire Union Railway).
 * Trains departed northwards before diverging from the main line at Boar's Head Junction, 2+1/4 mi north of Wigan. From Boar's Head, a line ran to Adlington where it joined the Manchester to Preston Line as far as Chorley. From Chorley another branch line ran to Cherry Tree station and joined the existing line from Preston to Blackburn. In addition to the local service, this route was also occasionally used by long distance trains when these were diverted over the Settle and Carlisle line. Until at least 1963 a "private" non-advertised return passenger service was operated for workers at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton.


 * Manchester (Exchange) via Tyldesley (local stopping passenger service withdrawn 1962, with some remaining non-stopping local services withdrawn in January 1968: some expresses continuing until May 1969).
 * The line from Wigan to Manchester Exchange via Tyldesley and Eccles was the L&NWR's route from Manchester to the north and Scotland. Before closure, this route was used both by local trains and by long-distance expresses between Manchester and destinations such as Windermere and Glasgow. Trains from Wigan North Western to Manchester Exchange travelled south for 1+1/2 mi along the main line before diverging onto the Tyldesley line at Springs Branch Junction. In fact the timings of the non-stop express trains were such that trains between Manchester Exchange and Wigan could (and did) take the (longer) route via Lowton.


 * Local Trains along main line
 * Passenger services were provided to a number of smaller stations located along the main line.  Except for Leyland and Balshaw Lane (which was reopened in 1998 as Euxton Balshaw Lane) these stations are now closed. Closure of some of these smaller stations started before the Beeching report (for example Boar's Head and Bamfurlong in 1949 and Golborne in 1962) and was completed in the late 1960s.


 * Local trains called at:-


 * {| class="wikitable"

There are currently proposals to re-open some of the closed local stations (e.g. Golborne), but none has been approved at this stage.
 * width="50%"|Northwards||Southwards
 * Boar's Head || Bamfurlong
 * Standish Junction || Golborne
 * Coppull || Lowton
 * Balshaw Lane & Euxton || Newton-le-Willows
 * Leyland|| Earlestown
 * Farington || Vulcan Halt
 * Preston|| Warrington Bank Quay
 * }
 * Balshaw Lane & Euxton || Newton-le-Willows
 * Leyland|| Earlestown
 * Farington || Vulcan Halt
 * Preston|| Warrington Bank Quay
 * }
 * Farington || Vulcan Halt
 * Preston|| Warrington Bank Quay
 * }
 * }
 * }

Wigan Central
Wigan had a third station: Wigan Central which has been demolished.

Wigan Central was located in Station Road, still in the town centre but some way away from the two main stations (at North Western and Wallgate). It was a terminal station on the branch line to Glazebrook and on to Manchester Central.

Wigan Central was opened by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later to become the Great Central) in October 1892 and was closed to passengers in November 1964.

Historical references

 * A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain – vol.10 The North West.  G.O.Holt, pub. David & Charles (1986)  ISBN 0-946537-34-8


 * Electric Euston to Glasgow. O.S.Nock, pub. Ian Allan (1974)  ISBN 0-7110-0530-3


 * A Lancashire Triangle – Part 1. D.J.Sweeney, pub. Triangle Publishing (1996)  ISBN 0-9529333-0-6