Earlestown railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Earlestown Earlestown is a town and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside, England. It forms the western part of the wider Newton-le-Willows urban area. At the 2011 Census the ward population was 10,830. History Earlestow ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and one of the few "triangular" stations in Britain.

History

Early history

The station lies on the former

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

, which was opened on 15 September 1830. On 25 July 1831 the

Warrington and Newton Railway The Warrington and Newton Railway was a short early railway linking Warrington to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Newton, and to pits at Haydock, nearby. It opened in 1831. The Grand Junction Railway aspired to make its long-distance rou ...

was opened for public use, making a junction at a point in the township of Newton, facing in the direction of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. The surviving Earlestown station buildings were constructed around 1835 on the original site, at the point of intersection of these two early railways, incidentally forming the first steam railway junction, which was given the name Newton Junction. The junction had a very tight curvature and this caused problems. Train travelling on the curves were restricted to a slow maximum speed. The original building now forms the (currently unused) waiting room of Earlestown Station. The

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

(GJR) absorbed the Warrington and Newton company as of 31 December 1834 and from the GJR's completion of their trunk line from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

on 4 July 1837 used it to access the Liverpool and Manchester line. A new "Curve" was built at Newton Junction so that trains could run towards Manchester; this gave the station a triangular formation with six platforms. To complicate matters, there was also a branch line from Richard Evans's collieries at Haydock which had a curve to join the L & M in the Manchester direction and passed through the triangle to join the Warrington and Newton line. The method of operation involved the despatch of a Grand Junction train from both Liverpool and Manchester to meet at Earlestown. These were joined together and continued as one train to

. Both portions conveyed through carriages after 1839 to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The Grand Junction trains arriving from Birmingham were usually split at Warrington (Bank Quay) and passed through Earlestown as separate Liverpool and Manchester trains. An area between the station and the "Nine Arches" viaduct was selected in 1833 by Messrs Jones, Turner and Evans as the site of their Viaduct Locomotive Works. In 1853, the London and North Western Railway took a lease on the premises and thus established the company's carriage and wagon works, and the area developed into something of a 'company town' which, after the construction of company houses, was given the nickname "Earle's Town" after

Hardman Earle Sir Hardman Earle, 1st Baronet (11 July 1792 – 25 January 1877) was a British railway director and slave owner. Earle owned plantations and enslaved people in what is now modern-day Guyana. He bought shares in the Liverpool to Manchester railw ...

, a director of the company and its predecessors, the Liverpool & Manchester and Grand Junction Railways. The name has stuck, despite it being corrupted to its present version and never having been an actual town.

Later history

The

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

later operated their main line service to the Scottish border by way of Earlestown and Parkside, utilising a short section of the old Liverpool and Manchester line. This inconvenient routing was eliminated by the construction of the Golborne cut-off, a direct connection avoiding Earlestown. The original route, on the eastern section of the triangle, was electrified at as part of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

electrification, since it was then used by a few trains stopping at Earlestown. In the

Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...

of 1963, Earlestown was listed as one of the stations to be closed, but it remained open along with other stations between Liverpool and Manchester that had also been listed such as and . However, direct trains to via were withdrawn in 1964. The remaining parts of the station were electrified as part of the North West electrification, which was announced in July 2009. This project saw the original West Coast Main Line electrification joined to the Manchester to Liverpool electrification at the east and south sides of Earlestown station. This electrification work was completed in February 2015. At present, there are frequent services to , , , , and then via the

North Wales Coast Line The North Wales Coast Line ( cy, Llinell Arfordir Gogledd Cymru), also known as the North Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell Gogledd Cymru or cy, label=none, Prif Linell y Gogledd), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, ...

to . Scheduled electrically-operated passenger services commenced from the station during March 2015, when the Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport service converted from diesel to electric traction. Previously, despite the long-standing electrification of part of the station, no electrically operated passenger services were scheduled to call at Earlestown.

Historical status

The triangular track layout at Earlestown (originally named Newton Junction) represents the oldest junction in the world between two passenger railways, in the form of the first "stationary turntable" or wye ever constructed. Nearby on the line towards Liverpool is the

Sankey Viaduct The Sankey Viaduct is a railway viaduct in North West England. It is a designated Grade I listed building and has been described as being "the earliest major railway viaduct in the world". In 1826, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company ( ...

, the first mainline railway viaduct which crosses the

Sankey Canal The Sankey Canal in North West England, initially known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and later the St Helens Canal, is a former industrial canal, which when opened in 1757 was England's first of the Industrial revolution, and the first modern ...

: that means that one of the earliest passenger railways crosses the first canal of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Earlestown is one of two triangular railway stations left in the UK, the other being in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

The waiting room on the Liverpool-bound platform is the oldest station building in the world still in passenger service, although this is now limited to providing shelter from the rain under its canopy. The building is currently derelict, with tickets being sold in a more recent structure on the opposite side of the line.

Facilities

The ticket office is staffed for the duration of service here each day (06:00 to midnight weekdays and Saturdays, 08:30 to midnight Sundays). Digital information screens, timetable poster boards and automatic announcements provide train running information. All platforms have either shelters or canopies. Only platforms 1 and 5 have step-free access, as the others are reached via the stepped footbridge between platforms 1 and 2.

Platform layout

*Platform 1 for services to and (via ), via ; operated by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

*Platform 2 for services to , via ; operated by

*Platform 3 for services between and Liverpool Lime Street (bi-directional platform); operated by

*Platform 4 for services to and Manchester Airport, via Newton-le-Willows; operated by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

and to via

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was ...

operated by

*Platform 5 for services to and , via Warrington Bank Quay; operated by

(

also now run to Chester and a limited service to )

Services

Following completion of electrification of the line in early 2015, the LiverpoolManchester Airport, LiverpoolManchester Victoria and LiverpoolWarrington Bank Quay services are now operated by 4-car Class 319, 3-car

Class 323 The British Rail Class 323 are electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec. All 43 units were built from 1992 through to 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 ...

and 4-car electric units. The Northern Trains Leeds to Chester service uses new Class 195 Civity DMUs Most routes serve the station hourly in each direction, though certain trains (such as the

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...

services) pass through without stopping. The only services calling here on Sundays are on the Liverpool Lime StreetManchester Airport/ and Manchester PiccadillyChester routes.

References

Bibliography

* * ''Liverpool & Manchester Railway 1830-1980'', Frank Ferneyhough, Book Club Associates, 1980, (no ISBN) *

External links

Station information
{{Merseyside railway stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Newton-le-Willows Railway stations in St Helens, Merseyside DfT Category E stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1830 Northern franchise railway stations Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail 1830 establishments in England