Hoscar railway station serves the rural village of Hoscar in the civil parish of

Lathom Lathom is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Ormskirk. It is in the district of West Lancashire, and with the parish of Newburgh forms part of Newburgh ward. The population of the civil par ...

, near the town of

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin M ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. The station stands split across Hoscar Moss Road. Only 1,060 passenger journeys started or ended at Hoscar in 2014/15. Eight trains a day call on weekdays in each direction, all provided 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) ...

, who also manage the station.

History

The station was built by the

Manchester and Southport Railway The Manchester and Southport Railway in England opened on 9 April 1855. It merged with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1854. The route is still in use to day as Northern's Manchester to Southport Line. Route *Manchester Victoria railw ...

and opened c.1871, and from January 1885, it was part of the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

(L&YR). The L&YR amalgamated with 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 ...

on 1 January 1922 and, in turn, was grouped into the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS) in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948. When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

until the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...

. The station once boasted a goods yard which was used by local farmers to get their crops to the markets of Wigan, Manchester and Southport quickly. The former railway tavern is now a house In May 2019,

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

installed red light safety enforcement (RLSE) cameras at the station's level crossing to catch motorists flouting the crossing when the lights are on. The cameras were installed as the level crossing is an automatic half barrier (AHB) type. This is part of an effort by network rail to improve the safety of such crossings across the UK.

Facilities

Hoscar has similar amenities to neighbouring New Lane and Bescar Lane, with no permanent buildings other than simple shelters (the old station house is still extant but in private ownership) and staggered platforms either side of an automatic

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

. it is unmanned and has no ticket machine, so all tickets must be purchased on the train or before travel. Step-free access is available to both platforms, and train running information can be obtained by telephone and from timetable information posters.

Services

Trains west-bound run to

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, and trains east-bound run to

Wigan Wallgate Wigan Wallgate railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The station serves two routes, the Manchester-Southport Line and the Manchester- Kirkby Line. It is 16 miles north-w ...

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 ...

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...

and

Alderley Edge Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 4,780. Alderley Edge is northwest of Macclesfield and south of Manchester, at the base of a steep and thickly wooded sandstone escarpment, Alder ...

(peak hours only for the latter). The basic frequency of trains calling at Hoscar is every 2 hours. The day's first train is to Southport at 06:29, and the final train is to Wigan Wallgate at 22:38. Due to these infrequent services, it has been recognized as the least used station in Lancashire, only receiving 956 entries/exists in the 2019/20 period (March 2019-April 2020).

Popular culture

The station was featured in an episode of

Geoff Marshall Geoff Marshall is an English video producer, performer, and author from London who runs a YouTube channel which is predominantly transport-themed. Born in London, he spent a short period living in the United States between 2006 and 2009, and no ...

's series least used stations in 2019 as the entry for

, as at the time of recording, it was the least used station in the region by passengers numbers, as recorded by ORR statistics.

References

External links

* by

{{Railway stations in Lancashire Railway stations in the Borough of West Lancashire DfT Category F2 stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1871 Northern franchise railway stations Lathom