Rainford railway station is situated to the north of the village of
Rainford
Rainford is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England, north of St Helens. At the 2011 Census, the population was 7,779.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the earlies ...
,
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...
,
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 ...
. It is on the
Kirkby branch line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by
Northern Trains
Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...
.
History
![Hartford, Northwich and Rainford RJD 92](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Hartford%2C_Northwich_and_Rainford_RJD_92.jpg)
It was built in 1858 as Rainford Junction at the junction of the
Liverpool and Bury Railway
The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed in 1845 and opened on 28 November 1848. The line ran from Liverpool Exchange first using a joint line with Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway before branching off to proceed via Kirkby then Wigan ...
, the
East Lancashire Railway
East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...
's
Skelmersdale Branch
The Skelmersdale branch was a standard gauge railway (SKE) which connected the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway at Ormskirk with Rainford Junction via Skelmersdale. At Rainford it connected with the Liverpool and Bury Railway and the St. ...
and the
St. Helens Railway, replacing an earlier station (1848) called Rainford. The main line and Skelmersdale branch were taken over by 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 ...
in 1859, whilst the St Helens line became part of the
London and North Western Railway in 1864. The former L&BR route was subsequently upgraded by the L&YR to become its main line between Liverpool and Manchester, carrying expresses to
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 co ...
, and as well as local trains to
Wigan Wallgate and until after the
nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and well beyond.
Services on the line to St Helens were withdrawn by the
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
on 18 June 1951 and to on 5 November 1956, although goods traffic survived on both until the early 1960s.
Through trains from
Liverpool Exchange to Bolton via Wigan continued until 1977, though the line from here westwards to had been reduced to single track operation in May 1970.
['"Disused Stations - Rainford Junction"]
'Disused Stations''; Retrieved 25 March 2016 After the closure of Exchange in May 1977, the line was severed at Kirkby, with through passengers having to change between diesel and electric services there to continue their journeys. The station
signal box was retained to supervise the single line section to what was now the terminus of the branch – this remains in operation today and is now the only one left on the line.
The station was renamed Rainford on 7 May 1973.
Facilities
Though the station had sizeable buildings on both platforms at one time, the last of these (on the Wigan-bound platform) was demolished in the late 1990s.
There are now just basic shelters in place on each side, along with a footbridge to connect them. The disused branch platform faces are still visible, but heavily overgrown. The station is unmanned and has no ticket facilities, so all tickets must be bought in advance or on the train. Train running information can be obtained by telephone or from timetable poster boards on each platform. Step-free access is available on both platforms via ramps from the nearby road.
Services
Trains operate to (for connections to ) in one direction and to via and in the other, usually every hour (Monday to Saturday). The last train of the day continues to and .
[GB eNRT December 2019 Edition, Table 82]
There is no late evening service after 19:54 or on a Sunday. A normal service operates on most bank holidays.
Notes
References
* Marshall, J. (1981) ''Forgotten Railways North-West England'', David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, Newton Abbott.
* Butt, R.V.J. (1995) ''Directory of Railway Stations'', Patrick Stephens Ltd, Yeovil.
External links
The station on an 1888-1913 Overlay OS Map via National Library of Scotland
{{Merseyrail Northern Line
Railway stations in St Helens, Merseyside
DfT Category F2 stations
Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations
Northern franchise railway stations
1858 establishments in England
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858
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 prep ...