Euxton Balshaw Lane is one of two railway stations situated in

Euxton Euxton ( ) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 9,993, however, the population is now estimated to be around 14,000 due to the inc ...

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 Lancas ...

, England. It is a local station on 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 ...

on the stretch between

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

and .

History

The railway line between

and was opened by the

North Union Railway The North Union Railway was an early British railway company, operating in Lancashire. It was created in 1834, continuing independently until 1889. Formation The North Union Railway (NUR) was created by an Act of Parliament on 22 May 1834 whic ...

(NUR) on 31 October 1838, and among the original stations was one at Euxton, close to the Bay Horse public house on the south side of Euxton Lane. The NUR was split up in 1888, part of it (including Euxton station) becoming wholly owned by 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 ...

(LNWR). Euxton station closed on 2 September 1895 at the behest of the Anderton Family. Euxton, Farington & Preston RJD 62

A new station named ''Balshaw Lane and Euxton'', between and and about south of the original Euxton station, was opened by the LNWR on 2 September 1905.

Balshaw Lane & Euxton Station 1749966 050c14df

Balshaw Lane & Euxton station was closed by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

on 6 October 1969 as part of the Beeching review of the UK railway network. Euxton also had a station at the

Royal Ordnance Factory Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Mini ...

site, ROF Chorley, on the Preston to Manchester line which opened along with the factory in the 1930s; the station was named 'ROF Halt' and closed in 1965. As well as this another station on 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 ...

Company's

Bolton and Preston Railway The Bolton and Preston Railway connected Bolton and Preston, in Lancashire, England. Its authorising Act of Parliament forbade its early completion to protect the North Union Railway and imposed other restrictions that limited the success of t ...

was built named which was near to the Pack Saddle Bridge. Access to this station was via a footbridge from next to today's gastro pub, "The Railway at Euxton". However, this station closed in 1895. Services from the former Balshaw Lane and Euxton station restarted on 15 December 1997. It was officially reopened in 1998, (the opening ceremony being performed by former Radio 1 DJ and, latterly, Radio Lancashire presenter and transport enthusiast,

Andy Peebles Robert Andrew Peebles (born 1948) is a British radio DJ, television presenter, and cricket commentator. Born in London, Peebles attended Bishop's Stortford College. He began as a nightclub DJ in the late 1960s. Peebles was resident DJ at the C ...

), and was now named ''Euxton Balshaw Lane''. The use of "Balshaw Lane" in the station's name was added, at the time of opening, at Lancashire County Council's behest (the main station's sponsor and funder) in view of the possibility, at some future stage, of the opening of a station on the site of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton and to distinguish itself (and avoid a subsequent name change) from that station. It was expected that the station at the ROF site might be named either "Euxton" or "Euxton ROF". In fact, when Euxton's other railway station eventually opened in October 2011, on the Manchester-Preston route, it was called .

Facilities

The station has two platforms on the slower north–south lines of the

and is served 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 ...

with trains to Blackpool North and

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. Euxton Balshaw Lane does not have any full-time staff, PA system or ticket office, nor, unlike Horwich Parkway railway station, a station built around the same period, any clocks or display screens.

Services

The station has a daily hourly service in each direction with 2 trains per hour in the weekday peaks. Services run from

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast ...

to and .GB National Rail Timetable May 2018 Edition, Table 90 (Network Rail) Through weekday services to Blackpool North were restored in May 2018 following the completion of electrification work.

References

External links

{{Borough of Chorley culture Railway stations in Chorley DfT Category F2 stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1969 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1997 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Northern franchise railway stations Beeching closures in England Stations on the West Coast Main Line

History

Facilities

Services

References

Further reading

External links