Haydock railway station served the village of

Haydock Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 11,416 Haydock's historic area covers the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook ward. Haydo ...

, formerly in

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 ...

, now in

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. The station was on the

Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway The Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, was formed in 1889, but no services ran until 1895 and then only freight. Passenger services did not start until 1900. It incorporated the St Helens and Wigan Junction Railway. It was taken ...

line from Lowton St Mary's to the original St Helens Central railway station where it was crossed by what is now the A599 in the centre of the village. East of the station was the Haydock Colliery Tunnel, the only tunnel on the line. It was built at the railway's expense using the 'cut and cover' method. Its sole purpose was to burrow beneath Haydock Colliery's tracks.

History

Opened by the

, as part of the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

, it became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

during the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923. The line and station passed to the

Eastern Region of British Railways The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified from the dark blue signs and colour schemes that adorned its station and other railway buildings. Together with the North Eastern Region ( ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948, being transferred to the

London Midland Region The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...

later that year. The line through the station was originally double track and the station had two platforms. In the 1930s the down (St Helens-bound) track was changed into a long siding and all trains to and from St Helens used the up line. The station's down side shelter and signs were removed.

Services

In 1922 five "down" (towards St Helens) trains called at the station, Mondays to Saturdays. These called at all stations from Manchester Central to St Helens via Glazebrook and Culcheth. The "up" service was similar. By 1948 four trains plied between St Helens Central and Manchester Central, calling at all stations, Monday to Friday, reduced to three on Saturdays. A fuller selection of public and working timetables has now been published. Among other things this suggests that Sunday services ran until 1914, but had ceased by 1922 never to return.

Closure

The station was closed to passenger traffic by the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in 1952, though goods traffic through to St Helens lingered on until 1965, when the tracks west of Ashton-in-Makerfield were abandoned. A short stretch from Ashton through the Haydock station site to a new Shell distribution depot was reinstated in 1968. This ceased being rail-served in 1983,, whereafter the line was cut back to Lowton Metals' scrapyard at Ashton. Tracks were eventually lifted.

The site today

By 2003 modern housing had obliterated the station site.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

The station
in ''Disused Stations UK''
The station on an 1888-1913 Overlay OS Map
in ''National Library of Scotland''

in ''npe Maps''
The station and line overlain on many maps
in ''Rail Map Online''
Station and line HOB3
in ''Railway Codes'' {{Closed stations Merseyside Former Great Central Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1900 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1952 Disused railway stations in St Helens, Merseyside