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

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 ...

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 ...