Lowton railway station

Lowton railway station was on a loop off the West Coast Main Line. It stood immediately east of the A572/A573 crossroads known locally as "Four Lane Ends", on the boundary between Newton-le-Willows and Lowton Common.[3][4][5][6] The station straddled Lowton Junction at the northern apex of a triangle of lines off the Stephensons' original Liverpool and Manchester Railway.[7]

This article is about Lowton's ex-London and North Western Railway station. For the ex-Great Central station, see Lowton St Mary's railway station.

Lowton
Location
PlaceLowton
AreaWigan
Coordinates53.458112°N 2.598718°W / 53.458112; -2.598718
Grid referenceSJ604959
Operations
Original companyNorth Union Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms2
History
1 January 1847Station opened as "Preston Junction"
1 February 1877Renamed "Lowton and Preston Junction"
17 February 1880Renamed "Lowton"
1 January 1917Closed as a wartime economy measure
1 February 1919Reopened
26 September 1949Station closed completely[1][2]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain
A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

History

Opened by the North Union Railway, the station became part of the London and North Western Railway, passing to the LMSR at the Grouping of 1923. The station passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

Services

In 1922 ten "down" (northbound) services called at Lowton on Mondays to Saturdays and one train on a Sunday. Most were local services, with a Saturdays Only "Parliamentary", calling at most stations in a five and a half journey from Crewe to Carlisle. The "up" service was similar.[8]

A wide-ranging set of timetable extracts has been published. Although Lowton stood at the apex of a triangle of lines, no service in the published set shows a service using the north to east curve which leads directly to Manchester.[9]

Closure and after

The station was closed completely in 1949 and progressively demolished over the years, but in 2015 clear evidence still remained.

The lines through the station underwent a transformation with the NW Electrification Programme between 2012-2014. For many years the east to north curve had seen only sporadic traffic. The west to north curve had occasional diversions, ECS working in the early hours and a north to west Northern service from Wigan North Western to Liverpool Lime Street in the morning and evening weekday peak, with no balancing working. Most of these trains were run to maintain staff route knowledge.

From the end of 2014 newly electrified Manchester Airport to Edinburgh and Glasgow services were diverted to run via the east to north curve and through the site of Lowton station. In 2015 engineering work in the WCML led to spikes of traffic through the station site through both northern arms of the triangle.

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Golborne South
Line open, station closed		   London and North Western Railway
North Union Railway		   Newton-le-Willows
Line and station open
    Parkside
Line open, station closed

References
  1. The station via Disused Stations UK
  2. Butt 1995, p. 150
  3. Smith & Turner 2012, Map 45
  4. Station and line NGJ via railwaycodes
  5. The station on a 1948 OS Map via npe Maps
  6. Yonge, Padgett & Szwenk 2013, map 26C
  7. Fields, Gilbert & Knight 1980, Photo 42
  8. Bradshaw 1985, pp. 412–5
  9. The station via Disused Stations UK

Sources
  • Bradshaw, George (1985) [July 1922]. Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation guide for Great Britain and Ireland: A reprint of the July 1922 issue. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8708-5. OCLC 12500436.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Fields, N; Gilbert, A C; Knight, N R (1980), Liverpool to Manchester into the Second Century, Manchester Transport Museum Society, ISBN 978-0-900857-19-5CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
  • Smith, Paul; Turner, Keith (2012). Railway Atlas Then and Now. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3695-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Yonge, John; Padgett, David; Szwenk, John (2013). Gerald Jacobs (ed.). British Rail Track Diagrams - Book 4: London Midland Region (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-7-4. OCLC 880581044.
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