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Walked another challenging route from Lowton St Marys to St Helens Central. Disuse for over 40 years has allowed nature to take a hold as well as man made developments throughout, but clues still exist.
History:-
The Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, which ran from a junction with the Wigan Junction Railways (WJR) to the north of Lowton St Mary's, opened for goods and mineral traffic in 1895, but passenger services did not commence until January 1900, being operated by the Great Central Railway, which was already operating the WJR. Most services ran through to Manchester Central. The station opened on 3 January 1900 and was originally named St Helens.
Overall, the station and goods facilities covered 8 acres, however the passenger section only consisted of one platform with a somewhat rudimentary wooden canopy shelter (compared to the brick-built booking office). This was in stark contrast to the comprehensive goods sidings, weighbridge, travelling crane and large goods shed. Rail access to this complex was from the north-eastern corner via a double track bridge over Standish Street. The line then divided into two, the northern branch proceeding into Pilkington's Cowley Hill Plate Glass Works being purely for goods traffic, the other line running to the east. This crossed the LNWR line at Pocket Nook on a single line viaduct.
Similar financial considerations caused the line to terminate at St. Helens. The original plan was for the line to continue westwards towards Liverpool via proposed stations at Dentons Green, Knowsley and Croxteth Park to a junction with the CLC Lines at Fazakerley, from which point there would be easy access to both Southport and Liverpool.
The station was renamed St Helens Central on 1 March 1949 but closed to passenger traffic three years later on 3 March 1952. It continued to be used for goods until 4 January 1965, when it closed completely.
Haydock railway station served the village of Haydock, formerly in Lancashire, now in Merseyside, England. East of Haydock station was the 99 yards 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.
From 1952 until 5 October 1963 some race day specials to Haydock Park had deposited their passengers at the racecourse then travelled to St Helens for servicing, turning and to await their turn to return in the evening. Others did the same at Ashton-in-Makerfield. A more recent source states that the last such trains ran on 4 January 1965. Enthusiasts' railtours travelled the line on 29 September 1956 and 21 September 1963.
The final such tour visited the station on 24 August 1968. Although a last, this tour was also a first, being the first passenger train over a new connection between the line to Ashton and the WCML at the new "Haydock Branch Junction" north of Golborne, which had opened on 22 April 1968. By providing this connection the line between Edge Green and Lowton St Mary's could be abandoned and, in particular, its bridge over the to-be-electrified WCML could be removed. This occurred in 1971.
Services to and through Ashton finally ended in 1988, but its last years were not mere decline. Two services used the station and one passed through it. In 1963 Lowton Metals started to use the station's goods yard as a rail-served base for its scrap metal business. This traffic ended in 1987. In July 1968 the line to the west was reopened to serve a new oil distribution depot at Haydock. This traffic continued until 1983. In 1975 an experiment was conducted in reviving race traffic, using Ashton station instead of Haydock Park. Special trains were run to at least five meetings, but the experiment was not continued.
Haydock Park railway station was a railway station adjacent to Haydock Park Racecourse. The station's sole purpose was to handle race day traffic. It did not feature in public timetables and normal service trains passed through the station without stopping. Race Day specials were very heavily patronised until well after WW2, as were other specials such as those serving Wakes Weeks and football matches. Although railways are always best suited to regular, day-in-day-out traffic, with cheap labour and plentiful old rolling stock available until the 1960s such intermittent services could make money and be seen as worthwhile. The corporate climate and economics were shifting, however. The station was closed in October 1963.
Golborne station was built of wood and had very sparse facilities. The station was referred to locally as "Golborne GC" to distinguish it from the ex-LNWR Golborne station on the West Coast Main Line in the centre of the town. In 1949, the ex-LNWR station was renamed Golborne South and the ex-GCR station was renamed Golborne North.
Allan Roach & Nick Melling.