# Golborne South railway station

vteNorth Union Railway :
Legend :
1834 – 1889 :
Golborne South railway station was one of two stations serving the town of Golborne, to the south of Wigan.

## The early line and station to 1849

The line was opened by the Wigan Branch Railway (WBR) in 1832 from Parkside to Wigan as a single track with passing places although the trackbed had been engineered for double track. In 1834 the WBR became part of the North Union Railway (NUR) and they doubled the track in time for the opening of the line northwards to Preston in 1838.
The line had opened two years after the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) with which it connected at Parkside, it was operated under contract by the L&MR and likely followed L&MR practices. On the L&MR intermediate stopping places were neither advertised nor provided with facilities, they were mostly situated at level crossings where a policeman or gateman was permanently on duty, passengers wishing to use the stopping place informed the staff who signalled the requirement to stop to the train crew,
The WBR had one crossing on the level, at Golborne, 1 mile 72 chains (3.1 km) from Parkside, where the Warrington to Wigan turnpike crossed the railway at a gated level crossing known as Golborne Gates and this would have been an identified stopping place on the line and therefore may have operated as a station in the same way as on the L&MR. A more formal station was probably opened as Golborne Gate or Gates by the North Union Railway (NUR) probably sometime before 1839 as the station started to appear on the maps in Bradshaw from then, fares to intermediate stations, including Golbourne Gate [sic] were published in 1839. By 1847 the station was known as Golborne and it appeared in Bradshaw in a route-table with times for the trains shown. There were four services from the station northbound to Preston and southbound to both Liverpool and Manchester on weekdays. As late as 1849 the OS map shows the level crossing but no station or structure.
From 1 January 1846 the NUR was leased jointly by the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) and the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR). Later in 1846 the leases passed, by amalgamation from the GJR to the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) and from the M&LR to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

## L&NWR from 1850

The L&NWR replaced the level crossing with a road overbridge carrying High Street/Church Road (which became the A573), on a slightly further north alignment sometime around 1867-68. The station was rebuilt sometime between the new road being completed and the OS map being issued in 1893. The station was built on the original lines of the WBR which became the slow lines when the line was quadrupled, the fast lines by-passed the station to the east. The station building was on the east side platform, to the south of the road overbridge which crossed the platforms about half-way along their length. The building was a two-storey brick-built building accessed from the bridge with the booking hall at road level, steps went down to each platform, the west-side platform steps descending from a pedestrian bridge crossing the lines. There was a brick built shelter on each platform.
During the late 1800s more railways opened and traffic increased. The line through Golborne, as part of the main western trunk route to Scotland, became congested and between 1888 and 1894 the lines through the station site were quadrupled.
There were two signal boxes in the station vicinity one to the south west of the running lines that controlled the goods yard, and one to the north of the eastern platform, between the slow and fast lines, which controlled access to Golborne Colliery. The goods yard had two, later three sidings on the west side of the running lines and a warehouse, it was able to accommodate most types of goods including live stock and was equipped with a five ton crane.
In 1895 there were 11 local services on weekdays in each direction, northbound all going to Wigan and southbound to Warrington except for one service, the 1453, which went to Liverpool Lime Street.
In 1922 thirteen services called at Golborne in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays, most were local services. Northbound they mainly started from Warrington, with two starting from Crewe, two from Liverpool Lime Street and one from Hartford. All went to Wigan, three terminated at Preston and one at Carlisle. Southbound they mostly started from Wigan, the first train, the 0628, began at Preston and the 0710 started from Golborne itself. Destinations were mostly Warrington with two services running short journeys to Earlestown and one going onto Hartford. There were two Sunday services in each direction.

## Post L&NWR to station closure

Services under the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) remained much the same as previously, in 1939 there were 17 services in each direction on weekdays, mostly local trains between Warrington and Wigan with one service from Liverpool, one from Crewe and a few shortened services terminating at Newton-le-Willows, there were slightly less trains on Saturdays and six on Sundays.
The station was renamed Golborne South on 1 January 1949 to avoid confusion with the close by ex-Great Central/LNER Golborne North station. The station closed to passengers on 6 February 1961 and to goods traffic on 22 May 1967.

## Post-closure

Local passenger traffic ceased between Crewe and Preston via Earlestown on 6 October 1969.
The lines through the station site were electrified as part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) modernisation in 1974.

## Reopening

The lines through the station site are still open in 2023. Transport for Greater Manchester announced a public consultation for January 2024 on building a new station on a site to the south of the previous station. No costs were given at the time, although TfGM had in 2021 committed £16m to development and delivery of the station.
In November 2024, plans were submitted to build a two-platform station at a cost of £32 million. The station would be served by an hourly service between Wigan and Manchester.
| Preceding station | Historical railways | Historical railways | Historical railways | Following station |
| Wigan Chapel Lane | | Wigan Branch Railway 1832 – 1834 | | Parkside |
| Wigan Chapel Lane | | North Union Railway Wigan Branch Railway 1834 – 1838 Amalgamated | | Parkside |
| Wigan Station re-sited and renamed | | North Union Railway Wigan Branch Railway 1838 – 1847 | | Parkside |
| Wigan | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1847 – c1850 Leased line | | North Union Junction New station |
| Wigan | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway c1850 – 1864 Leased line | | Preston Junction Station renamed |
| Wigan | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1864 - 1877 Leased line | | Preston Junction |
| Wigan | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1864 - 1877 Leased line | | Warrington Bank Quay Winwick cut-off opened |
| Wigan | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1877 - 1878 Leased line | | Lowton and Preston Junction Station renamed |
| Wigan | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1877 - 1878 Leased line | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| Bamfurlong New station | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1878 - 1880 Leased line | | Lowton and Preston Junction |
| Bamfurlong New station | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1878 - 1880 Leased line | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| Bamfurlong | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1880 - 1889 Leased line | | Lowton Station renamed |
| Bamfurlong | | London and North Western Railway North Union Railway 1880 - 1889 Leased line | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| Bamfurlong | | London and North Western Railway 1889 - 1923 NUR dissolved | | Lowton |
| Bamfurlong | | London and North Western Railway 1889 - 1923 NUR dissolved | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| Bamfurlong | | London, Midland and Scottish Railway London and North Western Railway 1923 - 1948 Grouping | | Lowton |
| Bamfurlong | | London, Midland and Scottish Railway London and North Western Railway 1923 - 1948 Grouping | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| Bamfurlong | | BR(LMR) London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1948 - 1949 Nationalisation | | Lowton |
| Bamfurlong | | BR(LMR) London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1948 - 1949 Nationalisation | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| Bamfurlong | | BR(LMR) London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1948 - 1949 Station renamed Golborne South | | Lowton |
| Bamfurlong | | BR(LMR) London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1948 - 1949 Station renamed Golborne South | | Warrington Bank Quay |
| | Current situation | Current situation | Current situation | |
| Bamfurlong Line open, station closed | | Golborne South Line open, station closed in 1961 | | Lowton Line open, station closed |
| Bamfurlong Line open, station closed | | Golborne South Line open, station closed in 1961 | | Warrington Bank Quay Line and station open |