Notes: The Whitehouse Triangle was formed by the junctions of the former West Lancashire Railway (WLR) Company’s Southport & Preston Railway with the former East Lancashire Railway’s (ELR) Blackburn and Preston line. It was located south of the River Ribble, east of the North Union Railway (later to become the West Coast Main Line).

The ELR line through Whitehouse had been completed by 15 August 1850. It was built as the Bamber Bridge & Preston extension and gave the ELR a direct route into Preston. In 1859 the ELR was absorbed into the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR).

On 16 April 1883 the WLR opened a line of 79 chains from Penwortham Junction on their Southport and Preston line to a junction with the Blackburn line at Whitehouse. The line was built so that trains could run directly from the WLR to Blackburn. A triangle was created, the Penwortham Triangle, to enable trains to run from and to Southport and the Preston WLR station. The eastern point of the Penwortham triangle, called Middleforth Junction, was only 51 chains to the west of the Whitehouse Junction.

At Whitehouse a signal box controlled the junction. It was located on the east side of the former ELR line, adjacent to the junction.

On 1 July 1897 the WLR was amalgamated with the LYR. The LYR upgraded the former WLR route and their plans for it brought about changes. The LYR had their own station at Preston (which dated from 1838 and was shared with the London & North Western Railway) and they had no need of the WLR facility. They decided to close it and run Southport services into the joint station. In order to do so they had to build a west-to-north spur at Whitehouse. An Act was obtained for the spur on 1 July 1898. The contract for its construction was awarded on 26 October 1898 to J Strachan for £9,713.

On 16 July 1900 the new line opened from Whitehouse West Junction to Whitehouse North Junction. The opening of this line created the Whitehouse triangle. The original junction became Whitehouse South Junction. Whitehouse West Junction was controlled by an LYR box of 24 levers that had been inspected in March 1899. It was located on the south side of the line just to the east of the actual junction. It had a brick base and wooden top.

At Whitehouse North Junction there was an LYR box with 26 levers. It was an all-timber structure and was inspected in July 1900.

An aerial view of the Whitehouse triangle c.2007. Running from top to bottom to the left is the West Coast Main Line that links London with Glasgow. The Whitehouse Triangle is very clearly visible to the right of the main line. The only alterations that have been made to the earth structures that make up the triangle are at the site of Whitehouse South Junction, bottom right , where the embankment has been levelled. West Junction had been just to the right of the West Coast line and north was towards the top.

With the opening of the new line Preston WLR station closed and, along with it, Middleforth Junction box

In 1920 Whitehouse South Junction box was replaced with an LYR box of 20 levers. It was an all-timber structure and was located on the west side of the line, north of an underbridge and adjacent to the junction.

In January 1922 the lines became part of the London & North Western Railway and a year later passed to the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). In 1948 the Whitehouse Triangle lines became part of British Railways London Midland Region.

On 13 May 1950 an accident occurred at Whitehouse West Junction. Due to a signalling error a light engine which was standing on the up main waiting to be crossed over was run into by the 10:20 pm Southport to Preston service. Many people were injured.

In December 1960 Penwortham Junction signal box burned down and was replaced with a ground frame of two levers which opened on 18 June 1961. It was electronically released from Whitehouse West box.

On 7 September 1964 the former WLR Southport & Preston Railway closed as a through route. The line between Penwortham Junction and Hesketh Park closed completely as did the west-to-north curve of the Whitehouse Triangle and the North Junction box.

So that a daily goods service could operate to the Preston WLR station the ‘up’ line from Whitehouse West Junction to 300 yd south of Penwortham Junction was retained for operational use (the down line remained in situ but out of use). To the east of Whitehouse West Junction the line remained double-track.  On 25 January 1965 the lines from Whitehouse South Junction to the former Preston WLR station closed along with West Junction box and Penwortham Junction ground frame.

It is known that track from Whitehouse South to River Douglas bridge on the WLR remained in situ until 1966. On 19 April 1966 Whitehouse South Junction box officially closed. The former ELR route into Preston closed completely on 3 September 1972.

See also Penwortham Triangle