Notes: The second Wigan Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR) station was situated on the Liverpool & Bury Railway (L&BR) which was authorised on 31 July 1845. The route of the line took in the towns of Wigan and Bolton and had been promoted by prominent industrialists who wanted a more direct route between the industrial areas of east Lancashire and the port of Liverpool. Since 1830 the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (L&M) had held a monopoly on trade between those areas and it did not offer a direct route. Work on the line began in January 1846 and on 9 July 1847 the L&BR merged with other companies to form the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR). The line was opened on 20 November 1848 and a second route between Liverpool and Manchester was created as there was already a line between Bolton and Manchester which had opened on 29 May 1838. A station was provided at Wigan to the south of Wallgate, a main thoroughfare in the centre of the town.

On 9 April 1855 the LYR opened a line from Wigan to Southport. The Southport line connected to the Liverpool and Bury railway just west of the point where the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) Crewe – Preston line (part of the London to Glasgow main line) passed over the LYR lines on a bridge.

The original Wigan station was not well regarded, being described by the Ormskirk Advertiser newspaper as a ‘hovel’. On 26 May 1860 the LYR opened a new Wigan station ¼- mile west of the original.

The station was located to the north-west of Wallgate immediately east of the LNWR line. The station was approached via King West Street (connecting with Wallgate) which was on the north side of the line. The main facilities, including the booking office, were located in a large building on the up side of the line (Bury direction). A curving driveway led from the east end of the up platform and passed over the line providing a link to the down platform (Liverpool direction). There was a large building on the down platform which housed waiting rooms and a telegraph office. Both platforms were provided with canopies that ran for the length of the building and extended over the width of the platform.

Goods facilities were located to the south of the passenger station.

On the west side of the LNWR bridge, on the north side of the line, close to Southport Junction there was a signal box. Called Southport Junction the box controlled the junction and the lines at the west end of the second station.

A hotel called The Railway Hotel was located to the east of the station forecourt.

At the time of opening the second Wigan station would have been served by trains running between Liverpool and Manchester, Rochdale and Bolton and by trains running to and from the Southport Line as shown in the February 1863 timetable below.

On 1 June 1889 the LYR started running passenger trains over a direct route to Manchester which diverged from the original line at Crow Nest Junction near Hindley and re-joined it at Pendleton running via Atherton. The line had opened to goods services on 1 May 1889. The LYR was able to run fast express services between Liverpool and Manchester that were able to compete with those of other companies.

The December 1895 timetable showed 43 up and 44 down services from Wigan Monday-to-Friday as seen in the table below. There was an extra down service on Saturdays there was a good level of service on Sundays.

By 1894 the LNWR had rebuilt their Wigan station and in doing so provided much better facilities. Not to be outdone on 29 June 1893 the LYR appointed the contractors R. Neill & Sons to build a new station immediately to the east of the second station at a cost of £30,192, less £608 for materials that the contractor could salvage from the second station. The main entrance to the new station was located at street level on Wallgate. The new station opened on 2 February 1896 and became known as Wigan Wallgate from 2 July 1924.The second station was demolished leaving only a small section of the footbridge which could still be seen in March 2015.

Route map by and timetable from Alan Young.

The 8D Association - Dedicated to promoting the history of South Lancashire and North Cheshire railways. Web Site

Sources:

• The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Volume 1 - John Marshall - David & Charles 1969
• The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Volume 2 - John Marshall - David & Charles 1970

To see other stations on the Liverpool Exchange - Wigan Wallgate line click on the station name: Liverpool Exchange, Liverpool Great Howard Street,
Kirkby Royal Ordnance Factory, Rainford, Rainford Junction,
Upholland 1st & Wigan (LYR) 1st.