North Union Railway

North Union Railway

The North Union Railway was an early British railway company, formed in 1834.

Contents

Origins

The North Union Railway resulted from the first railway amalgamation in British history. The two companies were the Wigan Branch Railway and the Wigan and Preston Junction Railway. The former was a branch line from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Parkside, serving local coal mines (particularly by a branch to New Springs) and the town of Wigan. The latter was originally promoted as a separate company, to connect Wigan with Preston, now the county town. The new company was formed on 22 May 1834.[1]

The line was fully opened on 31 October 1838,[1] and ran from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Parkside, near Warrington, northwards to Preston, via Wigan. It later absorbed the Bolton and Preston Railway, whose line made a junction with it at Euxton, on 10 May 1844.[1] It was leased to the Grand Junction Railway, in association with the Manchester and Leeds Railway, on 27 July 1846.[1]

Joint ownership

The North Union eventually (on 26 July 1889)[1] came into the joint ownership of the successors to those earlier companies: respectively, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR). Early rationalisation of the joint venture saw that part of the North Union between Euxton Junction and Parkside vested in the LNWR and that between Euxton Junction and Bolton with the LYR.

The part between Euxton Junction and Preston – including the major part of Preston station – remained in joint ownership up to the 1923 Grouping.[2] This stretch of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Carlisle was the only part not wholly owned by the LNWR.

To cope with ever increasing traffic, the line was quadrupled between 1889 and 1891 (Biddle, 1989).

Stations

  • Preston
  • Farrington (renamed Farington 1857; closed 1960)
  • Leyland (originally called Golden Hill for the first few months)
  • Euxton (closed 1895; the modern-day Euxton Balshaw Lane is nearby)
  • Coppull (closed 1968)
  • Standish Lane (renamed Standish 1844; closed 1949)
  • Boar's Head (closed 1949)
  • Wigan (renamed Wigan North Western 1924)
  • Bamfurlong (closed 1950)
  • Golborne (renamed Golborne South 1949; closed 1961)
  • Haydock Racecourse (closed 1902)
  • Preston Junction (renamed Lowton 1877; closed 1949)
  • Parkside (closed 1878)

(Butt, 1995; Dewick, 2002; Wignall, 1983)

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Awdry, 1990, p.97
  2. ^ In 1921 the LYR was absorbed by the LNWR so from that date the North Union Railway had only one owner

References

  • Awdry, C. (1990), Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, Wellingborough : Patrick Stephens Ltd, ISBN 1-85260-049-7
  • Biddle, G. (1989) The Railways Around Preston - A Historical Review, Scenes from the past: 6, Foxline, ISBN 1-870119-05-3
  • 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, Sparkford : Stephens, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, OCLC 60251199
  • Dewick, T. (2002) Complete atlas of railway station names, Shepperton : Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-2798-6
  • Farrell, R.J. (2007) Wigan to Preston: The 'North Union' line remembered, Scenes from the past: 52, Foxline, ISBN 978-1-870119-88-7
  • Reed, M.C. (1996) The London & North Western Railway, Atlantic, ISBN 0-906899-66-4
  • Reed, Brian (1969) Crewe to Carlisle, Ian Allan, ISBN 0-7110-0057-3
  • Wignall, C.J. (1983) Complete British railways maps and gazetteer, from 1830-1981, Oxford : Oxford Pub. Co., ISBN 0-86093-162-5