Earlestown  | |||||
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 Platform at historic Earlestown station | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Earlestown,Newton-le-Willows,St Helens England | ||||
| Coordinates | 53°27′04″N2°38′17″W / 53.451°N 2.638°W /53.451; -2.638 | ||||
| Grid reference | SJ578951 | ||||
| Managed by | Northern Trains | ||||
| Transit authority | Merseytravel | ||||
| Platforms | 5 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | ERL | ||||
| Fare zone | A1 | ||||
| Classification | DfT category E | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Liverpool and Manchester Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | London and North Western Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 17 September 1830 (1830-09-17) | Opened asViaduct | ||||
| October 1832 | RenamedWarrington Junction | ||||
| c. 1839 | RenamedNewton Junction | ||||
| 1852 | RenamedWarrington Junction | ||||
| 1861 | RenamedEarlestown Junction | ||||
| 5 June 1950 | RenamedEarlestown | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2020/21 |  68,338 | ||||
| Interchange | 4,593 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.231 million | ||||
| Interchange | 12,893 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.275 million | ||||
| Interchange | 51,348 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.302 million | ||||
| Interchange | 29,277 | ||||
| 2024/25 | 0.331 million | ||||
| Interchange | 43,987 | ||||
Listed Building – Grade II | |||||
| Official name | Earlestown railway station | ||||
| Designated | 3 February 1966 | ||||
| Reference no. | 1343264 | ||||
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Earlestown railway station is a railway station inEarlestown, Merseyside, England, in the Merseytravel region. The station is branded Merseyrail. It was an original station on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opening in 1830. It became a junction station when theWarrington and Newton Railway opened in 1831. It is one of the few "triangular" stations in Britain.
TheLiverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) opened its line through the site on 17 September 1830.[1]
In the early days of railway operations intermediate stations were often little more than halts, usually positioned where the railway was crossed by a road or turnpike, in this case the station was at the first place eastbound after crossingSankey Viaduct, where the line crossed a road, Wargrave Lane (now Wargrave Road).[2][3]
The station, or more correctly stopping place, was one of sixteen listed by theL&MR on 1 January 1831, at the time it was known as Viaduct. Making it one of the oldest passenger railway stations in the world.[1][4]
The station became a junction in 1831 when theWarrington and Newton Railway (W&NR) reached theL&MR. TheW&NR opened the first section of its line in June 1831 to the 'south end of Newton' to cater for traffic between Warrington and the races at Newton Race Course.[a][b] Shortly afterwards, on 25 July 1831, a connection was made between theW&NR and theL&MR when theW&NR extended its line northwards and a west curve, that is towards Liverpool, was installed.[7] TheL&MR did not initially allow theW&NR to run their passenger trains on its line but did agree to attachW&NR coaches to its own trains at Newton Junction for onward delivery to Manchester or Liverpool. This arrangement changed in 1832 when theL&MR decided that their own coaches would be used and passengers would have to change trains at Newton Junction.[8]
The space in and around the station became more congested when theHaydock colliery line connected to theL&MR towards Manchester in December 1831 and then crossed theL&MR via an at-grade almost right-angled crossing to join theW&NR towards Warrington in 1832. TheL&MR objected to this at-grade crossing they were unable to do much about it due to an existing right-of-way for a tramway.[9][10] This line then bifurcated with the main route continuing to join theW&NR line south of the station, the branch turned eastwards into a dead-end from which a further line crossed south of the station, crossing the west curve, again at-grade, to theSankey Canal at Bradlegh Wharf. There was a spur intoMuspratt'svitriol works which closed in 1873.[11][12][13][c]
A further connection towards Manchester was made when theW&NR east curve opened on 4 July 1837, creating another at-grade crossing with the Haydock colliery line.[16]
The two curves had a very tight radii causing problems leading to breakages of crank axles onGJR early locomotives leading in turn to the introduction ofCrewe type locomotives with outside cylinders. Trains travelling on the curves were restricted to a slow maximum speed, needing careful handling as the drivers needed to use a lot of power in the northwards direction, because of the gradient of 1 in 85 for the 1 mile (1.6 km) up to the junctions, and then ease off under control into the station.[d][16]
The use of the east curve reduced considerably when theManchester and Birmingham Railway opened fromManchester Store Street toCrewe on 10 August 1842.[17] The east curve continued to be used by Manchester to Chester trains and those from the south heading further north than the Liverpool to Manchester line via theNorth Union Railway.[18]
TheL&NWR direct line from Winwick, just north of Warrington, to Golbourne, north of the formerL&MR (the Winwick cut-off) on the formerWigan Branch Railway line opened on 1 August 1864 cutting the station out of the route of most of the long-distance north–south traffic.[19]
Passenger services from the south to Liverpool reduced dramatically in 1869 when theRuncorn Railway Bridge was opened by theL&NWR, although the Newton route was still used by some freight trains.[20]
The station has had a variety of names, when theL&MR opened the line in 1830 the stopping place was calledViaduct. The following year, when the connection between theW&NR and theL&MR was made it was renamed toWarrington Junction.[1]
On 1 January 1835 theW&NR was acquired by theGrand Junction Railway (GJR) which opened the remainder of its line toBirmingham in July 1837, thus providing through services between Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.[21]
When the firstBradshaw's Guide was published in 1839 the station was calledNewton Junction,[e] contemporaryOrdnance Survey mapping also shows the station asNewton Junction.[3] Although it was sometimes known by both names simultaneously, theL&MR calling itWarrington Junction and theW&NR/GJR calling itNewton Junction.[22]
On 8 August 1845 theL&MR and theGJR amalgamated under theGJR name and on 16 July 1846 theGJR amalgamated with others to become theLondon and North Western Railway (L&NWR) whose mainline extended south toLondon Euston and north toPreston with connections toCarlisle.[23]
In 1852 Bradshaw's guide was showing the station had been renamed toWarrington Junction.[1]
In 1853 theL&NWR leased the Viaduct Foundry fromJones & Potts who had ceased trading in 1852, subsequently purchasing the site outright in 1860, it became the Earlestown wagon works.[f] The foundry was adjacent to the railway on its north side between the station and theSankey Canal[25] In 1855 the works and the new town that sprang up next to it was named Earlestown in honour of theL&NWR's senior directorHardman Earle who had been instrumental in setting up the works.[g][24][27]
In 1861 the station was renamed Earlestown Junction.[1][28] The suffix junction was officially dropped on 5 June 1950 thoughEarlestown had been used earlier than this onLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) tickets.[1]
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After the curves were built the station had an unusual triangular configuration with six platforms, one each side of the formerL&MR Liverpool to Manchester main line (platform 1 towards Manchester and platform 2 towards Liverpool) and one each side of the formerW&NR lines in the east (platform 5 towards Manchester and platform 6 towards Warrington) and west curves (platform 3 towards Warrington and platform 4 towards Liverpool).[3][29][30]
Platform 1, theL&MR platform for Manchester, was directly accessible from the adjacent road (originally Pepper Alley Lane, by 1893 Railway Street had been built), by 1893 the other platforms were accessed by a long footbridge stretching from platform 1 to platform 4 with steps in the centre down to platforms 2 and 3. The east curve platforms were some distance from the rest of the station, a footpath led from the eastern end of platform 2, crossing the Haydock colliery railway to the Manchester bound platform, a further footbridge was needed to reach the Warrington platform.[29][31] In 1903 an additional footbridge was provided from platform 1 to platform 2 and a covered walkway provided to platform 5, the walkway was still in existence in 1973 but had gone by 1975.[20][32]
A station building was located in the angle of theLiverpool toManchester main line and the west curve (at the western end of platforms 2 and 3), it was probably builtc.1835–1840.[h] The building is described by Biddle (2003):
A little Tudor building of amazing elaboration and charm was erected in a creamy-golden stone. Windows are mullioned, including a large rectangular bay at the west end adorned with carved decoration and mini-crenellations. On the south side a window angled to the curve is surmounted by three giant saw-tooth crenellations and blank shields on a frieze, accompanied by three different octagonal chimney stacks. The north side has a low-pitched hipped and slated veranda on wooden posts.[33]
The building's roof was replaced with one of a shallower pitch in 1903, Biddle (2003) reported it as having collapsed recently with only a temporary replacement.[33] A full history of the building is unavailable, in 1947 it was a waiting room.[34] prior to this it was at some time the booking office.[30] It was listed at grade 2 in 1966.[35] The building was refurbished in 1980 to hold an exhibition celebrating 150 years of British railways.[36] Opposite theTudor building on platform 1 there was a waiting shelter with a cantilevered roof.[31]
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Until 1880 the booking office was in the end terraced house on Railway Place.[37] Inc.1880 theL&NWR built a long, narrow ticket office in blue brick and red terracotta on platform 1.[33][38]
The station was rebuilt in 1902 when buildings were provided on platforms 5 and 6 these buildings were demolished in 1972–1973 to provide room for masts to support overhead wire electrification.[39]
The platforms on the west curve (platforms 3 and 4) closed some time between 1973 and 1975 as the curve was reduced to a single bi-directional track.[20] A single platform was brought back into use by 2009, this may have happened in 1994 asMerseyrail planned for the platform to re-open then.[40]
The platforms were re-numbered, platforms 1 and 2 remained the same, platform 3 became bi-directional and the east curve platforms became platform 4 towards Manchester and platform 5 towards Warrington.[32][41]
The safe working of the station and it's junctions created additional problems for the railway, over and above the novelty of operating a new railway. There had been nothing like this before and rules had to be created to keep things as safe as possible. Initially any special conditions were advised through the published timetable and on large placard notices.[42] The station had four policemen constantly on duty, Newton Junction was the first station in Britain to have fixed signals installed, these were chequered boards on posts that could be turned through 90° to indicate another train was just ahead, several lamps were used at night.[43]
Initially the station had only to deal withL&MR second class trains, that is trains stopping trains at all the stopping places on the mainline. There were two of these trains in each direction, shortly increased to three.[i][46]
By 1836 the service pattern had evolved to five daily second class trains each way, with an additional two per day during the summer months.[47] In 1837 theGJR opened as far as Birmingham, they operated their trains in a similar manner as theL&MR with first class andmixed trains carrying both classes, their trains ran through the station to both Liverpool and Manchester, initially there were four first class trains per day and two mixed class.[48][49]
Roscoe (1839) describes the operation of theGJR trains at Warrington:
The carriages for Liverpool and Manchester, which have come from Birmingham in one train, are here separated; and, while the Firefly continues to rush forward with those destined for Liverpool, the Comet, or some other locomotive of equally ominous name, flies off with the Manchester carriages in quick succession... The plan is this: theseparate trains from Liverpool and Manchester arrive at Warrington a few minutes before the train from Birmingham; the locomotive which has come from Liverpool takes theunited trains forward to Birmingham, while the engine which has brought its train from Manchester returns back again with the carriages which have arrived from Birmingham.[50]
The crossing of all three sides of the triangle of lines by the Haydock colliery lines caused difficulties but it was especially difficult at the crossing of theL&MR main-line as this junction was at the bottom of an incline on the colliery line.[11][51] In July 1838 a tall flagpole was erected and a policeman hoisted a distinctive coloured flag when a coal train was crossing the mainline.[12][52] The flag eventually became a semaphore signal which remained in use until the colliery line closed in the mid 1960s.[20][53]
A whole section of the rule book was devoted to trying to regulate the various lines through the junction, it was the busiest and most complicated point on the line.[54][55]
By 1895 services through the station were:
Other historic services included:
Between 1893 and 1907 a goods shed with a yard was built to the south of the main line on the western side of the station. Rail access was from the western end, road access from the east.[31][38] The goods yard was able to accommodate most types of goods including live stock and was equipped with a five ton crane.[63]
In theBeeching Report of 1963, Earlestown was listed as one of the stations to be closed, but it remained open along with other stations between Liverpool and Manchester that had also been listed such asHuyton andEdge Hill.[70]
The original south to northwest coast route, using the east curve, was electrified at25 kV 50 Hz AC at the same time as the shorter route using the Winwick cut-off at the end of July 1973.[71][72]
The remaining parts of the station were electrified as part of theNorth West electrification, which was announced in July 2009.[73] This project saw the original West Coast Main Line electrification joined to theManchester to Liverpool electrification at the east and south sides of Earlestown station. This electrification work was completed in February 2015.[74]
In 2025 the ticket office is staffed for the duration of service here each day (06:00 to midnight weekdays and Saturdays, 08:30 to midnight Sundays) and there are ticket machines on platforms 1 and 2. Digital information screens, timetable poster boards and automatic announcements provide train running information. All platforms have either shelters or canopies.[75]
There two entrances to the station, past the booking office on Railway Street directly on to platform 1, or via a footpath from Old Wargrave Road onto platform 5. Only platforms 1 and 5 have step-free access, as the others are reached via the stepped footbridge between platforms 1 and 2 or via the stepped footbridge between platforms 5 and 4.[75]
Services indicated are the normal Monday to Saturday services for the summer of 2025.
The station is due to have new lifts and footbridges installed in a refurbishment due to start in 2026, the plan also includes a reopened ticket office and café. Even the station's ‘triangle area’ is being transformed into community parkland.[79]
