Earlestown railway station
pte=Merseytravel | zone=A | Earlestown station ticket office |
Earlestown railway station is a railway station at Earlestown near Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside, England.The station lies on the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was opened in 1830, and in 1831 the Warrington and Newton Railway was opened. It made a junction at a point in the township of Newton, facing in the direction of Liverpool.
Earlestown station was built at the point of intersection of these two early railways, incidentally forming the first steam railway junction, which was given the name Newton Junction. It was later named 'Earlestown', after James Hardman Earle, a director of the Liverpool and Manchester company. It was selected as the site of the company's carriage and wagon works, and thus developed into something of a 'company town'. There was also a branch to a local colliery.
The junction had very tight curvature and this caused problems - instructions were issued on the maximum speed at which trains could go from one line to another. The original building now forms the (currently unused) waiting room of Earlestown Station.
The Grand Junction Railway absorbed the Warrington and Newton company and used it to access the Liverpool and Manchester line in 1837. A new "Curve" was built at Newton Junction so that trains could run towards Manchester; this gave the station a triangular formation with 6 platforms.
The method of operation involved the despatch of a Grand Junction train from both Liverpool and Manchester to meet at Earlestown. These were joined together and continued as one train to Birmingham. Both portions conveyed through carriages (after 1839) to London The Grand Junction trains arriving from Birmingham were usually split at Warrington Bank Quay, and passed through Earlestown as separate Liverpool and Manchester trains.
The London and North Western Railway later operated their main line service to the Scottish border by way of Earlestown and Parkside, utilising a short section of the old Liverpool and Manchester line. This inconvenient routing was eliminated by the construction of the Golborne cut-off, a direct connection avoiding Earlestown. (However, the old routing was wired up at the electrification, for use as a diversionary route.)
In contemporary times, there are frequent services to Liverpool (Lime Street), Manchester (Victoria and Piccadilly), Warrington (Bank Quay), Chester and then to North Wales. The line through the 'curve' is electrified as part of the spur which runs from Winwick Junction (on the West Coast Mainline north of Warrington) and Golborne Junction (south of Wigan, where the main line is rejoined). There are no regular electric passenger services through Earlestown or Newton le Willows, though. Only diverted electric trains use this section.
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