Rainford railway station

"Rainford Junction" redirects here. For the settlement known as Rainford Junction, surrounding the station, see Rainford.
Rainford National Rail
Location
Place Rainford
Local authority St Helens
Coordinates 53°31′01″N 2°47′20″W / 53.517°N 2.789°W / 53.517; -2.789Coordinates: 53°31′01″N 2°47′20″W / 53.517°N 2.789°W / 53.517; -2.789
Grid reference SD478025
Operations
Station code RNF
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 51,356
2011/12 Increase 52,288
2012/13 Decrease 51,414
2013/14 Increase 51,992
2014/15 Decrease 49,570
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE Merseytravel
Zone A2
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Rainford from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Rainford railway station is situated to the north of the village of Rainford, Merseyside, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Northern.

History

It was built in 1858 as Rainford Junction[1] at the junction of the Liverpool and Bury Railway, the East Lancashire Railway's Skelmersdale Branch and the St. Helens Railway, replacing an earlier station (1848) called Rainford. The main line and Skelmersdale branch were taken over by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1859, whilst the St Helens line became part of the London and North Western Railway in 1864. The former L&BR route was subsequently upgraded by the L&YR to become its main line between Liverpool and Manchester, carrying expresses to Manchester Victoria, Bradford Exchange and Leeds Central as well as local trains to Wigan Wallgate and Bolton until after the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and well beyond.

Services on the line to St Helens were withdrawn by the British Transport Commission on 18 June 1951 and to Ormskirk on 5 November 1956,[2] although goods traffic survived on both until the early 1960s.

Through trains from Liverpool Exchange to Bolton via Wigan continued until 1977, though the line from here westwards to Fazakerley had been reduced to single track operation in May 1970.[3] After the closure of Exchange in May 1977, services initially terminated at Sandhills until electrification work out as far as Kirkby was completed (as DMUs were not allowed to use the tunnels to the new underground stations at Moorfields & Liverpool Central). Thereafter the line was severed at Kirkby, with through passengers having to change between diesel & electric services there to continue their journeys. The station signal box was retained to supervise the 5 14 miles (8.4 km) single line section to what was now the terminus of the branch - this remains in operation today and is now the only one left on the line.

The station was renamed Rainford on 7 May 1973.

Services

Trains operate to Kirkby (for connections to Liverpool Central) in one direction and to Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria via Walkden in the other, usually every hour (Monday to Saturday). Most eastbound trains continue beyond Manchester, to Todmorden and Blackburn.[4]

There is no late evening service (after 19:30) or on Sundays. A normal service operates on most bank holidays.

Notes

  1. Butt, p.193
  2. Marshall, p.156
  3. '"Disused Stations - Rainford Junction"Disused Stations; Retrieved 25 March 2016
  4. GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 82

References

External links

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Kirkby   Northern
Kirkby Branch Line
  Upholland
Disused railways
Hey's Crossing Halt   Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Skelmersdale Branch
  Terminus
Rainford Village   LNWR
St. Helens Railway
  Terminus
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