Station code EBA DfT category F2 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference SD557184 Managed by Northern 2011/12 61,342 | |
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Similar Buckshaw Parkway railway st, Garswood railway station, Huyton railway station, Broad Green railway st, Prescot railway station | ||
Euxton Balshaw Lane is one of two railway stations situated in Euxton /ˈɛkstən/, Lancashire, England. It is a local station on the West Coast Main Line on the stretch between Wigan and Preston.
Contents
History
The railway line between Wigan and Preston was opened by the North Union Railway (NUR) on 31 October 1838, and among the original stations was one at Euxton, close to the Bay Horse public house on the south side of Euxton Lane. The NUR was split up in 1888, part of it (including Euxton station) becoming wholly owned by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Euxton station closed on 2 September 1895 at the behest of the Anderton Family.
A new station named Balshaw Lane and Euxton, between Coppull and Leyland and about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) south of the original Euxton station, was opened by the LNWR on 2 September 1905.
Balshaw Lane & Euxton station was closed by British Rail on 6 October 1969 as part of the Beeching review of the UK railway network.
Euxton also had a station at the Royal Ordnance Factory site, ROF Chorley, on the Preston to Manchester line which opened along with the factory in the 1930s; the station was named 'ROF Halt' and closed in 1965.
As well as this another station on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's line (Preston to Manchester) was built named 'Euxton Junction' which was near to the Pack Saddle Bridge. Access to this station was via a footbridge from next to today's gastro pub, 'The Railway at Euxton'. However, this station closed in 1895.
The present station
Services from the former Balshaw Lane and Euxton station restarted on 15 December 1997. It was officially reopened in 1998, (the opening ceremony being performed by former Radio 1 DJ and, latterly, Radio Lancashire presenter and transport enthusiast, Andy Peebles), and was now named Euxton Balshaw Lane. It has two platforms on the slower north/south lines of the West Coast Main Line and is served by the Northern company with trains to Blackpool North and Liverpool. Euxton Balshaw Lane does not have any full-time staff, PA system or ticket office, nor, unlike Horwich Parkway railway station, a station built around the same period, any clocks or display screens.
The use of "Balshaw Lane" in the station's name was added, at the time of opening, at Lancashire County Council's behest (the main station's sponsor and funder) in view of the possibility, at some future stage, of the opening of a station on the site of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton and to distinguish itself (and avoid a subsequent name change) from that station. It was expected that the station at the ROF site might be named either "Euxton" or "Euxton ROF". In fact, when Euxton's other railway station eventually opened in October 2011, on the Manchester-Preston route, it was called Buckshaw Parkway.
Services
The station has a daily hourly service in each direction with 2 trains per hour in the peaks. Services run from Liverpool Lime Street to Preston and a number of services extending beyond Lime Street to Liverpool South Parkway. A limited number of trains run beyond Preston to/from Blackpool North on weekdays, along with most Sunday services.