St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway

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St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway

Legend Skelmersdale Branch Rainford Junction Liverpool and Kirkby Bury Railway Rainford Village Rookery Old Mill Lane Crank Moss Bank Pilkington Glass Gerards Bridge Original St Helens to Wigan Central Station LSHSLR to Lowton St Marys St Helens Central to Liverpool Peasley Cross Hays Chemicals Sutton Oak Liverpool and St Helens Junction Manchester Railway Warrington and Stockport Railway Clock Face Warrington Arpley Union Bank Farm Halt Warrington Bank Quay Low Level Farnworth & Bold Cuerdley Appleton Fiddlers Ferry & Penketh Ann Street Sankey Bridges to Hough Green to Sankey Widnes Central Widnes South Runcorn Gap Lifting Bridge Widnes Dock Runcorn Railway Bridge LNWR Ditton Junction to Weaver Junction Hale Bank Speke 1864 extension to Liverpool Church Road Garston Garston Dock Garston and Liverpool South Parkway Liverpool Railway Allerton West Allerton Mossley Hill Sefton Park Wavertree Liverpool and Manchester Railway Edge Hill to Liverpool Lime Street

St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was an early railway company that acted as a feeder to the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It opened 21 February 1833. In 1845 it became the St Helens Canal and Railway when it amalgamated with the Sankey Brook Navigation. By 1854 the entire concern was known as the St Helens Railway.

Contents 1 Overview 2 The Railway 3 Future 4 Share holders 5 Locomotives 6 External links

[edit] Overview

The railway ran from St. Helens to Widnes railway station with passenger stations including Sutton Oak, Farnworth and Bold and Clock Face being served. The railway was mainly used for freight including the many collieries around St. Helens but was popular for passengers who could use the line for connecting to trains travelling through the North West.

It was extended from Runcorn Gap westward to Garston Docks in 1852, and connected to the Garston and Liverpool Railway into Liverpool. Eastward extension to Warrington Arpley railway station and a connection with the Warrington and Stockport Railway happened by 1854.

A new line was built to the north of St Helens it connected Rainford Junction, Skelmersdale Branch and the Liverpool and Bury Railway with St Helens. It opened in 1 February 1858 and was taken over by the London and North Western Railway on 4 August 1864. Passenger services ended 5 July 1951 and freight on 6 July 1964.

From 1860 the Warrington to Garston line was leased by LNWR. The railway opened a branch from Edge Hill to Speke Junction on the 15 February 1864^[1]. This provided the LNWR with a more direct route to Warrington and served as its main Liverpool to London route. The entire railway was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway in 1864. The from 1 April 1869, a line from Ditton to the LNWR main line at Weaver Junction, via Runcorn Railway Bridge, was opened for passenger trains, two months after it had opened for goods. Further shortening the London route. This remains the main route today as part of the West Coast Main Line Crewe-Liverpool spur, whilst the section from Ditton to Warrington, passenger services ended in 1962 and is now a busy freight line.

The Rainford Junction to Widnes section closed to passengers in 1951 but was still used for mineral trains up until the 1980's. The last trains along the line ran irregularly and only to the Hays Chemicals siding near Sutton Oak. The majority of this line now lies derelict.

[edit] The Railway

Around the Sutton area, especially, near Reginald Road, the bridges show us how many tracks used to run on this line, indeed up to 10 tracks crossed the bridge over Reginald Road. The railway still has many original features hidden along its trackway, such as beds of sleepers, a derelict signal box and several signal posts.

[edit] Future

There are currently no plans to reduce services on the railway and as of 2006 plans are afoot to re open the railway up to Clock Face, with a link once again to St.Helens Junction, meaning a St.Helens Central to Manchester Victoria service will once again be operable. It is likely the Clock Face station will be a single line, rather than the 10 lines that once ran at this railway's widest point.

[edit] Share holders

Amongst the original share holders where Joseph Crosfield and James Muspratt.

[edit] Locomotives

This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This is not a complete list:

• No.11 Tyne, 0-6-0, became LNWR no.1377, sold to Benjamin Piercy (contractor) in 1865, became no.3 Chancellor on the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway in 1866, scrapped about 1874

• Name/number unknown, 0-6-0, sold to the Bishops Castle Railway which named it Plowden

• Novelty (locomotive), arrived on the line after its failure in the Rainhill Trials.

[edit] External links

• Information about the disused stations on the line
• Information about the disused stations on the line
• Pictures of the line
• London and North Western Railway Society
• http://newton-le-willows.com : History of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
• Skelmersdale History