Wigan Wallgate ticket gates & plans to merge Wallgate & North Western stations

[Senex]

Given that the L&Y route is nowadays used only by short trains, is there no way a couple of short platforms could be provided just north of the crossovers between the L&Y and the LNW, taking some of the car-park space if necessary? Then a footbridge would simply create a single Wigan station. Or is there now good reason why this could not be done?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Call me a railway dinosaur, but I see nothing wrong whatsoever with the existing two station site, which has been the case for eons.

 

[najaB]

Call me a railway dinosaur, but I see nothing wrong whatsoever with the existing two station site, which has been the case for eons.

Certainly nothing that a bit of signage and a covered walkway couldn't fix.

 

[47271]

Quite so, if someone's looking for a big station merging project in the area then I'd suggest that Warrington is in far greater need. A change from one to the other there really is slow and inconvenient.

 

[QueensCurve]

Call me a railway dinosaur, but I see nothing wrong whatsoever with the existing two station site, which has been the case for eons.

I don't think a unification should be ruled out just becaule it is what has always been there. There may be opportunities for better disability access and better marketing of connecting services.

Also with electrification from Bolton to North Western but not to Wallgate in the offing, the future would appear to offer more fragmentation of services across two stations not less.
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Quite so, if someone's looking for a big station merging project in the area then I'd suggest that Warrington is in far greater need. A change from one to the other there really is slow and inconvenient.

In the case of Warrington the distance between the stations doesn't offer easy unification in the way it would in Wigan.

Dare I suggest a joint station at the intersection of the two routes would be worse placed for passengers.

See Warrington Town Centre on Google Maps.

 

[PR1Berske]

Call me a railway dinosaur, but I see nothing wrong whatsoever with the existing two station site, which has been the case for eons.

A fair comment. But while the station buildings stay where they are largely disconnected, everything else around them has changed: electrification, passenger expectations, service patterns, footfall, even the layout of the street between. It may be that staying the same for eons is why they must change...

 

[QueensCurve]

A fair comment. But while the station buildings stay where they are largely disconnected, everything else around them has changed: electrification, passenger expectations, service patterns, footfall, even the layout of the street between. It may be that staying the same for eons is why they must change...

Granted the wigan stations may well be separate for a long time.

They how however approach each other closely, have lines on a shared route immediately South of the station, have a site for potential collocation and are convenient for the town centre.

 

[WatcherZero]

A fair comment. But while the station buildings stay where they are largely disconnected, everything else around them has changed: electrification, passenger expectations, service patterns, footfall, even the layout of the street between. It may be that staying the same for eons is why they must change...

Wallgate has actually moved twice as well, and 'Eons ago' there was a third station called Central in the town centre. They've hardly been static.

 

[Senex]

Wallgate has actually moved twice as well, and 'Eons ago' there was a third station called Central in the town centre. They've hardly been static.

Indeed. The report of the first move from the Liverpool Daily Post of 28 May 1860 makes it clear that the original L&Y station was on the same side of the road as the LNW station:

New Railway Station at Wigan.—The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway new passenger station at Wigan, which has beec in course of erection during the past winter, and which has also been patiently waited for by the inhabitants for many years, was opened on Saturday, the whole of the officials of the company then taking up their quarters in the new building. There were no formal proceedings connected with the opening, but a number of fog signals were placed in the track of each of the early trains, so that as it approached the station it fired a salute in honour of the occasion. The new building is situated about 200 yards from the Wallgate, on the opposite side of the road to that on which stands the hovel, which until now has done duty for a station. It is about 70 yards in length, in front being a spacious covered platform. On the opposite side of the line, however, there is not a shed of any description to shelter the passengers from the inclemency of the weather, an omission which it is hoped the company will soon rectify. The rooms are all very spacious, and they are fitted up in the usual manner."

The present station, a little to the east of the 1860 one, was opened in February 1896.

 

[PR1Berske]

Indeed. The report of the first move from the Liverpool Daily Post of 28 May 1860 makes it clear that the original L&Y station was on the same side of the road as the LNW station:

New Railway Station at Wigan.—The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway new passenger station at Wigan, which has beec in course of erection during the past winter, and which has also been patiently waited for by the inhabitants for many years, was opened on Saturday, the whole of the officials of the company then taking up their quarters in the new building. There were no formal proceedings connected with the opening, but a number of fog signals were placed in the track of each of the early trains, so that as it approached the station it fired a salute in honour of the occasion. The new building is situated about 200 yards from the Wallgate, on the opposite side of the road to that on which stands the hovel, which until now has done duty for a station. It is about 70 yards in length, in front being a spacious covered platform. On the opposite side of the line, however, there is not a shed of any description to shelter the passengers from the inclemency of the weather, an omission which it is hoped the company will soon rectify. The rooms are all very spacious, and they are fitted up in the usual manner."

The present station, a little to the east of the 1860 one, was opened in February 1896.

Thank you so much for that quote, would that newspapers wrote like that these days!

 

[Ianno87]

Given that the L&Y route is nowadays used only by short trains, is there no way a couple of short platforms could be provided just north of the crossovers between the L&Y and the LNW, taking some of the car-park space if necessary? Then a footbridge would simply create a single Wigan station. Or is there now good reason why this could not be done?

They would be on a pretty steep gradient - the Wallgate lines have to drop down quite quickly to get under Wallgate itself from being level with the WCML (which passes over the top of Wallgate, showing the level difference needing to be gained over only a distance of 200-300m or so)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Wallgate has actually moved twice as well, and 'Eons ago' there was a third station called Central in the town centre. They've hardly been static.

Wigan Central was the northern terminus of the Wigan Junction Railway and was opened on 3rd October 1892. The A49 River Way currently covers the site. There was an earlier terminus at Wigan Darlington Street that opened on 1st April 1884 together with the eight other stations on that line. Darlington Street was not really a convenient situation and a half-mile northern line extension to the new Wigan Central station was made in 1892. Services to the Manchester area arrived at Manchester Central station, via the CLC Liverpool to Manchester line at the junction via the junction in the Glazebrook area,

Wigan Central station finally closed to passengers on 5th April 1965, the day before my 20th birthday, I am pleased that I had the opportunity to travel on this line when it was open.

 

[WatcherZero]

They would be on a pretty steep gradient - the Wallgate lines have to drop down quite quickly to get under Wallgate itself from being level with the WCML (which passes over the top of Wallgate, showing the level difference needing to be gained over only a distance of 200-300m or so)

Theres a lot of unused space on the embankment further back from the freight days, they could easily have the turn off for the WCML earlier and have parallel tracks start diving earlier. The station car park used to be a host of freight sidings at about 1-2 meters below North Western station track level.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Oh dear, I'm quoting myself, from just six days ago:

As has been said the relocation of Wallgate's platforms to the other side of the road is a non-starter: the curve and gradient there are outside of current standards for new platform construction.

And given the curve on which the east end of the current station sits the most likely change would be for the station to move slightly to the west. All this talk of merging the two Wigan stations is just crayonista waffle!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It might only be a small matter, but Wigan Wallgate station is better placed for accessing the large Wigan bus station than Wigan North Western station.

 

[QueensCurve]

Wigan Central station finally closed to passengers on 5th April 1965, the day before my 20th birthday, I am pleased that I had the opportunity to travel on this line when it was open.

You lucky man.

The first moribund railway I travelled on "for posterity" was Keswick to Penrith on 19 March 1972 (last day of service).

I was 11 at the time.

 

[WatcherZero]

Oh dear, I'm quoting myself, from just six days ago:



And given the curve on which the east end of the current station sits the most likely change would be for the station to move slightly to the west. All this talk of merging the two Wigan stations is just crayonista waffle!

Wouldnt have to be if it wasnt running in to North Western platforms. If the lost sidings land was reinstated there wouldnt even be a curve at all.