Park Lane Halt railway station

Park Lane Halt
Park Lane Halt
General information
Location	Bickershaw, Wigan; England
Coordinates	53°30′08″N 2°34′24″W / 53.5023°N 2.5732°W
Grid reference	SD620007
Platforms	2 (probable)
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
by 1923	Station opened
Closed to passengers on 2 November 1964	Station closed

Park Lane Halt railway station was an unadvertised halt which served the communities of Bickershaw and Abram southeast of Wigan, England.

GCR lines to
St Helens and Wigan

Legend

Wigan Central

Wigan Darlington Street

Springs Branch

Manchester–Southport line

Ince

Lower Ince

Wigan avoiding line

to Pemberton

Hindley

to Springs Branch Junction

Manchester–Southport line

Lancashire Union Railway

Lancashire Union Railway

"The Whelley Loop"

Strangeways West Junction

Hindley South

Strangeways East Junction

Platt Bridge

Manchester and Wigan Railway

St Helens Central (GCR)

St Helens Central

Liverpool–Wigan line

Haydock

Haydock Colliery Tunnel

West Coast Main Line

Golborne North

West Leigh and Bedford

Liverpool, St Helens and

South Lancashire Railway

Wigan Junction Railways

Lowton St Mary's Junction

Chat Moss line

Liverpool–Manchester lines

Glazebrook

Location and nearby stations

The station was on the Wigan Junction Railways line, known locally as the "Wigan Central line", which ran from Wigan Central to Glazebrook.^[3] It was situated immediately south of the level crossing by which Park Lane crossed the tracks. The word "Halt" in a station name usually implied that it was unstaffed.

Services

The service patterns remain the subject of research. Authoritative printed and on line works on the route make no direct mention of the halt, though one does include an extract of a 1926 OS map on which the halt appears.^[4] It is possible that some service trains made unadvertised calls, but more likely that all 3rd Class unadvertised workmen's trains called. No published extracts from Bradshaw, nor the 1922 version makes any mention of the halt.

An image of a printed Great Central Railway ticket issued to a "Workman" from Park Lane Halt to Wigan Central has been published.^[5] This implies the halt was opened before 1 January 1923 when the Great Central ceased to exist as a separate entity.

The halt is named on OS maps between 1926 and 1952, not before and not after. This latest mention date does not confirm the halt was still open then.

Opening, naming and closure

The line opened in 1884 and closed to passengers on 2 November 1964, closing completely in 1968. The track through the site of the halt was subsequently lifted.

Afterlife

In 2015 the trackbed could be identified and Park Lane itself remained as an unmade private road and bridleway. No trace of the halt survived.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Bickershaw and Abram Line and station closed		Great Central Railway Wigan Junction Railways		West Leigh and Bedford Line and station closed

References

^ Butt 1995, p. xxx.
^ Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 111.
^ The line and mileages via railwaycodes
^ Sweeney 2013, p. 57.
^ Croughton, Kidner & Young 1982, p. 35.

Sources

Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R. W.; Young, Alan (1982). Private and Untimetabled Railway Stations, Halts and Stopping Places. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-281-0. OCLC 10507501.
Sweeney, Dennis (2013). The Wigan Junction Railways. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9550030-5-9.