Buzby
Member
Hopefully TPTB forget this bit of history - I can just see the new HS2 runt stations having this appended to their name if we're not careful.....
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Ticket barriers at Wigan North Western
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Haywain
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Turn left out of North Western station, go under the railway bridge, turn left and it's there on your left in the railway arches. It's an excellent pub with a great beer selection.
FrontSideBus
Member
Awesome pub. I always try and plan my journey so that if I have a change at WNW, I have enough time to pop down for a nice pint 
Almost but not quite. Grouping got rid of LNWR, not created it, and it brought both Wigan North Western and Wigan Wallgate (which up to that point had both simply been called "Wigan") under the control of LMS. Wallgate had previously been an L&Y station.
The suffixes were added by LMS to distinguish between the two, "North Western" being chosen in reference to its previous owner.
Wigan Central went to LNER under grouping, but was already called Wigan Central anyway, having been a GCR station - so again not related to its geographic location.
The only one of them whose name relates to its location is Wallgate.
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Haywain
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That's not right, I'm sure all of them were/are in Wigan.
Well OK if we're being pedantic. The only one of the suffixes which relates to its location is Wallgate.
Is that better?
Haywain
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Buzby
Member
I was thinking more of this one…..
(I found the pub by accident on my way back from the Tippler!)Attachments
Halwynd
Member
I've learnt something new today - thanks. Always thought Wigan Central was based on location.
Pinus contorta
Member
It's not really in the centre ( or wasn't anyway pre 1964) because the main thoroughfare was Standishgate Wallgate Market street ( clue in the word gate). All that changed / shifted with the opening of the ring road and gradual re development post 1985.
vic-rijrode
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The name Central was used because the line branched off the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) route between Manchester Central & Liverpool Central and was owned (eventually) by the Great Central Railway (one of the partners in the CLC).
Hence also the terminus of St Helens Central on the branch off that branch.
Both Wigan and St Helens Central Stations had very quick competitive trains to Manchester compared to the LNWR and LYR routes.
Originally I believe the Wigan line was to be extended to Southport....
It was Blackpool that the GCR was eyeing up
Halwynd
Member
Thank you both...
I used to go to school adjacent the GCR line to St Helens Central, so this is very much of interest. I can remember hearing a few Class 40s in the shallow cutting near Haydock Park in the early 80s, but never managed to see them. I think there was still an operational oil terminal at Haydock in those days, or perhaps they were just recovering track.
I do recall looking at an old GCR timetable a few years ago and the first thing I noticed was that the journey times from Wigan to Manchester were faster than those today.
I once tried to look for the exact location of where Wigan Central stood. I know it's roughly on the site of the Grand Arcade shopping centre, more exactly I guessed it was where the now closed Debenhams store is located, but might be a bit out.
Fascinating to read that there might once have been a second line to Southport.
Pinus contorta
Member
The only evidence I can recall of the railways existence in Wigan nowadays is by looking at the canalisation of the River Douglas. It does a weird dog leg. The high rise flats in the 1960s. The Debenhams & shopping mall 20 years ago and more recent redevelopment where LIDL is have completely transformed the landscape.
Re the st Helens Central station . It's a car park and its obvious where it came into the town centre on embankment and bridges behind what used to be the gas works on Pocket Nook Street.
Last time I saw anything come out of the Oil Terminal was Easter 1986. But I remember the Lowton Scrap Metal trains continued into 1987.
Just a gentle reminder that this thread is for discussion of the ticket barriers at Wigan North Western. If anyone wants to discuss anything else then please start a new thread elsewhere.
NorthWestRover
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There's a message on my Trainline journey details today that the barriers become operational from Monday 26th May 2025.
One would hope the relevant people involved with barrier programming understand that passengers transfer between Wallgate & North Western with tickets which do not have Wigan as a destination/origin, but experience elsewhere means I am not holding my breath.
On the occasions I've used Wigan NW, I don't remember ever seeing any staff in the booking hall area.
When they become fully operational next week, what might the correlation be between potential revenue saved and cost of staffing the barriers?
I imagine at busy times at least two staff will be required to operate them?
When they become fully operational next week, what might the correlation be between potential revenue saved and cost of staffing the barriers?
I imagine at busy times at least two staff will be required to operate them?
Pinus contorta
Member
There were 3 members of staff on Friday afternoon doing ' manual' checks. I wasn't aware at that point they were ' practicing ' for next week.
C J Snarzell
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The barriers at Wigan NW have now been in place for several weeks but have not yet been activated. The side ‘tradesman’ entrance has also had a new door put in place to stop people entering or leaving the station via this route.
Although the barriers are still not in use, Northern’s revenue protection have been actively working the passageway at the foot of the platforms for several weeks now, so fair play to them. No doubt the chancers who hop on the Northern’s at Bryn & Garswood are being rooted out and dealt with.
One of the main issues that is becoming a problem at Wigan NW is the congestion on Wallgate and the drop off area at the front of the station. Just the other night, it took me nearly 10 mins to get through the car park barrier and under the bridge onto Queen Street.
There seem to be a lot of taxi’s in Wigan driving on Wolverhampton plates!!!! One taxi driver tried to pull a three point turn in the middle of Wallgate last week and literally brought the whole street to a standstill as a Bee Network bus pulled up behind him and he had nowhere to go.
Some of this issue rests with Wigan Council and not Avanti West Coast who manage the station, but given the complete mess the Council have made of the town in the last 30 years, I very much doubt this problem will be rectified anytime soon.
CJ
Although the barriers are still not in use, Northern’s revenue protection have been actively working the passageway at the foot of the platforms for several weeks now, so fair play to them. No doubt the chancers who hop on the Northern’s at Bryn & Garswood are being rooted out and dealt with.
One of the main issues that is becoming a problem at Wigan NW is the congestion on Wallgate and the drop off area at the front of the station. Just the other night, it took me nearly 10 mins to get through the car park barrier and under the bridge onto Queen Street.
There seem to be a lot of taxi’s in Wigan driving on Wolverhampton plates!!!! One taxi driver tried to pull a three point turn in the middle of Wallgate last week and literally brought the whole street to a standstill as a Bee Network bus pulled up behind him and he had nowhere to go.
Some of this issue rests with Wigan Council and not Avanti West Coast who manage the station, but given the complete mess the Council have made of the town in the last 30 years, I very much doubt this problem will be rectified anytime soon.
CJ
Mcr Warrior
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Not just in Wigan. But that's another topic of discussion, worthy of its own separate thread. Indeed we've already had one, a couple of years ago, which might possibly be worth re-opening...
Taxis registered in Wolverhampton.
I recently saw a taxi in York which was registered in Wolverhampton which was unusual. Someone told me that drivers from different parts of the country are registering their cars in Wolverhampton as it is cheap, quick and involves very few checks. Can anyone shed any light on this?
www.railforums.co.uk
pokemonsuper9
Established Member
Yes, but at least not moving traffic is very easy to cross the road inbetween, there's usually an opportunity to cross in the time it takes to go up/down the hill between the two stations.
Northern revenue blocks at the bottom of the stairs in North Western are nothing new, while I didn't keep track I usually saw them about once a week when I used the station regularly
Pinus contorta
Member
Part of the problem with the traffic is the folks in cars that are trying to overtake the buses at that alighting only stop. The road is wide enough for two buses to pass each other but not if there's a discovery ( to use yesterday's example) in the way.
C J Snarzell
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Wigan Central Station station stood at the side of Station Road at the junction with Watkin Street opposite the site of the Wigan Casino. The station was closed in 1964, but wasn’t demolished until the early 1970s.
The site of the main station building became a multi-story car park that over looked across onto Crompton Street and what is now the Buzz Bingo. Many people in Wigan of a slightly older generation will probably remember an horrific murder which took place at the side of this car park in 1989 (thankfully the killer was quickly apprehended).
For many years, the former site remained unchanged, even in the mid 1980s when the Riversway bypass was constructed around it. The land Wigan Central stood on was on a raised hill that looked down onto Riversway and the River Douglas.
The biggest change was the construction of the Grand Arcade in 2006/07 that completely wiped out Station Road and the surrounding area that included the site of the former Ritz Cinema and numerous buildings (including Tom Whalley’s pet shop).
Sadly no trace of Wigan Central exists anymore, but there are photographs that can be found online of it.
CJ
vic-rijrode
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Point taken, this discussion on Wigan Central should be a thread in the Railway History and Nostalgia forum. Enough folks on here seem to think Wigan Central (RIP) more interesting than ticket barriers...
Pinus contorta
Member
The water refill point js still there and working.