Date: 01/09/2021

The line between Bolton and Wigan is to be upgraded in a move described as a 'game changer'.

External links

Bolton-Wigan £78m rail electrification project announced

BBC News

The line between Bolton and Wigan is to be upgraded in a move described as a "game changer".

Related images

View west at Lostock Junction sees 156466 dropping down from Westhoughton to join the line from Preston and Chorley and run to Bolton. When the station reopened in 1988 (as plain Lostock) the platforms were only reinstated on the Preston line.
Location: Lostock Junction
Company: Bolton and Preston Railway
26/06/2010 Mark Bartlett

Looking towards Crow Nest Junction at Westhoughton as 156480 calls on a Manchester Victoria to Wigan service. At Crow Nest this line joins the direct line from Manchester via Atherton and Walkden.
Location: Westhoughton
Company: Liverpool and Bury Railway (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)
17/04/2009 Mark Bartlett

1959 one-inch OS map extract showing the railway junctions around Westhoughton. Top right is Lostock Junction on the Bolton and Preston. Bottom left, just outside Hindley, is Crow Nest Junction. Today this is just the point where two double track lines meet but in 1959 three railways met here, one of which (from Atherton) was four tracks. The closed station top left is Dicconson Lane & Aspull on the line from Blackrod to Hindley. Below that is the 1889 link to Dobbs Brow Junction on the Atherton line. Completion of this effectively formed a L&YR bypass of Bolton. Bottom right is the LNWR line from Kenyon Junction through Chequerbent to Bolton Great Moor Street, closed to passengers by this time. The Chequerbent Incline was originally rope worked. In later years mining subsidence meant that in places steam hauled freights were negotiating gradients as steep as 1:18. Added by Mark Bartlett. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland http://maps.nls.uk/index.html
Location: Westhoughton
Company: Liverpool and Bury Railway (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)
//1959 National Library of Scotland

Related news items

Tags: x Bolton x Lostock Junction x Wigan North Western x Liverpool and Bury Railway (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) x Electrification