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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Album Contents
Album Contents

Wigan Album

Railways

3 Comments

Central Station Then and Now
Central Station Then and Now
Photo: RON HUNT
Views: 3,659
Item #: 17933
Wigan's long forgotten terminal was opened in 1892 as an extension of the Independent branch from Glazebrook, acquired by the GCR in 1906. The original terminus of the branch at Darlington Street lived on as a goods station. The 'new' passenger station became known as Wigan Central; it is pictured here in British Railways days, with ex.LMS and ex.SR parcels stock in the bay platform. Although the ex.GCR branch had a self contained passenger service, there were three connections in the Hindley area that allowed the transfer of goods traffic to and from the ex.LNWR network

The bottom photograph, taken on the 18th February 2003, shows a car park which was located on the site of the Central Station, in Station Road, which closed to passengers in 1964 and to goods in 1965. Now the site of the GRAND ARCADE.
I'm old enough to have used all the facilities located on this particular site at various times and I know which I would sooner have.
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Comment by: janet on 14th June 2011 at 13:14

I'm with you Ron... We used to leave from Wigan Central to go visit family in Doncaster and I think we went from there to visit friends in Durham... Wigan was a far better place back then than it is now....

Comment by: Lyndon on 16th June 2011 at 08:50

My one regret, regarding the railways round Wigan, is that I never managed to travel from Wigan Central to Manchester Central. I believe it was a very pleasant trip, mostly through open country

Comment by: Fr Norman. on 20th June 2011 at 23:30

Thanks for the pictures, Ron. Fond memories. I only once travelled from Wigan Central to Manchester Central which of course also stopped at Hindley South station [long gone]. We caught the 0530 on 18 April 1963. What fun we had getting to the station for that time of the day. It might have been a pleasant run - it was dark when we went - but it seemed to take for ever. We only just managed to catch the 0720 train from Manchester Central to Derby. I know our local cities has 3 or more stations, but I wonder if Wigan was unique as a north west town with 3 stations???

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