Haydock Park railway station

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LocationHaydock, St Helens
England
Coordinates53°28′53″N 2°37′31″W / 53.481363°N 2.625267°W / 53.481363; -2.625267
Platforms2[1]
Haydock Park
General information
LocationHaydock, St Helens
England
Coordinates53°28′53″N 2°37′31″W / 53.481363°N 2.625267°W / 53.481363; -2.625267
Grid referenceSJ584984
Platforms2[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyLiverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Central Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
10 February 1899[2][3]Station opened for race day traffic
5 October 1963Station closed
Location

Haydock Park railway station was a railway station adjacent to Haydock Park Racecourse, formerly in Lancashire and now in Merseyside, England.[4] The station's sole purpose was to handle race day traffic. It did not feature in public timetables[5] and normal service trains passed through the station without stopping.

The station was on the Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway line from Lowton St Mary's to the original St Helens Central railway station. It stood behind the racecourse's grandstand.[6][7][8]

Opened by the Liverpool, St Helens and South Lancashire Railway, as part of the Great Central Railway, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

Services

Race Day specials were very heavily patronised until well after WW2, as were other specials such as those serving Wakes Weeks and football matches. Although railways are always best suited to regular, day-in-day-out traffic, with cheap labour and plentiful old rolling stock available until the 1960s such intermittent services could make money and be seen as worthwhile. The corporate climate and economics were shifting, however. The station was closed in October 1963. An experiment in running race day specials was run in 1975, using the long-closed Ashton-in-Makerfield station some 500 yards to the west, with the trains passing through Haydock Park station's carcass. This was not repeated after that year.[9]

After closure

References

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