Gathurst railway station


Gathurst railway station is a two-platform railway station on the outskirts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The station is on the Southport line north west of Wigan Wallgate station. The station also serves the nearby village of Shevington, indeed until 1973 was named Gathurst for Shevington. It is currently operated by Northern Trains.
The main stone-built station building survives adjacent to the Wigan-bound platform, but is now in use for non-railway purposes, modest shelters now being provided on both platforms for rail travellers.

History

The station was built by the Manchester and Southport Railway and opened on 9 April 1855, and from January 1885 was part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The main stone-built station building was built during this time, in the standard L&YR style. The L&YR amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948. When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Rail.

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no ticket machine, so all tickets must be bought prior to travel or on the train. Train running information can be obtained by phone and timetable posters. There is step-free access to both platforms.

Services

There is generally an hourly service from Gathurst westbound to Southport and eastbound to Manchester Victoria via. Since the May 2018 timetable change, there is only a limited morning service to Manchester Piccadilly via - all other trains run via and continue beyond Victoria to via Todmorden.
Sunday services are hourly each way and serve the same destinations.