The North Union Railway was an early British railway company, operating two main routes, from to and from to , all in Lancashire. The northerly part of the routes sharing the line from Euxton to Preston.
The company was created in 1834 with the first parliamentary authorised railway amalgamation. The two companies amalgamated were the Wigan Branch Railway (WBR) and the Preston and Wigan Railway (P&WR). In 1844 the company acquired the Bolton and Preston Railway (B&PR).
The company operated independently until 1846, then under joint lease of London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) but continuing as an independent company until 1889.
In 1889 it was absorbed by the lessees with the line from Parkside to Euxton going to the and the line from Euxton to Bolton (the former ) being taken by the . The section from Euxton to becoming jointly owned.
Most of the line eventually became part of the West Coast Main Line.
Formation
The Wigan Branch Railway obtained an act of Parliament, the Wigan Branch Railway Act 1830 (11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4. c. lvi) on 29 May 1830 to build a line from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) near to Wigan. The act included a branch to the south of Wigan, the Springs branch, connecting to collieries in the district.
The Preston and Wigan Railway (P&WR) had been authorised by the Preston and Wigan Railway Act 1831 (1 Will. 4. c. lvi) in 1831 to construct a railway between and but was struggling to find sufficient share subscriptions to start construction.
The directors considered abandoning the project but decided that an amalgamation with the would be of benefit to both companies. Within a month the board of the resolved to consolidate with the .
The North Union Railway (NUR) was created by an act of Parliament, the (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. xxv) on 22 May 1834 which authorised the amalgamation of the Wigan Branch Railway (WBR) and the Preston and Wigan Railway (P&WR), the first-ever parliamentary approved railway amalgamation.
When it was created, the North Union Railway consisted of the single-track line constructed by the Wigan Branch Railway from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) at to but little else. The did not own any locomotives or rolling stock, its operations were all supplied under contract by the .
The construction of the Wigan to Preston section did not start until after the amalgamation and the formation of the .
Parkside to Wigan 1834-1838
Within a month of the amalgamation the railway appointed Charles Vignoles as engineer on the railway at a salary of £1,200 (equivalent to £ in ). His duties were to supervise the building of the Wigan to Preston line and oversee the running of the already built Parkside to Wigan line. The building and supervision of the Springs branch was not included and became a separate contract.
A maintenance contract was let to Smith & Eckersley in May 1835, it was extended for a further two years.
Passenger service
The had provided passenger services to the under contract, they continued to provide passenger services for the line under ownership. The service continued as thrice daily each way between Parkside and Wigan.
Freight service
The had initially provided the with freight services but in 1834 the offered John Hargreaves, an established carrier in the North West, the lease for operating the goods service on their line. Hargreaves, in partnership with his son (also called John Hargreaves) declined the offer and made a counter offer based on the previous years receipts which was accepted by the new North Union Railway, as this was now after the merger of the railways. In July 1835 the son, John Hargreaves junior took over as the sole lessee over the Parkside to Wigan section of the line for all goods traffic with the exception of those who already had the right to operate their own trains, mainly coal mine owners like Richard Evans who operated Edge Green Colliery which was just to the west of the line and connected to it with a standard gauge siding.
The carried Post Office mail to Wigan, the mail being brought to Parkside from Liverpool and Manchester each evening, they were then handed to the guard of the Wigan train who handed them on to a messenger on arrival at Wigan.
Wigan to Preston construction and opening
The construction was undertaken in three contracts which were let in 1835, progress was never as fast as the board would have liked, they blamed much of the delay on Vignoles' frequent absences as he had taken on other work, including in Ireland. One of the contracts had to be re-let at the end of 1836 and a large culvert burst in a flood in November 1837 requiring the building of a wooden bridge.
The line going north out of Wigan was required by its act of Parliament to cross Wallgate, a major road into Wigan town centre, by a bridge that was "in character architectural and handsome", this required raising the north end of the on a substantial embankment.
As Preston stands upon a ridge rising sharply from the north bank of the River Ribble reaching it involved some engineering, the North Union reached its northern terminus by descending gradients as steep as 1 in 100 into the valley, crossing the river and cutting into the rising ground as far as Fishergate where it built the station. The river bridge was of five arches, each spanning 120 ft. The line was completed in 1838 and a trial run was held on 22 October with a train running from Wigan to Preston, and the line opened to the public on 31 October 1838.
Stations
The opened the Wigan to Preston section with the following stations:
- had been the northern terminus of the Wigan Branch Railway, it was closed on the same day as the opening of the Wigan to Preston section of the railway on 31 October 1838. It was replaced by the slightly further north Wigan station. This station became on 2 June 1924.
- which was closed on 31 January 1949 (this station later became a joint station with the Lancashire Union Railway).
- , this station probably opened shortly after the line's opening. It was renamed Standish by 1844 and was closed on 23 May 1949.
- which was closed on 6 October 1969.
- which was closed on 2 September 1895.
- Golden Hill which was renamed in 1838 and is still open.
- which was often known as Farrington and closed on 7 March 1960.
- , the northern terminus which is still open.
Springs branch
thumb|Wigan Springs Branch Junction
The Springs branch branched off the mainline about a mile south of Wigan centre and ran north-east for most of its length then turned sharply to run north-west after bridging the Lancaster Canal to the New Springs and Kirkless areas of Wigan. The branch was included in the initial plans of the company, and was included in its act of Parliament, it wasn't built immediately for financial reasons. Vignoles was authorised to set out the line in 1836 and it was opened by the North Union Railway as a single track line but with the infrastructure for double track on 31 October 1838, the branch was constructed for freight traffic, especially coal and had no passenger facilities.
The area the branch was to run through had a number of coal mines some of which had been worked for decades, several of them had their own horse-drawn tramways, most of them were connected to either the Lancaster Canal or the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Wherever the branch cut across these tramways a flat crossing was provided.
When it opened the branch had connections with several collieries and other industrial concerns, in 1845, when the first Ordnance Survey was conducted there were connections with:
Operations 1844—1889
In 1846 arrangements were authorised by the North Union Railways Purchase Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxxxi) for the line to be leased jointly to the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) and the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR) but before this happened the became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR), the arrangement continued however with the and the jointly leasing the .
On 9 July 1847 the Manchester and Leeds Railway changed its title to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) but the leasing arrangement continued.
In 1845, in conjunction with the Ribble Navigation Company, the North Union obtained powers in the (8 & 9 Vict. c. cxvi) to build a branch to Victoria Quay on the River Ribble. This line was built to convey coal from the Wigan district to the river for shipment.
Parkside west curve opened in 1847 by the under powers obtained by the . was opened by the in 1849 at the junction of the two curves from the former line.
Winwick cut-off opened in 1864 which provided a straight route between and saving express trains 24 minutes along that stretch.
station was opened on 1 April 1878 by the and closed on 27 November 1950.
The continued independently under this leasing arrangement with the owning and the . This was the situation until 26 July 1889 when it was jointly absorbed by the and under the terms of the London and North Western Railway Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. xcviii).
The was absorbed by the two larger companies by the simple expedient of the section from Euxton to Bolton (the former ) being taken by the and the section from Parkside to Euxton going to the . The section from Euxton to Preston and remained in joint ownership.
Management
The first chairman of the company was Sir Thomas Dalrymple Hesketh, Bart. He had previously held the same position at the Preston and Wigan Railway. The board had active and powerful members in T. W. Rathbone, and Hardman Earle, who were also on the boards of and .
After dissolution
To cope with ever-increasing traffic, the line was quadrupled between 1889 and 1891.
The stretch between Euxton Junction and Preston, which included the major part of Preston station, remained in joint ownership up to 1921 when the was absorbed by the so from that date the former North Union Railway had only one owner. This section of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Carlisle had been the only part not wholly owned by the .
Balshaw Lane and Euxton station was opened by the on 2 September 1905, it closed on 6 October 1969. Services restarted from this station now named Euxton Balshaw Lane on 15 December 1997.
Accidents and incidents
- In November 1832 a locomotive from Evans' collieries at Edge Green collided head-on with a passenger service on its way to Wigan at .
- A Pearson & Knowles locomotive ASA collided with a stage coach on a level crossing at Euxton on 7 September 1841.
- In February 1844 a coal train operated by Henry Blundell ran into the back of a Pearson & Knowles coal train near Coppull killing the brakesman.
- On 28 June 1847, the boiler of a locomotive exploded, injuring one person.
- On 17 October 1850 a Pearson & Knowles locomotive LIVER was involved in an unspecified accident near Boars Head.