Euxton Balshaw Lane Railway Station - The Present Station

The Present Station

The former Balshaw Lane and Euxton station was reopened in 1998 (the opening ceremony being performed by former Radio 1 DJ and, latterly, Radio Lancashire presenter and transport enthusiast, Andy Peebles), and was now named Euxton Balshaw Lane. It has two platforms on the slower north/south lines of the West Coast Main Line and is served by the Northern Rail company with trains to Blackpool North and Liverpool. Euxton Balshaw Lane does not have any full-time staff, PA system or ticket office, nor, unlike Horwich Parkway railway station, a station built around the same period, any clocks or display screens.

The use of "Balshaw Lane" in the station's name was added, at the time of opening, at Lancashire County Council's behest (the main station's sponsor and funder) in view of the possibility, at some future stage, of the opening of a station on the site of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton and to distinguish itself (and avoid a subsequent name change) from that station. It was expected that the station at the ROF site might be named either "Euxton" or "Euxton ROF". In fact, the station that eventually opened in October 2011, on the Manchester-Preston route, is called Buckshaw Parkway.