History
The Lancashire Union Railway (LUR) was authorised by Parliamentary Act of 25 July 1864 to build a line from the Blackbrook branch of the St Helens Railway to Adlington on the Bolton-to-Preston line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) near Chorley. This connected with existing lines between Garston Dock and St Helens. A further act of 13 July 1868 authorised an extension from Chorley to Blackburn, and vested the section between Boar's Head (on the North Union Railway (NUR) north of Wigan) and Cherry Tree (on the LYR near Blackburn) jointly with the LYR.
The whole line between St Helens and Blackburn opened to passengers on 1 December 1869. Most passenger services were local between Blackburn and Wigan. LNWR trains travelled to the station later known as Wigan North Western via Chorley and Boar's Head, but LYR trains used an alternative route between Chorley and the station later to become Wigan Wallgate via Hindley.
The LUR also built a line, the "Whelley Loop", that bypassed Wigan to the east. It opened in 1869, mainly for freight. Stations at Whelley and Amberswood were open for only three months between 1 January and 1 March 1872. Additional connections were made to the NUR's West Coast Main Line north and south of Wigan in 1882 and 1886 respectively, and to other lines radiating from Wigan, thus allowing many trains to bypass Wigan.
The LUR company was vested jointly between the LNWR and LYR from 16 July 1883, until the two parent companies merged on 1 January 1922.
The Blackburn-to-Chorley line closed to passengers on 4 January 1960 and to goods in 1966, although a short section between Cherry Tree and Feniscowles continued until 1968. The Chorley-to-Wigan line also closed to passengers in 1960, and to goods on 25 May 1971. The Whelley Loop survived until 1976. The Wigan-to-St Helens line is still in use as part of the main line between Liverpool and Scotland.
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