St Helens Junction railway station is a railway station serving St Helens, Merseyside, England. It is situated in Sutton, 3 miles south-west of St Helens town centre. The station is on the northern route of the Liverpool to Manchester Line 12 miles (19 km) east of Liverpool Lime Street (on the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway). The station, and all trains calling there, are operated by Northern Rail.
The station was named "Junction" because it was located at the junction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with the former St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway branch to St Helens Central. This route which opened on 21 February 1833 closed to passengers in 1965 (and completely in 1988), but the name remains.
To the West of the station on the South side of the line stood the London and North Western Railway tarpaulin factory, known locally as 'The sheeting sheds', access from Monastery Lane being provided by a footbridge known as 'The pudding bag bridge', a favourite location of trainspotters in the 1950's as the steam engines of Westbound trains were being fired to climb the Sutton bank with its 2.5km of 1 in 90 gradient.
The line through the station is due to be electrified by December 2014 and will likely regain the long distance services to Leeds, York and the North East that were lost when the Liverpool - York (and beyond) Transpennine trains were diverted via Warrington Central and Manchester Piccadilly in 1989.
These days, previously less-important stations between Liverpool and Manchester (such as Rainhill) have greater patronage as they serve much larger local areas of population, leaving St Helens Junction as one of the minor stations on the line.
Read more about St Helens Junction Railway Station: Services, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words junction, railway and/or station:
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—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)