The New Headbolt Lane Station Is Now Open! 

Found a 2015 Office of Rail and Road document which explains why Third Rail electrification will never be used to expand the network: orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/17621/dc-electrification-policy-statement.pdf

Seeing you with David was like you meeting a previous Doctor Who, all the stations regenerated!

Must have watched too many Geoff videos knew he'd come out of the other toilet.... David is a treasure, Geoff you need to set up a full interview and compare notes...

Re stations with 'Road' in the name. When I was Chief Clerk in the Information Production Unit, Southampton in 1995, I suggested changing the name of Lyndhurst Road to Ashurst (New Forest). The village of Lyndhurst is the 'Capital' of the New Forest and approximately 2½ miles from the station. There is an infrequent bus service. We used to get tourists in the Summer getting off at the station, then trying to work out where the village was! I then had the job to change all the Solari flap indicators and recorded announcements at stations. I now have the old NSE Lyndhurst Road running in board on my garage wall.

The black panel Geoff, will prevent drivers of trains being blinded by another unit arriving with headlights on. There is a simular arrangement at Ormskirk.

You need to have a longer interview with David what an ace bloke would love to hear more about his experiences over the years and his thoughts on the modern state of BR

David Brewer is worthy of a whole video

What an unassuming chap David was. A gentleman and a gentle man.

Chester Road has to be the most vaguely named "road" station, as the A452 it's named after is around 100 miles long!

Platform 3 at Wigan is used mainly to stable units in the day when things go wrong. It also used for early morning departures when starting from Wigan (not so much these days) and when there is engineering work south of Wigan, so services towards Southport and Headbolt can start from there.

The black panel is there as a kind of anti dazzle/light baffle screen/sighting screen that's been placed there between the two buffer stop/stop blocks to block out any lights beyond the stop blocks that may dazzle & distract drivers as they enter the station. They are basically there to assist drivers & traincrews with sighting purely the buffer stops & end of the line as they enter the station at Headbolt Lane, there is a similar (but smaller one) in use at Ormskirk also placed between the buffer stops there. In 1988 when the new signalling & signal box at Rufford was brought into use it was quickly noticed as part of a signal sighting committee that trains when entering the up platform were likely to be dazzled by the new station lighting & that might cause sighting problems with the new colour light signal that protected the level crossing & entry onto the single line to Midge Hall. So the station lamps on the up side at Rufford were fitted with dark screens on one side (facing Ormskirk) so that they didn't affect the sighting of the signal anymore on the approach to Rufford station.

This is exactly why we cant lose ticket offices as the ticket machines are either out of order or are in accessable for most poeople but especially blind and partially sighted people

What a wonderful man David is. Cracking chat with him

Platform 3 in Wigan Wallgate only ever sees trains when there is no service between Wigan and Hindley, letting the Headbolt Lane trains turn there, and I've occasionally seen it used for services to Southport part-cancelled from Manchester. It used to be quite frequent to see a 769 sat in there but not so much anymore.

Yes, Bristol falls into the "street/road" suffix trap with Stapleton Road (Easton), Parson Street (South Bedminster) and St. Andrew's Road (Severnside)

It's always great to see Karl in a video! I do like this station design, there is a sense of place about it that was missing from your 2022 new stations video thread!

Great video! A new station AND an electric train! Not seen one of those before! Really enjoyed your meeting with David. It was like an episode of Dr Who where he meets an earlier version of himself!

Fantastic, Geoff. Always good to see the northern correspondent and great to see David as well. Finally a new station with a decent station building and toilets!

David is a lovely chap. He used to work on the station at Chorley. Always went along to have a chat about his travels and where he had been 🙂

Love seeing new stations with actual station buildings. Wonderful.

Such an excellent video, and well deserved of it being #17 on trending (if that even means anything anymore?!!) Absolutely love seeing Carl and Roger, both my favourite regulars on the channel. The new station looks absolutely brilliant and the unexpected chat with David (who I vaguely remember you mentioning all the way back in 2017) really made this video a special one. And the funny bits too. legend

That's so exciting to see that Britain is currently opening a lot of new stations ! ❤

8:57 How considerate of Merseyside to put a sign up helping Geoff with pronunciation. Truly amazing accessible station signage. Perhaps they should install a certain round pink Nintendo character at Kirkby to remind visitors not to pronounce the second 'k'. And I think I speak for everyone when I say we would absolutely love a Choo Choo Chat with David!

Nice to see Karl on your videos again, Geoff. He appears almost anywhere, not just in the north! Thank you for the other night by the way Geoff. What a show 👍

OMG! You guys are such goofs! What a hoot! Love it and thank you for sharing!

Top quality cameo appearances in this video! Also Geoff doing god's work curbing misuse of the word "font".

Platform 3 is used on the rare occasion an ex-southport service terminates there and is due to go into Wallgate Sidings. Rarely used these days

Good to see more passengers being attracted back to the railways

The black panel I think is for sighting buffer stops and to stop drivers being distracted

The new station building at 'Eadbolt Lane is handsome and practical. One can well imagine waiting there on a cold wintry day.

It was great seeing u on my train my friend! Thank youu

This guy should have his own show. He’s very likeable and good at presenting

0:12 Platform 3 (the bay platform) isn't really used for any timetabled services as such, but it does see occasional use as it is sometimes used for the ad hoc stabling of stock etc. The bay platform at Wallgate used to be much longer, before being filled in & shortened in the late 1970s, with the shortened bit being subsequently filled in & turned into the garden seen here. There was talk back in the 1970s of the Merseyrail network being extended all the way to Wigan Wallgate, with it being electrified with third rail all the way from Walton Junction to Wigan Wallgate right into the bay (platform 3) where the Merseyrail service would terminate & turnback, but it all came to nought, with the electrification only being extended as far as Kirkby in 1977.

Caught myself in your video their Geoff, wasn’t expecting to see you, was a surprise. Had to get on that northern train so couldn’t speak and didn’t want to disturb your filming, also at 6:25 was near David the train into head bolt lane, if only I would of known such an interesting man

Hello, Just Wanted To Say Loving Your Videos, Keep Up The Great Work

Great video as always (and shout out especially to the swish toilet transition 😂). Definitely looks like it has more too it than some of the other new stations this year.

Seemingly the double track is for expansion into Wigan in the future and hence they have futureproofed the station. Fair play to Merseyrail

Thank you for the video Geoff, that was very interesting.

Hi Geoff, I live super close by to Headbolt, but sadly Im closer to Kirkby, but I love this station, im gutted I missed out on seeing you as I was around the area on that day!

0:14 Why yes. Platform three is used for the very occasional train that goes on The line to Wigan Pier.

The bay platform at Wigan Wallgate would be ideal for terminating Merseyrail 777s in the future if they extend the service I believe the section separating Merseyrail and Northern at Headbolt Lane is designed specifically so it can be easily removed

Surprised you didn't mention Geoff that there is a proposal in the future to extend Merseyrail beyond Headbolt Lane to Skelmersdale. All they would need to do is build an overbridge, lift the block separating the 2 tracks and getting rid of the northern platform.

Reminds me of when the Glasgow North Electric line was extended by a mile from Airdrie station to the eastern side of Airdrie which they called Drumgelloch (fair enough, that's the part of town it was in) rather than "Airdrie East". The result being that as only two of the four trains an hour to Airdrie were extended to the new terminus, people for intermediate stations who always caught the Airdrie train didn't board those going to Drumgelloch. The solution? Leave the automated announcements as "The next train is for Airdrie" and have a manual announcement reminding passengers "this train also calls at Drumgelloch".

plattform 3 is used as a terminus for the kirkby to wigan train, usually the last train of the day stops there overnight :)

Given the short distance it seems weird that they didn't just third rail it the rest of the way, instead having to spend the money to buy and maintain trains with big, heavy batteries that will degrade far faster than a third rail would.

A long time ago, a village in Cheshire called Willaston had a train station called Hadlow Road. It was the only station to serve Willaston so lord knows why it wasn’t just called Willaston. The station is actually still there…unlike the rest of the railway.

It’s so nice with a new station that isn’t connected to a car park or is located in the middle of a field

Boom, I got the first like!! 😀Wait 13 mins..... OK, great episode, I can't believe you met David Brewer - awesome! I don't recall ever having been on Northern Rail but I wouldn't mind a go on the new battery trains! 🙂

Hi Geoff Marshall, You should add another station to your least used stations playlist . Hourpes is the least used station in Belgium. Only 7 people use it in a year. In Belgium they speak French,German and Dutch.

Tower Hill is the name of the estate in Kirkby - the same as Northwood Everything in Headbolt station is yellow because MerseyTravel own the station and yellow is their brand colour👍

Platform 3 is rarely used, only when there's a Southport/Kirkby service starting from Wigan or vice versa. This sometimes happens when there's engineering works heading east or a train gets cancelled at Wigan.

Britain's idea of integrated town planning after WW2: designate Skelmersdale as Liverpool's biggest overspill relocation, close the station just as it begins to grow (1956), wait till 40,000 people live there trainless, then spend half a century and untold millions on studies, reviews, consultations about whether it would be better to have more buses from Skem to the Kirkby railhead or rebuild THREE WHOLE MILES of track. Not electrified, of course- Energizer Bunny DMUs only. Btw, Kirkby was also an expanding exurban center whose rail service only escaped the Beeching Axe bc it was in the Labor prime minister's constituency.

I think it’s time to experience all your stations once again, but this time in a Wheelchair (Electric possibly).

As a local lad, I remember platform 3 used to be used a shuttle service on the line that you are on.... trains never used to go from Manchester to Kirkby. You used to have to change on wallgate for the "shuttle" service to Kirkby usually a pacer in its early years... worst decision ever made by local councils ( west lancs and Greater Manchester) not to allow electrification beyond Kirkby IMHO

The noisy bit of the class 777s is when sat above the leading bogies. Quite rumble noise. Apart from that and constant breakdowns every time i am travelling on purpose from Manchester to travel on them, all sounds good. Thank you for sharing another interesting video.

8:31 Now we can follow in the footsteps of Londonbeat - "commuting on a double-A" 🙂

Haven't been to Wigan in ages (from Kirkby) but the last few times I did, Platform 3 was the Kirkby line which they used a pacer train for, which terminated at Wallgate using Plat 3. When I travelled to Wigan Wallgate on that line a while later, the route no longer terminated at Wallgate and went on to Blackburn (I think), so Platform 3 wasn't used. They could still use it for services between Headbolt and Wallgate sometimes, I suppose, but I doubt they do.

I remember Mauldeth Road station well - all the hundreds of times going throught it while travelling between Gatley and Manchester Piccadilly. And I wouldn't call the Railway Typeface "good, old-fashioned".... it's the PROPER Rail typeface. The lack of sound from the 777s on Battery power is rather reminicent of the 139s (though with slightly more of an electrical whine).

Great video Geoff. It’s great to see the use of more hybrid electric/battery charged trains. I live close to the Uckfield line in East Sussex and have often wondered if an electric/battery charged hybrid EMU would have sufficient range to be used instead of the Class 170 DMUs on this route. The line is electrified as far as Hurst Green where the East Grinstead line diverges.

It's ridiculous how much happiness I get from seeing Geoff 'christen' a bin

Always love new stations, but it should really go to Skelmersdale. As part of levelling up the plans were rejected! Well done DfT.

Why is this video not called “Geoff Marshall meets the original Geoff Marshall”? I’d love this encounter with David to evolve into a Choo Choo Chat some time!

I’m not from the area nor have I lived anywhere near it, so correct me if I’m wrong I’m completely baffled as to why the hell they’ve called it simply ‘Headbolt Lane’ if the area around it is well recognised as Tower Hill, especially as this is a brand new station and doesn’t have to conform to what it was named decades ago (such as the aforementioned Mauldeth Road), especially considering Headbolt Lane itself doesn’t appear to be that major of a road. Surely ‘Kirby Tower Hill’ or at least ‘Kirby Headbolt Lane’ would work perfectly, and if the reasoning against a more descriptive name was that it’d be too much of a mouthful, Then someone needs to take a look at the two Bootle stations down the road

Platform 3 used to be for shuttle trains between Kirkby and Wallgate but was a very long time since that was common on the timetable

Good to meet you on Saturday afternoon! Shame we didnt make the final cut 😅 From the two locals - Tom & Jo 👍🏻

Good to see another railway station open. I can't understand why the don't connect the lines. Its almost like they're different track gauges but of course they're not. I know through services might no be happening now but if they ever wish to change in the future they will need to alter the station.

the new merseyrail trains make for such a nicer ride. so smooth and quiet, and air conditioning too. with some nice little extra touches, like better luggage/bike/etc. storage - just a shame they are not rolled out on the line near me 😢

There are three platforms, two through platforms and one bay platform for trains departing towards Southport or Kirkby. Platforms are below street level and reached via a flight of stairs from the street level concourse which contains a ticket office and a newsagent. If you are lucky you may see a train from this station via Birmingham new street to Birmingham international. I do not know how it gets there but there is no current information to be found about this service anywhere But I have seen the train at the station a few times

On the subject of station names, there is the ridiculous "Sandwell & Dudley" (SAD), which stands between West Bromwich and Oldbury. Named Oldbury in 1852 when it opened, it acquired the silly name in May 1984 when it was rebuilt. "Sandwell", apart from being a valley in the borough, is not really a place, and the station is not near Dudley - in fact Dudley Port station is nearer, though that is between Tipton and Great Bridge.

Hilarious! Well done, this is very informative & funny too. Appreciate the posting, thanks for this 🚉 🚄 👏🏾 👏🏼😆 xXx

New lines need to be built to network rail standards.

Only in Britain, could you introduce a new service where the Northern service arrives one minute before the Merseyrail service leaves and expect people to rush between.

Headbolt Lane is a really cool station, nice meeting you there on Saturday! 😅

Theres a new station being built on the Great Eastern Mainline called Beaulieu Park,make sure to visit it in the future

Was interesting to hear that Carl's local station was also my local station for over 25 years, Mauldeth Road!!! I even have vague recollections of a trip to Styal, pre electrification on a DMU... Mauldeth Road could have been called Burnage, it opened with the LNWR line in 1909 before Burnage Station which did not open until a year later.... When opened Mauldeth Road was called Mauldeth Road for Withington, a bit a of a stretch (poor Ladybarn did not get a look in). BR dropped the for Withington in the early 70s. There was a small bay goods platform at Mauldeth Road, plus a substantial coal sidings and depot, that land now houses the B&M store, formally B&Q. The substantial LNWR station building was burnt down in the early 80s, it was the same LNWR design as the building that still exists at Gatley, the only original LNWR station structure left on the Styal line... My local station now is Insch!!

Hi Geoff, platform 3 at Wigan can be used to store unities however its primary function is to hold Sunday services from Wigan to headbolt lane

Silly facts about Headbolt - P3 and the walkway between P1 & P2 are designed to be easily removed so the like can be extended as a double track line towards Skelmersdale. I believe the foundations for a footbridge are already built into the platforms. There was no money for the extensive signalling alterations required to do a full re-integration this year. The 3rd rail changeovers are made at Fazakerley rather than Kirkby, and the 3rd rail only extends that far for emergencies now. Also, I think it was very briefly going to be West Kirkby before Headbolt Lane took over. I helped commission the signalling alterations earlier this year.

Good Video 👍

Textbook Lancashire accent on David - one of our few Northern accents with rhotic Rs!

I was literally reading about this station an hour ago!!

Good to see the Northern Correspondent back.

Thanks

A brief history of the line. It used to terminate at the Liverpool end at Exchange station.This station lost all it's long distance services to Lime Street as a result of the Beeching cuts. This left 3 commuter lines. Two of them (Southport and Ormskirk) were already electrified using 3rd rail. The Merseyside authorities in creating the new Merseyrail system could easily integrate the first two lines into the new underground, but the third one this line to Kirkby/Wigan was diesel which couldn't go underground. So, they electrified it initially to Kirkby fulling intending to extend it further. It's taken around 50 years to extend by one stop! One problem was the BR singled the line from Fazakerley to Rainford as a result of a single track new bridge. Very short sighted.

Ok, im confused. Why would the 2 lines terminate here? Why not just have a through line? I can undrrstand in ye olden days, with 2 competing companies not wanting to share track, but i dont understand why do it today.

New Lane, Bescar Lane, Hall Road - just a few for your Northern correspondent

Funniest thing i saw on Merseyrail was Graffiti at Aintree Station on the Sign underneath Aintree it says Alight here for Aintree racecourse and someone had crossed out Alight and wrote "Get off" it made my day i couldn't stop giggling

1. Why does the dft hate third rail expansion? It would make it easier to expand electrication (Uckfield) and wouldnt have this situation where only a few trains can serve the station) 2. Is there any possibility of reelectrifying to pantograph? I know all new 3rd rail trains are required to be panto capable. It could tie in with electrification up to Wigan. 3. Will Kirkby ever be doubled? Feeling like that pinch point could become problematic in the future with running a 15 minute service. 8tph along that one track

Love the greeting 😄

platform 3 is a terminating platform edit: there is a old railway aligment at frizingtion its now a path you can see where the stations would of been at oh yea and its a cumbrian thing to drop the H

We have the similarly named Headstone Lane station down here, but at least the area has grown around it.

Were the trains any quieter 🤫 in battery mode than normal electric trains? I did wonder whether cutting the Northern service back from Kirkby to Eadbolt Lane would cause problems for people travelling from Kirkby to Wigan or Manchester as they would lose the through service, but as Kirkby town centre is not very well served by _either_ station that may be less of an issue. There are still the residential areas around the old station where people might miss out on a direct service though, it's a shame that the two routes couldn't overlap with a new bay platform at Kirkby to terminate the Northern trains.

We delivered the platform edges about 5 months ago to that new train station. 18 trucks delivered them .

David was great ! Longer interview next time please !

Look forward to ticking this off on my next visit...at last a new station that has something about it....Merseyrail for me is the best value service around

I love the joke that it's spelt "Head", pronounced "Ead", but on the train the abbreviation uses only "H" - the letter that's not pronounced!

Merseyrail spends all this money on new stations yet their stations on the Liverpool-Manchester Railway are falling into disrepair. Typical.

Tried the Manchester service from Athertonl station to Headbolt lane then on to Liverpool central. on the new class 777 train, both trains were ontime and we had a thouroughly enjoyable ride.

8:57 Very nice Geoff, very nice ;)

The ticket machine at Wiggin must have been having a moment as I looked at my local Northern station on Friday and Headbolt lane was on the machine.

How cool!