The

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

& Preston Railway in north-west England was formed in 1846. It was purchased by the

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

the following year and opened to traffic on 2 April 1849. The railway ran from a junction with the

Liverpool and Bury Railway The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed in 1845 and opened on 28 November 1848. The line ran from Liverpool Exchange first using a joint line with Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway before branching off to proceed via Kirkby then Wigan ...

near

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdo ...

northwards via to a west-facing junction with the Blackburn & Preston Railway just east of

Lostock Hall Lostock Hall is a suburban village within the South Ribble borough of Lancashire, England. It is located on the south side of the River Ribble, some south of Preston and north of Leyland. It is bordered on its southeastern side by the ...

. Documents from 1847 signed by

Joseph Locke Joseph Locke FRSA (9 August 1805 – 18 September 1860) was a notable English civil engineer of the nineteenth century, particularly associated with railway projects. Locke ranked alongside Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as on ...

, Sturges Meek and Mackenzie, Brassey & Stephenson show elevations, plans and sections for bridges on line. A direct route to from Lostock Hall was opened on 2 September 1850 and a branch line from Ormskirk to Rainford Junction via on 1 March 1858. From May 1859, it became part of the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

system, following the ELR's absorption by that company. Under L&YR ownership, it became the company's main line from Liverpool to Preston & East Lancashire and carried through express trains to Blackpool and Scotland via , and the Settle-Carlisle Line as well as significant quantities of freight to the docks in Liverpool. From 1891, it was linked directly to the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

by a new connection near built as part of the work to upgrade that part of the route to four tracks. The southern end of the route was subsequently electrified by the L&YR in stages between 1906 (as far as Aintree) and 1913 (through to Ormskirk). Today the line still operates, though through services between Liverpool and Preston/East Lancashire were withdrawn in 1969/70. The section between Liverpool and Ormskirk forms part of

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line (Merseyrail ...

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

and the section between Ormskirk and Preston forming Northern's Ormskirk Branch Line. The two sections meet at Ormskirk station on the same alignment but are now separated by buffers in a rare type of

cross platform interchange A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines at a metro (or other railway) station. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the Un ...

Connections to other railways

at Walton (section from here to was under joint ownership) *

North Mersey Branch The North Mersey Branch (NMB) is a railway line that connected the Liverpool and Bury Railway at Fazakerley Junction with . History The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built this long double-track line to capture some of the increasing f ...

and the

North Liverpool Extension Line The North Liverpool Extension Line was a railway line in Liverpool, England in operation between 1879 and 1972. It was at one stage intended to become the eastern section of the Merseyrail Outer Loop, an orbital line circling the city. Histo ...

at *

Manchester and Southport Railway The Manchester and Southport Railway in England opened on 9 April 1855. It merged with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1854. The route is still in use to day as Northern's Manchester to Southport Line. Route *Manchester Victoria railwa ...

at (the Burscough Curves) *

East Lancashire Line The East Lancashire line is a railway line in the Lancashire region of England, which runs between Preston and Colne, through Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley (Barracks and Central) and Nelson. The line formerly ran onto Skipton but this closed i ...

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20050410094226/http://www.railwayancestors.fsnet.co.uk/research.html
Railscot - Photos of the Liverpool, Ormskirk & Preston Railway
Historic transport in Merseyside Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Rail transport in Lancashire Liverpool Ormskirk and Preston Railway companies established in 1846 Railway companies disestablished in 1847 1846 establishments in England British companies disestablished in 1847 British companies established in 1846 {{England-rail-transport-stub