Remembering the golden age of rail travel at Wigan's flagship town stations

Few things evoke nostalgia like train travel, as these pictures taken down the years at Wigan’s town centre stations demonstrate.

By Alan Weston

Published 11th Feb 2024, 04:55 GMT

As well as steam trains taking on water before heading off for the last time, they include the long-vanished custom of Wakes Week – where the town’s workers would descend en masse to the station for two weeks by the seaside – along with excited schoolchildren departing for a school trip abroad.

1. Wallgate and the station at the turn of the 19th century

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2. The last steam trains through Wallgate station taking on water before heading off for the last time (Pic: David Wharton)

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3. The last steam trains through Wallgate station, 1968. (Pic: David Wharton)

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4. Scenes of the last steam trains through Wallgate station, 1968 (Pic: David Wharton)

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