Exploring Newchurch Halt and Culcheth Railway Station sites - abandoned closed disused - Warrington

A look around the remains of both Newchurch Halt and Culcheth Station which both served the large village of Culcheth, between Warrington and Leigh.
They were situated on the Great Central line between Glazebrook and Wigan. Newchurch was open between 1943 and 1964 while Culcheth lasted from 1884 to 1964.
Newchurch is very overgrown but there are entrance steps and old fence posts left, and possibly remnants of the old platforms. The Culcheth site has been cleared and turned into a park but there are a few signs left, including a fine Victorian road bridge and retaining walls.
Filmed 16 July 2022.
#Culcheth #Newchurch #abandonedstations

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

thank you very much. Well presented and interesting

[@RWHTrains]

Thanks very much for the great feedback

[@maimadha]

Great video

[@RWHTrains]

Thanks Madeline

[@Frances-r2u]

I well remember New Church Halt in the 1950s. The trains would take us to Manchester in one direction and Wigan in the other. If you were waiting for the Wigan train, from the bridge you could watch the train approaching across the flat fields for quite a while before it arrived. It was like watching a toy train at first. Then of course it would grow bigger and bigger as it came closer to the station. I was a child. I loved to watch the progress of the 'toy train'. In the Autumn, you could pick blackberries from bushes at the edge of the station. In the field next to the station was a pond with tadpoles in it in the spring. The station was placed near living accommodation which were prefabs from World War Two. We lived in one. It had central heating, unheard of luxury in the 1950s.

[@RWHTrains]

Thanks for sharing. It sounds like it was quite a nice rural spot where this halt was back in the day.

[@southworthdt5]

I was brought up close to Culcheth station from 1936 when I was three years old. I remember the station well, especialy in the early war years when workers from ROF Risley arrived from the Wigan direction and were then bused to the ROF. There were oil lamps as shown in your still picture and the ticket office had a Tilley lamp which was much brightert. In Winter, the waiting rooms on each platform had coal fires. The local coal men collected and bagged up their coal in the goods yard.

[@RWHTrains]

Thanks for sharing. I've heard it was really busy with the ROF staff. Sounds totally different to what stations are like nowadays

[@maimadha]

@@RWHTrains what are ROF staff?

[@RWHTrains]

@@maimadha they worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory. It was a government owned firm that made weapons for the army

[@railwaychristina3192]

Why hasn't the trackbed been cleared? There used to be a lamp near the stairs and a clear path.

[@RWHTrains]

I'm not sure because it is at Culcheth. The posts for the lamps are still there but the lamps are now missing

[@billjohnson3403]

When I had a pharmacy in Culcheth one of our regulars had been the station-master. Unfortunately I can’t remember his name.

[@RWHTrains]

It was a lot smaller and closer community then. Better times than today