In this next post, I am visiting every station between Southport & Wigan Wallgate, I really enjoyed the day traveling between stations on this line as well as walking between New Lane & Bescar Lane which took me around an hour on the day. However lets get started at Southport Station the terminus for Merseyrail & Northern Trains.

Due to my original plan being changed thanks to Northern cancelling the earlier service towards Hoscar where I had planned to head to first then make my way to Meols Cop I had to change my plan to head to Parbold Station first. From Parbold I headed to Gathurst station which is rather awkward as it has such a long walk between the two platforms as there is no foot bridge.

From Gathurst Station I headed back down the line towards Southport, changing at Meols Cop, I had a rather short change here so not enough time really to get footage or a decent photo of the platforms, however it is a basic island platform and not much else. I then caught my next train to take us to finally Hoscar Station which only gets a service every two hours and is also the Least Used on the line too.

Hoscar, the least used station in Lancashire with only 800 passengers during the 2023/24 period, is also my personal favourite. Its staggered platforms, level crossing, and the absence of a station building or ticket machine add to its charm. From Hoscar, I made my way to my next awkward station, New Lane.

Starting from New Lane, I chose to walk between New Lane and Bescar Lane stations, passing through farmland, countryside, and small roads. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk and am eagerly anticipating another outing this coming week to explore some new stations. As I mentioned, the three stations with a two-hourly service needed to be visited first.

From Bescar Lane Station, I travelled up the line once more to Appley Bridge, another slightly awkward station with a long walk between platforms. This time, the walk under the railway bridge to the other platform took about 4 minutes, similar to the duration at Gathurst.

Finally, I am heading to my penultimate station, Burscough Bridge Station, the second station in Burscough itself, with the other being Burscough Junction, which I have visited but not recently. The Junction station is on the Ormskirk to Preston line, with only three stations between Ormskirk and Preston.

I didn’t have to wait long for my final train to Wigan Wallgate station, which isn’t quite the end of the line, as the train continues towards Stalybridge or Manchester Oxford Road via Bolton. I plan to revisit those stations in the future. Wigan Wallgate was my last station for the day, so I hope you’ve enjoyed this post.

And that’s it for this one. Join me on the next post as we travel between Prescot and Wigan North Western, along with Wigan Wallgate to Headbolt Lane, and onward to Liverpool Central. I had a wonderful day travelling up and down the Southport branch, and I am rather looking forward to starting to visit some other stations I have never been to. So please consider subscribing.