In this latest branch line post, I am riding the line between Wigan Wallgate and Headbolt lane calling at Pemberton, Orrell, Upholland & Rainford before arriving into the newest station on the line Headbolt Lane. Before 2023, services from Wigan Wallgate would terminate at Kirkby, that is now no longer the case with Merseyrail trains now going through Kirkby to the new Headbolt Lane station using the Class 777 Battery trains by Stadler. Leaving Wigan we branch off towards our first station stop of Pemberton, I have visited this station a few times and rather like the layout and design of it.

As we depart Pemberton we usually spend a couple of minutes sat at the station before heading to our next station of Orrell, Orrell Station opened to passengers in 1848 with Orrell Park opening later on the Ormskirk line now part of Merseyrail’s Northern Line. Orrell station was built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and I plan to be back to film a future video for my Every Station series on Lancashire stations after I complete Merseyside. As we depart Orrell, we head to the right towards a rather long tunnel before reaching our next station of Upholland.

One thing that I love about this line is that the line once used to run with Pacer trains, Class 142 units heading to Blackburn, Wigan & Manchester Victoria, however nowadays you just get the usual Sprinter units from Class 150s to class 156s, I do believe you can get class 195s however they never seem to get pathed down this line. One day Merseyrail hope to be bringing the class 777 Battery trains from Headbolt Lane through to Wigan Wallgate which would be really interesting and one day I hope to see this happen.

As we depart Upholland, we go through some rather beautiful country side heading to our penultimate stop of Rainford reaching this station means that we have entered the Merseyside boundary leaving Manchester and heading towards Merseyrail Territory. Rainford is probably my favourite station on this line because it I also where the token exchange towards Headbolt Lane takes place as this section of the line is currently single track. I do wonder if they will ever reinstate the second line from Headbolt Lane towards Rainford & the same between Kirkby and Headbolt Lane in the hope that Merseyrail trains will extend through to Wigan Wallgate. This would save me a lot of money as I would hopefully be able to use my Merseytravel pass.

Heading now to our final station for this trip, Headbolt Lane, we stop briefly to exchange the token along this section of line as we head onto Single track towards Headbolt Lane station, the scenery out of the window is just breathtaking and I truly hope that I can continue sharing these adventures with you. I remember being at Headbolt Lane when the station opened back in 2023, I interviewed Steve Rotherham the Metro Mayor of Liverpool, it was such a cool experience. However let’s make our way to the end of the line.

And finally, arriving at our final stop Headbolt Lane this is where Northern meets Merseyrail, trains then head towards Liverpool calling at Kirkby, Fazakerly, Rice Lane, Kirkdale, Sandhills, Moorfields before then terminating at Liverpool Central. I am going to be planning to do my next post soon, I apologise that I haven’t posted anything in quite a while due to taking a break after loosing a close friend and also my ADHD has sort of taken over my brain right now. I hope that you understand. Do let me know if you have ever ridden this line before I would greatly appreciate it.