Gathurst
Gathurst railway station in 2015, the L&YR-era station building is now a public house.
General information
Location	Gathurst, Wigan England
Grid reference	SD541071
Managed by	Northern Trains
Transit authority	Greater Manchester
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	GST
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Opened	1855
Passengers
2018/19	94,320
2019/20	106,722
2020/21	14,426
2021/22	71,014
2022/23	80,454
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Gathurst railway station is a two-platform railway station on the outskirts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The station is on the Southport line 2+3⁄4 miles (4.4 kilometres) north west of Wigan Wallgate station. The station also serves the nearby village of Shevington, indeed until 1973 (see British Rail Timetable of 1972) was named Gathurst for Shevington. It is currently operated by Northern Trains.

The main stone-built station building survives adjacent to the Wigan-bound platform, but is now in use for non-railway purposes (as a public house), modest shelters now being provided on both platforms for rail travellers.

History

The station was built by the Manchester and Southport Railway and opened on 9 April 1855, and from January 1885 was part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR). The main stone-built station building (no longer in use) was built during this time, in the standard L&YR style. The L&YR amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948. When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Rail. The goods yard served as an exchange with the ICI Nobels Roburite Works narrow gauge railway.

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no ticket machine, so all tickets must be bought prior to travel or on the train. Train running information can be obtained by phone and timetable posters. There is step-free access to both platforms.^[1]

Services

On Monday to Saturday daytimes, there are two trains an hour westbound to Southport and eastbound to Wigan. Beyond here, services run via Bolton to either Stalybridge via Manchester Victoria or Manchester Oxford Road (services beyond there towards Manchester Piccadilly and points south ended at the winter 2022 timetable change). Only a limited number now run via Atherton, mainly at peak times and late evenings (travellers to these destinations and for stations along the Calder Valley line now need to change at Wigan).^[2]

Sunday services are hourly each way and continue to Blackburn eastbound.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Appley Bridge		Northern Trains Manchester–Southport line		Wigan Wallgate