White Bear Station: Guest Post by Nick Williams

White Bear railway station, on Station Road, Adlington, Lancashire, England, was on the Lancashire Union Railway line between St Helens and Blackburn. The station opened on 1 December 1869 one month after the line on which it was situated, the Lancashire Union Railway from Boars Head Junction in Standish to Rawlinson Bridge, opened for goods traffic. The train ran alongside the canal across the Bottom Rec and was accessed from Station Road.  The line joined the current train lines near to the level crossing just past the A6. Passenger services also opened on the same date at Boars Head Junction and at Red Rock.

White Bear Station 1900

Another view of White Bear Station c1900

The joint line was constructed because the Wigan coal owners wanted better transportation links to the mills and factories of East Lancashire. The coal owners also wanted a line that would allow trains to go south and gain direct access to Garston Dock where shipping charges were far less than Liverpool dock. It was also used as a direct line for passengers holidaying in Wales.

On the 1st October 1883 the line passed into the joint ownership of the London & North Western Railway and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. On the 1st January 1922 it passed into the sole ownership of the London & North Western Railway for a short period before that company became part of the London Midland Scottish Railway at the time of the 1923 grouping.

White Bear Station closed whilst under British Railways ownership on the 4th January 1960, and to freight and diversions in 1971. All that remains today is the ticket office.

The remaining ticket office from today, with where the line used to run. 
Credit to Nick Williams for the mash up.

Graphic representation of how it would have looked along the bottom rec.
Photo credit to markjudith at Atomic Systems.

Just to the north of the station was a spur which led to the White Bear Yard

 which would eventually be known as Faircloughs and a steam train was 

parked there for many years. c1960