Rainhill is a stop on the Liverpool to Manchester Line on Merseyside between Whiston and Lea Green.
Northern 319 375 prepares to depart
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Liverpool - Manchester Line)
Station code:
RNH
Opened:
1830
Platforms:
2
The station was opened as Kendrick's Cross Gate by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 and is one of the oldest railway stations in the world. The station name was changed to Rainhill probably in 1831.
Rainhill is best known for being the site for the trials in 1829 to see if steam locomotives would be suitable to provide the motive power on the railway. George Stephenson's Rocket won of course and set the template for railway motive power for the next hundred years. A museum dedicated to the Rainhill trials is near the station.
The current station buildings date from a rebuilding of the station in the 1860s by the London & North Western Railway. At the Western end of the station the road crosses the railway via a skew bridge designed by George Stephenson, the first bridge of this type ever built to cross a railway line.
The station is now part of the Merseytravel PTE and managed by Northern. The line through Rainhill was electrified in 2015. Northern operated services out of Liverpool Lime Streetstop at the station to destinations like Crewe.
View down the line, the skew bridge can be seen in the background
Northern 323 227 arrives with a Liverpool bound service
