Rufford railway station

Rufford Add→{{rail-interchange}}
General information
Location	West Lancashire
Managed by	Northern Rail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	RUF
History
Opened	1849

Rufford railway station, opened on 2 April 1849, serves the village of Rufford in Lancashire, England. The station is (9½ miles) south west of Preston on the Preston-Ormskirk branch service. The line was formerly the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway, which was quickly merged into the East Lancashire Railway on 3 August 1846 into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

The level crossing runs across the B5246, the aptly named "Station Road". This is supervised from the nearby signal box, which also controls the only passing loop on the otherwise single track branch line.

History

Direct trains to Liverpool via Ormskirk were withdrawn from Rufford station in October 1969, though Liverpool trains continued to run through until May of the following year. From July 1970, Rufford became the only passing point on the truncated Preston-Ormskirk branchline. Over that same summer, the station was rebuilt, with its wooden platforms and substantial station building demolished and replaced with more functional and basic facilities.

Until the late 1980s, peak-hour trains on the Preston-Ormskirk line continued to cross at Rufford station, but the service was further reduced, leaving the branchline to be operated by a single DMU running essentially along a long siding. Rufford's Victorian signalbox was demolished in October 1988 and replaced with a portakabin like structure on the site of the former station building. Over the past twenty five years, changes in the station's layout and traction have been minimal. The portakabin signal box is due to close, along with that at Midge Hall, in 2017.

Service

On Mondays to Saturdays there is a service westbound to Ormskirk to connect with the Merseyrail service to Liverpool Central and eastbound to Preston roughly every ninety minutes (twelve trains each way in total).

There is no Sunday service.

External links

• Train times and station information for Rufford railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Croston		Northern Rail Ormskirk Branch Line Mondays-Saturdays only		Burscough Junction
	Disused railways
Terminus		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Burscough Curves North		Burscough Bridge