North Union Railway
The North Union Railway was an early British railway company, operating two main routes, from to and from to , all in Lancashire. The northerly part of the routes sharing the line from Euxton to Preston. The company was created in 1834 with the first parliamentary authorised railway amalgamation. The two companies amalgamated were the Wigan Branch Railway (WBR) and the Preston and Wigan Railway (P&WR). In 1844 the company acquired the Bolton and Preston Railway (B&PR). The company operated independently until 1846, then under joint lease of London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y) but continuing as an independent company until 1889. In 1889 it was absorbed by the lessees with the line from Parkside to Euxton going to the L&NWR and the line from Euxton to Bolton (the former B&PR) being taken by the (L&Y). The section from Euxton to becoming jointly owned. Most of the line eventually became part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML). Formation The Wigan Branch Railway obtained an Act of Parliament on 29 May 1830 to build a line from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) near to Wigan. The Act included a branch to the south