 The track was lifted in 1968 and station was demolished soon afterwards; the B5312 road (known as "Railway Road") now passes through the site.Ironically this was done just as the town was undergoing a significant increase in population levels and associated housing development, having been designated as one of the second wave of new towns in 1961 (it was chosen, along with Runcorn as an overspill town for Liverpool).Skelmersdale has been described as the largest town in North-West England that doesn't have a railway station, although Leigh in Greater Manchester, which also has no station is larger.