The station opened on 31 October 1838 under the ownership of the North Union Railway and was originally named Farrington.

This link only survived in regular use for four years however, as a dispute between the B&PR's successor the East Lancashire Railway and the NUR over access to the main line to Preston and the sizeable tolls the ELR had to pay to use it led to the latter company building its own independent route into the city.

Thereafter, original B&PR link fell into disuse and was severed (though it eventually reopened in 1886 with the main line junction altered to face south), whilst the station reverted to a purely local role, served by stopping trains between Wigan North Western and Preston on the main line.

Farington station was closed by the British Transport Commission on 7 March 1960,[3] before the Beeching Axe of 1963, and was subsequently demolished.

West Coast Main Line trains run through Farington and still carry many inter-city and semi-local services.