Railway station in Merseyside, England
West Kirby railway station
serves the town of
West Kirby
in
Merseyside
, England. The station is the terminus of the West Kirby branch line, which is one of the two branches of the
Wirral Line
on the
Merseyrail
network. There is a central island platform between two terminus tracks and two parallel sidings for out-of-use
electric multiple units
. A second station, which was the terminus of a branch line from
Hooton
, lay to the east of the Wirral Line station; it was closed in 1962.
History
[
edit
]
Wirral line
[
edit
]
In 1873, the
Hoylake and Birkenhead Railway
was authorised to construct two extensions to its lines. One was a short connecting section near to
Birkenhead docks
, and the other was the 1.225 mi (1.971 km) extension from
Hoylake
to West Kirby.
[1]
The station and the extension were opened on 1 April 1878
[1]
[2]
as the terminus of the
Wirral Railway
's route from
Birkenhead Park station
. The station's original
signal box
was built in 1886, to a
London and North Western Railway
(LNWR) design.
[3]
This signal box was removed and replaced in 1932.
[3]
After the opening of the
Mersey Railway Tunnel
in 1886, carriages were operated through
Birkenhead Park
, every half-hour, all the way to
James Street station
in
Liverpool
.
[4]
As traffic increased, the line into West Kirby was doubled, from a single track, in 1896.
[1]
After a board meeting on 28 October 1895, it was decided to extend the line from
Hooton
, into West Kirby.
[4]
[
contradictory
]
The station was relocated on the western side of the original station, with an enlarged island platform
[5]
and rebuilt, in 1898?9,
[6]
in red brick, with a turreted clock tower and
mock Tudor
frontage.
[4]
A further platform was constructed for the Hooton line, on the eastern side of the original station.
[5]
The site of the original station was used for goods sidings.
[4]
In the present day, this is the site of
The Concourse
, a community building operated by
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council
.
In 1932, the
London Midland and Scottish Railway
(LMS) constructed a new signal cabin, used jointly with the
Great Western Railway
(GWR),
[3]
which was installed on the western side of the tracks, just beyond the end of the platform.
[7]
This replaced the earlier signal box in the same place.
[7]
This signal box was closed on 17 September 1994 and demolished a week later.
[3]
There was an active freight depot, until 1964, on the eastern side of the station. The freight depot occupied the triangular area between the former
Wirral Railway
station, which received the electrified lines, and the former
Birkenhead Joint
branch station. The depot was mainly used to receive coal for domestic distribution. The area occupied by the freight depot was later used for the construction of
The Concourse
. The West Kirby goods depot was principally served by a daily goods train along the electric line from Birkenhead, which also served goods depots at Hoylake,
Moreton
, and the
Cadbury's
factory near
Leasowe
.
[
citation needed
]
West Kirby to Hooton line
[
edit
]
West Kirby's station for trains from Hooton opened on 19 April 1886
[8]
[
contradictory
]
when the
Chester and Birkenhead Railway
(C&BR) extended their line to West Kirby from
Parkgate
. This now meant there was a direct route from
Hooton
to West Kirby.
The station for the Hooton line was to the east of the current station. The station was along the alignment of what is now Orrysdale Road,
[8]
between Bridge Road and Grange Road, and was equipped with a small turntable.
[5]
[8]
The station was single-platformed, and a single-storey building provided passenger and parcels facilities.
[8]
The station also had
steam locomotive
watering facilities at the southern end of the platform, and a passing loop.
[8]
The only significant train along this route was a once-daily through service, often just one or two coaches, which ran until 1939. This service was from New Brighton, via
Bidston
, to Hooton and Chester. The coaches were then attached to a
London Euston
train.
[8]
A principal traffic was scholars travelling from stations along the route to the secondary schools in West Kirby.
[8]
The Birkenhead Joint branch station was effectively a separate facility to the main station on the electric lines. There was a junction between the two lines, underneath the Bridge Road overbridge. However, very few train movements connected between them.
In its final years, the almost-unused line was employed for the training of diesel multiple unit crews operating from
Birkenhead
and
Chester
via Hooton.
[8]
The station closed to passengers on 17 September 1956,
[8]
and closed completely on 7 May 1962.
[8]
The station site is now the location for several civic buildings, and the route all the way to Hooton is now a footpath, known as The Wirral Way, which forms part of the
Wirral Country Park
.
[8]
LMS electrification
[
edit
]
Through electric services commenced on 13 March 1938, when the LMS electrified the lines from Birkenhead Park to West Kirby.
[9]
The service was provided by the then-new
LMS electric multiple units
. However, on Sunday mornings, the service was provided by the older
Mersey Railway electric units
[10]
which, up until that point, had only ever run from Liverpool to Birkenhead Park. The 230 ft (70 m)
[7]
concrete platform awning was erected, at the time of the 1938 electrification, along with a similar structure at
New Brighton
.
[11]
[12]
However, the station building, across the end of the tracks, was left untouched from
Victorian
times.
Service disruptions
[
edit
]
When the
Open Golf Championship
was held at the
Royal Liverpool Golf Club
, which is situated between West Kirby and Hoylake, in July 2006, services terminated at
Hoylake station
during the tournament.
[13]
This was to allow competitors to cross the tracks from the practice course on one side to the championship course on the other.
[13]
[14]
This caused some controversy locally, especially given the large increase in passengers during the championship.
[15]
[16]
Facilities
[
edit
]
The station has a
booking office
and a drop-off point for cars, with a
cycle rack
for 16 bicycles and secure storage for 10 bicycles. The station is staffed, at all times during opening hours, has departure and arrival screens for passenger information, and platform
CCTV
. The terminus island platform has open-air seating, beneath a platform canopy, and there are two
payphones
on the platform.
Wheelchair
and
pram
access to the platform is straightforward, with no steps to ascend.
[17]
[18]
Much of the station building has been rented out as retail units, accessed from the public road rather than from the railway premises.
Services
[
edit
]
Current services are every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to
Liverpool
. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes.
[19]
These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of
Class 507
and
Class 777
EMUs
.
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
The station entrance.
-
Beneath the station canopy.
-
The station building, viewed from the main road.
-
The end of the platform, looking towards Hoylake.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Maund 2009
, p. 18
- ^
Gahan 1983
, p. 15
- ^
a
b
c
d
Maund 2009
, p. 230
- ^
a
b
c
d
Maund 2009
, p. 37
- ^
a
b
c
Maund 2009
, p. 127
- ^
Gahan 1983
, p. 18
- ^
a
b
c
Maund 2009
, p. 165
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
"Station Name: West Kirby (Birkenhead Joint)"
.
Disused Stations
. Retrieved
6 June
2014
.
- ^
Gahan 1983
, p. 63
- ^
Gahan 1983
, p. 67
- ^
Maund 2009
, p. 159
- ^
Gahan 1983
, p. 47
- ^
a
b
"Open Golf:: Park and ride sites now identified"
.
Wirral Globe
. 1 March 2006
. Retrieved
16 February
2016
.
- ^
Dunn, Justin (11 July 2006).
"Station ready after £600,000 revamp"
.
Wirral Globe
. Retrieved
16 February
2016
.
- ^
"Lessons that must be learned..."
Wirral Globe
. 12 September 2006
. Retrieved
16 February
2016
.
- ^
Dunn, Justin (21 July 2006).
"Record number take the train to the Open"
.
Wirral Globe
. Retrieved
16 February
2016
.
- ^
"West Kirby Station Plan"
.
National Rail
. Retrieved
17 December
2013
.
- ^
"West-kirby train station | timetable | ticket prices & facilities"
.
www.merseyrail.org
. Retrieved
27 February
2017
.
- ^
"Wirral Line timetable"
(PDF)
.
Merseyrail
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 19 December 2013
. Retrieved
18 December
2013
.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Gahan, John W. (1983).
Steel Wheels to Deeside - The Wirral Railway past and present
. Birkenhead: Countryvise.
ISBN
0-907768-70-9
.
- Maund, T.B. (2009).
The Wirral Railway and its Predecessors
. Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press.
ISBN
978-1-899-88938-9
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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53°22′23″N
3°11′02″W
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53.373°N 3.184°W
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53.373; -3.184