Birkdale Palace railway station

Birkdale Palace
Remains of the station in 1964
Location
Place	Birkdale
Area	Sefton
Coordinates	53°38′20″N 3°01′37″W / 53.6388°N 3.0269°WCoordinates: 53°38′20″N 3°01′37″W / 53.6388°N 3.0269°W
Grid reference	SD322163
Operations
Original company	Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway
Pre-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Post-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Platforms	2 (island)[1]
History
1 September 1884	Station opened
1 January 1917	Station closed
1 April 1919	Station reopened
7 January 1952	Station closed to passengers[2]
7 July 1952	Station closed completely[3]
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Cheshire Lines Committee
Legend
Merseyside Lines  Southport Lord Street Birkdale Palace to Southport Ainsdale Ainsdale Beach Northern Line Woodvale Freshfield to Liverpool Central Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway Barton Mossbridge Hillhouse Junction Altcar and Hillhouse Lydiate Sefton and Maghull to Ormskirk Old Roan Aintree Junction Southport Junction Aintree Central Aintree Northern Line Warbreck Orrell Park Walton to Kirkby Rice Lane to Liverpool Central Fazakerley Junctions Walton on the Hill Huskisson Clubmoor West Derby Knotty Ash & Stanley Broad Green City Line Childwall Gateacre Northern Line Liverpool Central Liverpool Central High Level St James Brunswick(original) Egerton Street Junction Brunswick St Michaels Otterspool Aigburth Cressington to Lime Street Garston Liverpool South Parkway Hunts Cross West Junction Hunts Cross to Manchester Central

Birkdale Palace railway station was located in Birkdale, Merseyside.

The Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway (SCLER) opened Birkdale Palace on 1 September 1884, as an intermediate station from Southport Lord Street railway station. The station was built adjacent to a hotel called the Birkdale Palace Hotel (now closed) and was sandwiched between Palace Road & Weld Roads.

The station was an island platform, accessed from the Weld Road bridge. It first closed on 1 January 1917, along with all other stations on the extension line, as a World War I economy measure.

The station was reopened on 1 April 1919, and continued in use until 7 January 1952, when the SCLER was closed to passengers from Aintree Central to Southport Lord Street. Until 7 July 1952 the line remained open for public goods traffic at Southport Lord Street, Birkdale Palace and Altcar & Hillhouse stations. Public goods facilities were closed at Woodvale, Lydiate and Sefton & Maghull stations on the same date as passenger services, and goods facilities were never provided at Ainsdale Beach station. After 7 July 1952, a siding remained open at Altcar & Hillhouse for private goods traffic until May 1960. The last passenger train to run on the SCLER was a railway enthusiasts 'special' between Aintree and Altcar & Hillhouse railways stations on 6 June 1959.^[4]

Later the route of the line was converted into what is now Coastal Road, which runs from Woodvale to Southport, although at the site of Birkdale Palace station the road alignment runs to the west of the former trackbed.^[2]

• On the subject of railway station or line 'closing dates', the official day of a closure is always given as the Monday following the date the last train ran. As this is almost always a Saturday, if Monday 7 January 1952 is given as the date of closure, the actual last day of services was Saturday, 5 January 1952. This is proven by last day tickets which bear the 5 January date.

References

1. Bolger 1984, pp. 30-1.
2. "Station Name: Birkdale Palace". Disused Stations. Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
3. Bolger 1984, p. 6.
4. Special trains via sixbellsjunction

Sources

• Bolger, Paul (1984). An Illustrated History of the Cheshire Lines Committee. Merseyside: Heyday Publishing Company. ISBN 0 947562 00 1.

Further reading

• Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies, Christopher Awdry, 1990, Guild Publishing, CN 8983.

External links

• The station on a 1948 OS Map via npe maps
• The station's history via Disused Stations UK
• Special trains via sixbellsjunction
• The station and line via railwaycodes

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Ainsdale Beach		Cheshire Lines Committee SCLER		Southport Lord Street