Birkenhead North railway station serves the town of

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The station is situated on the

Wirral Line The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line. The Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with ...

of the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...

network, close to the junction of the New Brighton and

West Kirby West Kirby is a resort town on the north-west corner of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee, Wales, River Dee. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, to th ...

branches.

Birkenhead North TMD Birkenhead North TMD is a traction maintenance depot, which is owned by Network Rail and operated by Stadler. Located opposite Birkenhead North railway station, it is currently responsible for servicing and stabling Merseyrail's fleet of Cla ...

, situated just to the west of the station, is the main

traction maintenance depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

for the

fleet.

History

The station was built by the

Wirral Railway The Wirral Railway was a railway network in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England. Its route was from Birkenhead Park in the east of the Wirral to West Kirby in the west. A branch off this line at Bidston went north to Secombe and ...

, replacing their earlier terminus at Wallasey Bridge Road (a short distance away) which had opened in 1866. The station was originally known as ''Birkenhead Docks'' and opened on 2 January 1888 as a through station with Birkenhead Park station becoming the new terminus. Birkenhead North raiilway station1802063 389c6940

Birkenhead North raiilway station1802063 389c6940

The station had three through platforms from prior to 1898, which it still retains to the present day. However, the outer face of the north side island platform sees little use apart from trains to and from Birkenhead North depot at the start and end of service.

LMS Era

The Wirral Railway subsequently became part of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

, who renamed the station ''Birkenhead North'' in 1926. The line through Birkenhead North was electrified, using a 650 V DC

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway t ...

system, and brought into passenger service on 14 March 1938, allowing through services from New Brighton to

Liverpool Central Liverpool Central railway station in Liverpool, England, forms a central hub of the Merseyrail network, being on both the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The station is located underground on two levels, below the site of a former mainline ...

via the

Mersey Railway Tunnel The Mersey Railway was the first part of the passenger railway connecting the communities of Liverpool, Birkenhead, and now the rest of the Wirral Peninsula in England, which lie on opposite banks of the River Mersey, via the Mersey Railway Tun ...

. Services used the new LMS trains and the former

Mersey Railway electric units Mersey Railway electric multiple units were electric multiple units introduced on the underground Mersey Railway, now a part of Merseyrail, in 1903. In the early 1900s the railway was bankrupt as it used steam locomotives that left a dirty atmosp ...

. The Mersey Railway electric units operated through the station until 1957.

Wrexham diesel service

From 4 January 1971 until 2 October 1978, the diesel service on the Bidston to Wrexham line, which had previously operated from New Brighton, was diverted to Birkenhead North. These trains terminated on the centre platform (2) which had previously been used for Liverpool-bound services, and when one of the diesel trains was present (which in that timetable was much of the time), Liverpool-bound electric services used the outer north side of the island platform (1) instead. The diesel service was cut back to Bidston from 2 October 1978. Regular use of the outer platform (1) at Birkenhead North thereafter ceased.

Signal boxes

Birkenhead North No. 1 was a 40-lever signal box, which was situated at the western end of the southern platform and opened in 1888. This signal box closed on 9 September 1994 and was demolished over the following two days. Birkenhead North No. 2 was a 25-lever signal box which was situated to the west of the station, approximately a third of the distance towards Bidston. The box was located on the northern side of the Wirral Line at the junction with the

Birkenhead Dock Branch Birkenhead Dock Branch is a disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The branch is approximately in length. Although called a branch, the l ...

goods line. The signal box was closed on 15 September 1994 and was subject to arson in November 1994.

Facilities

The station has a booking office, and on-street parking, which has been upgraded and replaced with a ''Park and Ride'' facility, linked directly to the platform. The station is staffed, at all times during opening hours, and has platform

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

. Each platform has open-air seating and live departure and arrival screens, for passenger information. There is a

payphone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

available. The station provides a ''Park and Ride'' service. There are 630 car parking spaces which are free to use for travellers, with lighting columns and CCTV to meet Merseytravel's ''Travelsafe'' requirements. There is secure cycle storage for 12 cycles. In 2016 charging posts were added to the car park for the recharging of electric vehicles. As of 4 June 2014, there is step-free access to the platforms for passengers with

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

s or prams.

Services

Trains operate every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to New Brighton and West Kirby and every 5–10 minutes via

Hamilton Square Hamilton Square is a town square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. This Georgian square, which was designed by Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, has the most Grade I listed buildings outside London (after Trafalgar Square). It is named ...

to Liverpool. At other times, trains run every 30 minutes to New Brighton and West Kirby, and every 15 minutes to Liverpool. These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of Class 507 and Class 508

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

Gallery

Image:Merseyrail Class 507, 507010, Birkenhead North railway station (geograph 4016733).jpg, Facing towards Birkenhead North TMD, which is at top centre. The new station car park is visible to the top right. Image:From Birkenhead North station platform-by-E-Pollock.jpg, The view along the line towards

Birkenhead Park Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...

. Image:Birkenhead North 2018-1.jpg, Looking north towards Bidston from the footbridge Image:Birkenhead North railway station frontage (1).jpg, The station frontage.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

{{Railway stations served by Merseyrail Buildings and structures in Birkenhead DfT Category E stations Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Former Wirral Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Railway stations served by Merseyrail