Birkenhead Hamilton Square railway station (commonly shortened to Hamilton Square 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 ...

, 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. The station is close to

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 ...

in Birkenhead. Liverpool rail lines in 1977

History

Hamilton Square station was built by the

Mersey Railway 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 ...

and opened on 1 February 1886. The station building was designed by G. E. Grayson in

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style, and has been designated as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It stood on that railway's original route from

James Street station Liverpool James Street railway station (commonly shortened to James Street station) is a railway station located in the centre of Liverpool, England, situated on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. James Street is an underground station ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

to Green Lane, later extended to

Rock Ferry Rock Ferry is an area of Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the county of Cheshire. At the 2 ...

and

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 ...

. Just south of the station, the lines towards Rock Ferry and Birkenhead Park diverge; this junction was originally built as a flat crossing. With the platforms being at a deep level, three hydraulic lifts were provided to transport passengers from ground level to the platforms and back, as well as flights of steps. Each lift was able to accommodate up to 100 passengers at a time and took 45 seconds to travel in each direction. The lifts were installed by Easton and

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

. By 1970 all-electric lifts were in operation, each with a capacity of 70 persons, these lifts having the

Ward Leonard control Ward Leonard control, also known as the Ward Leonard drive system, was a widely used DC motor speed control system introduced by Harry Ward Leonard in 1891. In the early 1900s, the control system of Ward Leonard was adopted by the U.S. Navy and a ...

system, which gave gentle stops and starts, blistering acceleration, and a fast transit time. The first electric train passenger service ran through the station on 3 May 1903, with a 650 V DC

fourth rail A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), ele ...

system and

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 ...

built by Westinghouse. Despite the journey being far quicker than travel aboard the

Mersey Ferry The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12t ...

service, passengers were not keen on travelling underground due to the smoke from the previous coal-powered steam locomotives. A ''Frequent electric trains'' sign was erected on the outside of the station's large hydraulic lift tower (slightly below the position of the present sign) to publicise these cleaner trains. The booking hall had a central ticket office, as was popular on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

. In the 1970s, as part of the expansion programme of the Merseyrail network, a burrowing junction was built at Hamilton Square so that trains heading towards 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 ...

did not have to cross the path of trains coming from Rock Ferry on the flat crossing. Along with the construction of the loop tunnel in the centre of Liverpool, this improved the capacity of the Wirral Line, allowing increased train frequencies. The burrowing junction required the construction of a new -long tunnel, dug at a depth of between and , between Hamilton Square and Lorn Street and directly beneath the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and Market Street. As part of the project, Hamilton Square gained a new platform (Platform 3) for New Brighton and West Kirby services, and the rest of the station was refurbished. The signal box was closed on 9 May 1977, with signalling operation transferred to James Street, when Hamilton Square's burrowing junction and platform came into use. Unfortunately, this investment coincided with the significant decline in employment in Central Liverpool and surrounding areas, patronage fell, and the peak hour train service provided nowadays through the extensive grade-separated tunnel junctions is notably less than was provided in the 1960s-70s, just using the flat junction.

2014/15 refurbishment

In August 2014, it was announced that Hamilton Square was to be the fourth station to be refurbished as part of the £40 million investment from

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

which would see all Merseyrail Underground Stations excluding Conway Park refurbished. This included the refurbishment of platforms, concourses and the booking hall. The entire station closed on 29 September 2014 and reopened on 27 March 2015. During the refurbishment, in November 2014 it was revealed that old historic posters dating back to the 1940s, 1950's and 1960's were found underneath the old wall cladding. These included posters promoting New Brighton, an advert for a Circus and old news stories from the

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...

. The posters however could not be saved due to their poor condition and were left where they were. However, during the reopening, artwork documenting the old posters was unveiled on Platform 1 of the station.

Facilities

The station is staffed, during all 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 ...

. There are toilets, secure parking for 12 cycles, 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 ...

, an ATM, booking office, a

ticket machine A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ...

and live departure and arrival screens, for passenger information. The station does not have a

car park A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surfac ...

though there is a drop-off point. Step-free access to the platforms, for

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 and prams, is possible, via the lifts. The station also has steps to an exit on Shore Road, once open normally but now only used in emergencies. The station also has a shop, in the main booking hall, which opened in 2007 and which sells tickets and snacks. On 22 October 2015, free

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

was installed and introduced at the station.

Services

During Monday-Saturday daytime, trains operate at least every five minutes to James Street and around the Liverpool city centre loop. In the other direction, trains operate every 15 minutes to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and , and every 30 minutes to . At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to each of these four destinations, giving a service every 5–10 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:508104 arrives at platform 3, Hamilton Square railway station, Birkenhead.JPG, A

Class 508 at platform 3 Image:Birkenhead Hamilton Square Station - geograph.org.uk - 1802049.jpg, The station tower in 1961 Image:Hamilton Square Railway Station, Birkenhead - geograph.org.uk - 205071.jpg, The station tower image:Hamilton Square - frequent electric trains.JPG, Signage on the station tower

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

{{Railway stations served by Merseyrail Buildings and structures in Birkenhead DfT Category D stations

Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Former Mersey Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1886 Railway stations served by Merseyrail Railway stations located underground in the United Kingdom