Leasowe railway station is a station serving the village of

Leasowe Leasowe () is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Historically within Cheshire (ceased to be in 1974), Leasowe was part of the old County Borough of Wallasey. It is now within the Leasowe and Moreton East War ...

, 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 ...

. It lies on the

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 ...

branch of 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 b ...

, part 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.

Location

The station is in Reeds Lane, on the edge of

Moreton Moreton may refer to: People Given name * Moreton John Wheatley (1837–1916), British Army officer and Bailiff of the Royal Parks Surname * Alice Bertha Moreton (1901–1977), English sculptor, draughtsman and artist * Andrew Moreton, a p ...

and around 500 metres south of the village of

which is on the north Wirral coast. It is just 1 km east of Moreton station on the same line, and has a

Park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

facility for commuters to

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 ...

History

Leasowe station was originally opened on the Hoylake Railway in 1870, as ''Leasowe Crossing'' without a proper platform, but it closed less than two years later. The station opened again on 5 May 1894, when the line from Bidston (1.5 km to the east) to Moreton was doubled. It 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 ...

on their line from

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 ...

. Through electric services 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 ...

commenced on 13 March 1938, when the LMS electrified the lines from

. 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 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 ...

, which had until then only run from Liverpool to Birkenhead Park. The platform buildings were replaced in 1938, rebuilt in a similar style to those along the line towards West Kirby, and a footbridge was added. The signal box, used to operate the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

and replacing a cabin on the westbound platform, was moved to the opposite side of Reeds Lane and was also improved at the time. The station did not have a goods yard; it just had two lines straight through. Nonetheless, freight did pass through the station from the nearby

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

factory, also in Moreton. The 8-lever signal box was in use until 24 July 1994, and demolished afterwards.

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 ...

. Each of the two platforms has a waiting room. 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 ...

, booking office and live departure and arrival screens, for passenger information. The station has a free "Park and Ride"

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 ...

, with 204 spaces, lighting columns and CCTV to meet Merseytravel's Travelsafe requirements, as well as a cycle rack. There is step-free access, to the booking office and 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.

Services

Current services are every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to West Kirby and Liverpool. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes. These services are 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 ...

. The station also has a number of connecting Merseytravel bus services.

Gallery

Image:507008 at Leasowe - IMG 0377.JPG, A Merseyrail Class 507 unit waits with a service to Liverpool. Image:Leasowe Railway Station (geograph 2992978).jpg, A view, towards Bidston, of the platforms, footbridge and level crossing. Image:Leasowe Railway Station (geograph 2992979).jpg, The view towards Moreton. Image:Leasowe railway station - IMG 0372.JPG, Westward view from under the footbridge, next to the level crossing.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

{{coord, 53.408, N, 3.100, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral DfT Category E stations Former Wirral Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1870 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1872 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1894 Railway stations served by Merseyrail 1866 establishments in England