Liverpool Central High Level was a terminus railway station in central

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 ...

, England. It opened on 1 March 1874, at the western end of the

Cheshire Lines Committee The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire a ...

(CLC) line to Manchester Central. It replaced Brunswick as the CLC's Liverpool passenger terminus, becoming the headquarters of the committee.

History

A three-storey building fronted Ranelagh Street in

city centre, with a high, arched shed behind. There were six platforms within the station, offering journeys to Manchester Central,

London St. Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It ...

, Hull,

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

, Stockport Tiviot Dale, Southport Lord Street and an alternative route to that of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

terminating at

London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern te ...

. The journey to Manchester Central took 45 mins, making the route quicker and more direct than those of the competing

Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

and

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

. On 11 January 1892, Liverpool Central Low Level underground station opened at the end of 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 ...

's route, 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 ...

from

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 ...

. The tunnel was extended from James Street to Central. The Mersey Railway platforms were underground, accessed from stairs within the station; these stairs were situated in roughly the same position as the escalators accessing the

Merseyrail Northern Line The Merseyrail Northern line is a cross-city railway running from in south Liverpool then (by way of an underground section through Liverpool's city centre) to termini in the north at (Merseyside), (Lancashire) and (Merseyside). It and t ...

today. The station was always busy, until nationalisation. Route closures that were part of the Beeching Axe in the 1960s closed three terminal stations: Liverpool Central High Level, Liverpool Exchange and Woodside Station in Birkenhead. * Long and medium distance routes –

Lime Street Station Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast ...

in Liverpool city centre was to remain, absorbing the long-to-medium-distance passenger traffic of the closed terminal stations. * Local urban routes – The local urban services served by the terminal stations would be absorbed by the new

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 ...

urban network. New tunnels under Liverpool's city centre were scheduled to connect all the separate rail lines to create Merseyrail. In 1966, most services on the CLC route were diverted to Lime Street via the

Hunts Cross chord Hunts Cross chord is a section of railway track in Liverpool that was built by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) to connect the LNWR's Edge Hill to Ditton Junction line with the CLC's Liverpool to Manchester Line. Mainline services between M ...

, leaving only a dozen urban commuter trains per day to and from the terminus at

Gateacre Gateacre () is a suburb of Liverpool, England, about from the city centre. It is bordered by Childwall, Woolton and Belle Vale. The area is noted for its Tudor Revival architecture and contains over 100 listed buildings within a quarter-mile r ...

. These final services were withdrawn on 17 April 1972, with the High Level part of the station closed that day; it was later demolished, after having served briefly as a car park. However, the Low Level underground station remains open. The site was being developed into Central Village, building over the underground station; however, in 2017, new owners Augur announced that they planned to develop the site into a mixed retail and leisure development known as 'Circus'.

Layout

The station had six platforms, arranged over three islands. The island that formed platforms 1 and 2 was especially wide to allow vehicles to drive down the middle.

Run-around loop A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines. Terminal headshunt A 'terminal headshunt' is a short ...

s were present between platforms 2 and 3; platforms 4 and 5; and east of platform 6.1891 O.S. 1:500 Town Plan

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Signalling Record Society - Track and signalling diagram of Liverpool Central High Level station, c.1889
{{Closed stations Merseyside Disused railway stations in Liverpool Former Cheshire Lines Committee stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1874 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1972 Former buildings and structures in Liverpool