Altcar Rifle Range railway station was a railway station on the

Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway The Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway (LC&SR) received parliamentary authorization on 2 July 1847 and opened between Southport and Liverpool, on 24 July 1848. The Liverpool terminal was a temporary station on the viaduct passing near to Wate ...

, situated a third of a mile north of Hightown,

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 ...

History

It opened in 1862 as Hightown Rifle Station, and was renamed in July 1886. The station served the nearby Altcar Rifle Range, and a small tramway was used to transport

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

from the

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and islan ...

to the

firing range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military ...

s. The station was closed briefly between c. October 1893 and c. April 1894, before permanent closure on 3 October 1921, too early to be affected by the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923. The station was opened by the

Lancashire and 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 ...

on the line of the former Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway.

The site today

The line through the station remains open and is today used by trains on 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 ...

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

References

* * Gahan, John W. (1985). ''Seaport to Seaside'', page 87. Countyvise Limited, , and Avon AngliA Publications, . * *

External links

Station on navigable O.S. map Disused station north of Hightown
Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1921 1862 establishments in England {{Merseyside-railstation-stub