Birkdale Palace railway station
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Birkdale Palace railway station was located in
Birkdale Birkdale is an area of Southport, within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, though historically in Lancashire, in the north-west of England. The area is located on the Irish Sea coast, approximately a mile away from the centre of S ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, England. The station was opened by the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway in 1884 and closed in 1952.


History

The Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway (SCLER) opened Birkdale Palace on 1 September 1884, as an intermediate station from
Southport Lord Street railway station Southport Lord Street (later also known as the Ribble Building, after being used by the Ribble Bus Company as a bus terminus) was a railway station located on Lord Street, Southport, Merseyside, England. It was the terminus of the Southport & ...
. The station was built adjacent to a hotel called the
Birkdale Palace Hotel The Birkdale Palace Hotel was a luxury hotel located in the Lancashire coastal resort of Birkdale, Southport, on the north-west coast of England. The building towered over the surrounding area for over a hundred years before being demolished in ...
(now closed and demolished) and was sandwiched between Palace Road & Weld Roads. The station was an
island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
, accessed from the Weld Road bridge. It first closed on 1 January 1917, along with all other stations on the extension line, as a World War I economy measure. The station was reopened on 1 April 1919, and continued in use until 7 January 1952, when the SCLER was closed to passengers from Aintree Central to Southport Lord Street. Until 7 July 1952 the line remained open for public goods traffic at Southport Lord Street, Birkdale Palace and Altcar & Hillhouse stations. Public goods facilities were closed at Woodvale, Lydiate and Sefton & Maghull stations on the same date as passenger services, and goods facilities were never provided at Ainsdale Beach station. After 7 July 1952, a siding remained open at Altcar & Hillhouse for private goods traffic until May 1960. The last passenger train to run on the SCLER was a railway enthusiasts 'special' between Aintree and Altcar & Hillhouse railways stations on 6 June 1959.Special trains via ''sixbellsjunction''
/ref> *On the subject of railway station or line 'closing dates', the official day of a closure is always given as the Monday following the date the last train ran. As this is almost always a Saturday, if Monday 7 January 1952 is given as the date of closure, the actual last day of services was Saturday, 5 January 1952. This is proven by last day tickets which bear the 5 January date.


After closure

Later the route of the line was converted into what is now Coastal Road, which runs from Woodvale to
Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...
, although at the site of Birkdale Palace station the road alignment runs to the west of the former trackbed.


References


Sources

*


Further reading

* ''Encyclopedia of British Railway Companies'', Christopher Awdry, 1990, Guild Publishing, CN 8983.


External links


The station on a 1948 OS Map via ''npe maps''

The station's history via ''Disused Stations UK''

Special trains via ''sixbellsjunction''

The station and line via ''railwaycodes''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birkdale Palace Railway Station Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Former Cheshire Lines Committee stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1917 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1919 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1952 Buildings and structures in Southport