St Luke's railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

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 Irish ...

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 by the

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 ...

on 2 July 1883 as Barton Street, serving the route from

Southport Chapel Street Southport railway station serves the town of Southport, Merseyside, England. The station is the terminal of the Southport branch of the Northern Line of the electric Merseyrail network and the diesel-operated Manchester-Southport Line. It is ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. It was then renamed three months later as Southport St Luke's Road. On 1 March 1902, the station was renamed again as Southport St Luke's, and in June of that year it began serving the Preston line, absorbing the adjacent

Southport Ash Street railway station Southport Ash Street was a railway station in Southport, Lancashire, England. History It opened as Southport Windsor Road on 10 June 1878 as the temporary terminus of the West Lancashire Railway from Preston. On 5 September 1882 a permanent ...

. The two platforms were almost at right angles to each other, both separated by a road named Hart Street. They did, however, share the same ticket office, located on the street at St Luke's Road. On 22 March 1904 the Preston line was electrified all the way up to

Crossens Crossens is the northernmost district of the town of Southport, Merseyside, England. Historically part of the ancient parish of North Meols and entirely in Lancashire, most of Crossens was transferred to Merseyside on 1 April 1974, when local ...

, and enabled a regular service to stop at St Luke's. In May 1914, the station was finally named St Luke's.

Decline and closure

Trains to Preston (including the Crossens electric shuttle) ended when the line was closed on 7 September 1964, a victim of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

.Marshall, p.152 However the station did not close as some trains bound for Wigan still used part of the route. The direct line to Wigan then closed on 14 June 1965 with trains being diverted via

Meols Cop Meols Cop () is a small area within the Blowick suburb, in the coastal town of Southport, Merseyside in north-western England. It is not a suburb or ward in its own right. It is not to be confused with Meols on the Wirral Peninsula. The two ca ...

and a section of the old branch line to Altcar to allow the closure of the busy level crossing at

Blowick Blowick is a suburb on the east side of the town of Southport, Merseyside, England. History and etymology Blowick is part of the ancient parish of North Meols and was formerly a detached settlement, on the northern fringe of what is now Southpor ...

. The end of St Luke's station came when the Preston platform, still serving a number of trains, finally closed on 9 September 1968. Today, the site of the Wigan platforms have been built over with a modern housing development, but the tracks widen at a point where the Preston platform used to stand and can be clearly seen by passing trains.

References

* Gell, Rob (1986). ''An Illustrated Survey of Railway Stations Between Southport & Liverpool 1848-1986''. Heyday Publishing Company, . * Marshall, John (1981) ''Forgotten Railways North-West England'', David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, Newton Abbott. .

External links

Disused Stations Site Record - St. Lukes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lukes Railway Station Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1883 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1968 Buildings and structures in Southport