Seaforth Sands was a terminus station located on the

Liverpool Overhead Railway The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee) was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number ...

at Seaforth, west of Crosby Road South, Knowsley Road and Rimrose Road junctions.

History

The station opened on 30 April 1894, as a northern extension from Alexandra Dock with a total cost of £10,000. In 1901 the country's second moving

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

was installed in the station. The escalator was later removed, in 1906, due to multiple occurrences of long

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fi ...

s becoming trapped in the machinery. With the LOR's second northern extension to Seaforth & Litherland on 2 July 1905, a 'through' station was built alongside the terminus. The original terminus platforms remained in use until 1925 when they were demolished and replaced by a large carriage shed. It was the last overhead station before the junction with the

North Mersey Branch The North Mersey Branch (NMB) is a railway line that connected the Liverpool and Bury Railway at Fazakerley Junction with . History The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built this long double-track line to capture some of the increasing fr ...

. The weight gauge meant that while LOR trains could operate on 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 ...

electrified network, the reverse was not true. As LOR trains ran at a lower voltage than the Lancashire and Yorkshire electric trains, LOR trains were permitted to operate with their motors in series mode only on the North Mersey Branch. The station was victim to a serious arson attack on 4 February 1956; the attack occurred overnight, with evidence of an old tyre having been found inside the station building. Fifty firemen fought the fire, which consumed two trains and damaged the station buildings, bringing it under control within an hour. The total damage caused was around £30,000 and required the complete rebuilding of one of the platform buildings. The station closed, along with the rest of the line, on 30 December 1956. No evidence of this station remains.

References

External links

Seaforth Sands railway station at Disused Stations
{{Liverpool Overhead Railway Navbox Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Former Liverpool Overhead Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1894 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1956