Birkdale Palace railway station

Birkdale Palace railway station was located in Birkdale, Lancashire, England. The station was opened by the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway in 1884 and closed in 1952.

Birkdale Palace
Remains of the station in 1964
General information
Location	Birkdale, Sefton England
Coordinates	53.6388°N 3.0269°W / 53.6388; -3.0269
Grid reference	SD322163
Platforms	2 (island)
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway
Pre-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Post-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Key dates
1 September 1884	Station opened
1 January 1917	Station closed
1 April 1919	Station reopened
7 January 1952	Station closed to passengers
7 July 1952	Station closed completely

Cheshire Lines Committee
Merseyside Lines
Southport Lord Street Birkdale Palace to Southport Ainsdale Ainsdale Beach Northern line Woodvale Freshfield to Liverpool Central Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway Barton Mossbridge Hillhouse Junction Altcar and Hillhouse Lydiate Sefton and Maghull to Ormskirk Old Roan Aintree Junction Southport Junction Aintree Central Aintree Northern line Warbreck Orrell Park Walton to Kirkby Rice Lane to Liverpool Central Fazakerley Junctions Walton on the Hill Huskisson Clubmoor West Derby Knotty Ash & Stanley Broad Green City Line Childwall Gateacre Northern line Liverpool Central Liverpool Central High Level St James Brunswick (original) Egerton Street Junction Brunswick St Michaels Otterspool Aigburth Cressington to Lime Street Garston Liverpool South Parkway Hunts Cross West Junction Hunts Cross to Manchester Central

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. The station was built adjacent to a hotel called the Birkdale Palace Hotel (now closed and demolished) and was sandwiched between Palace Road & Weld Roads.

The station was an island platform, 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.

• 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, although at the site of Birkdale Palace station the road alignment runs to the west of the former trackbed.

References

Sources

• Bolger, Paul (1984). An Illustrated History of the Cheshire Lines Committee. Merseyside: Heyday Publishing Company. ISBN 0-947562-00-1.

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

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Ainsdale Beach		Cheshire Lines Committee SCLER		Southport Lord Street