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
LocationBirkdale, Sefton
England
Coordinates53.6388°N 3.0269°W / 53.6388; -3.0269
Grid referenceSD322163
Platforms2 (island)[1]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companySouthport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway
Pre-groupingCheshire Lines Committee
Post-groupingCheshire Lines Committee
Key dates
1 September 1884Station opened
1 January 1917Station closed
1 April 1919Station reopened
7 January 1952Station closed to passengers[2]
7 July 1952Station closed completely[3]

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.[4]

  • 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.[2]

References
  1. Bolger 1984, pp. 30–1.
  2. "Station Name: Birkdale Palace". Disused Stations. Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  3. Bolger 1984, p. 6.
  4. Special trains via sixbellsjunction

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