Liverpool’s Forgotten Suburban Railway: Britain’s Lost Railways – Episode 1

Welcome to my first episode of Britain’s Lost Railways! Today I’ll be discussing the North Liverpool Extension Line, a railway once traversing through much of Liverpool suburbia from Hunts Cross and Halewood to Aintree Central until the 1960s when Beeching swung the axe and the majority of it was shut, bar the Gateacre stub which closed in 1972. This series I hope many of you are looking forward to me making videos on, I love reading up on abandoned railways and have quite a few in mind for upcoming videos, so do stay tuned for that. In this video, I’ll be discussing all there is to know about the railway line, details about the stations and the areas in which the railway passes through, and I hope you all enjoy this and find it informative! If you like this video, make sure to like, subscribe and share this video as it massively helps me out when you do. Now, on with the video…

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Hello everyone you’re joining me here today on a Mery rail class 507 well why you might ask just like with my birmingam and TS Valley videos this channel is also a channel which covers transport outside of London as well as inside it and today we’ll be heading for

Hunt’s cross Hunt’s cross is likely known to you all as the southern Terminus of Mery rail’s Northern line and where East Midland’s Railway service is stop on the way to Liverpool as well as where Northern Services stop between Liverpool Lim Street and Manchester Oxford Road what many people might not

Know about however is the entire Railway line that you used to be able to connect to from hunks cross that no longer exists and this is what brings us on to another series I will be starting on my channel which revolves around me visiting Old Railway alignments

Detailing all there is to know about them any Revival plans that have come about And discussing the areas in which they pass through and how any plans made to revive them could benefit those local residents you can expect to see episodes relating to both lines in London as well

As outside of London so I hope you all are as excited as this about this as I am for those of you who watch my awkward Roots series don’t fear as the next episode after this one will be an awkward Roots video If you like this video make sure to like subscribe and

Share this video as it massively helps me out when you do and now on with the Video so what is this abandoned Railway you may ask well it’s none other than the North Liverpool extension Line running between hunts cross and hailwood in the south of Liverpool to an tree Central in the north of Liverpool back in the 19th century when Railways were starting to be constructed across the world

Liverpool was starting to Garner economic importance where the technology constructed due to population growth within the city was seen is pioneering enabling a large volume of trade to pass through the city the world’s first inter city Railway in the world to be constructed was the Liverpool to Manchester Railway via St Helens and

Broad green which we meet along the way opening on the 15th of September 1830 eventually the number of people living within the city increased due to the number of Irish migrants moving over due to the famine and continued technological development led to 40% of the World’s Trade passing through the

City due to its strategic location as a Seaport City the wealth of Liverpool for periods during the 19th century exceeded London’s and Liverpool’s custom house at one stage was the largest contributor to the British exer however when we progress into the 20th century the New York of Europe was challenged

Economically due to World War I and World War II which occurred in the Years leading up to its demise and due to the city’s location as a Seaport it made it vulnerable economically and so this in part led to the city’s demise where the manufacturing Industries and inevitably the docks collapsed causing Liverpool’s

Unemployment rate to reach one of the highest in the UK in the mid 20th century however when the city was at its economic Prime in the 19th century a vast supply of railway lines was necessary to move the growing population across the city the north Liverpool

Extension line had a Spur to hus kissen from Club Moore which served the huskisson docks although that was only open for passengers between 1879 and 1886 to the intermediate station Walton on the hill and from 1880 to 1886 for huskus and docks there are various other Spurs from this Railway I will be

Covering in other videos as we approach the summer month so to so stay tuned for those in this video however I will just be focusing on anry Central to hailwood and hunts cross so why and how was the north Liverpool extension line constructed the cheshier lines committee opened the railway in

1879 to facilitate a connection to the dock slightly to the north of Liverpool Central as it would Steed building a separate Railway avoiding the city center and any tunneling would be far cheaper stations opened at gateacre child wall naughty Ash West Derby and Walton on the hill extensive

Construction was needed for the service to continue on to huskus and Ducks where three tunnels were acquired Beyond Walton on the hill which led to the station st’s opening slightly later in 1880 in 1880 a station was opened in anery central for excursions to serve race meetings at the race course

Eventually in 1884 the line continued even further to Southport little Street under the Southport and Chester lines extension Railway which I will cover in another video in the future a railway shed was constructed in Walton on the hill for locomotives to operate out of although the railway shed was eventually

Shut in August of 1963 by British Railways in the following years stations opened at warre and Club Mall further up the line in August 1929 and April 1927 respectively services to Southport were cut back to anry in 1952 when the Southport and chesir line extension Railway sh and all services terminated

At anry Central until the gateacre to anry Central section of the service was C in 1960 the service at that stage was only operating four Services a day between anry in Hunts cross also although the service to gayaka did see a slight reprieve in the late 50s which I’ll come

On to later on in this video eventually passenger Services ended to gate acre and the tracks were all lifted in 1979 the railway alignment is now part of the national cycle Network Route 62 and is part of European walking route E8 which stretches from Ireland all the way

To Bulgaria in this series a lot of the Old Railway alignments I’ll be reviewing are like part of existing cycleways and cycle paths showing that many years on the spaces even if they may be more suited to railway operation and still being used for more environmentally friendly forms of Transport such as

Cycling and walking work started on the trail many years after this section of the Railway shut in 1999 and the trail was officially opened in September of 2001 but not fully completed until 2004 now let’s look at the areas in which the North Liverpool extension Line

Pass through then shall we well we start off here in Hunts cross where Mery rail’s Northern line terminates and where East Midlands Railway and Northern also stop for destinations further a field hunts cross itself is really just your bog standard affluent area not really having a lot more than a few

Local shops but nonetheless Nic looking Victorian and Edwardian properties hunts cross would be where if the north Liverpool extension line were to reopen likely Northern line service it would would follow existing Northern Services slightly further down to the hailwood park triangle where the alignment officially starts before swearing on to

The Old Railway alignment on the other side of the hailwood park triangle we have hailwood itself hailwood was a station when the north Liverpool extension line was operational but the initial station shut in 1951 and the current Station instead opened in 1988 between Huff green and hunts cross the

Reason I’m bringing up hailwood is because it would be the first station starved if the easn were to ever be reinstated for other purposes such as serving stations towards Manchester and Warrington the first abandoned station we reach on the North Liverpool extension line is gataker gataker had

Opened on the 1st of December 1879 at the Eastern edge of gataker village and was constructed on an embankment over bellevale Road the station building was a two-story house tactically placed in the station’s location because the chesher lines committee had goals when it came to expanding the througha of

Services where there were plans for a quadrupling of the tracks child’s wall the next station up the line had similar plans but the quadrupling never took place the station was welld designed for unpredictable weather where on the hail wooden Hunt’s cross bound platform there were glass canopies to Shield passengers

From the wet weather to the south of bevil Road Gater had a Goods yard on the western side of the line which consisted of two long sidings parallel to the mainline and had a road connecting to the goods yard from bellvale Road at the time of the station’s opening gateacre

Was served by trains operating between Walton on the hill and Liverpool’s Central highest level with Walton on the hill being a temporary Terminus until the line was extended through to hus kiss and docks in 1880 in 1887 the station’s name changed from gataker to gataker and Walton although switched

Back to just being called gataker in 1930 gataker saw a massive increase in development in the late 1950s so an hourly dmu operated Liverpool Central to gateacre services was introduced just before the remainder of the north Liverpool extension line saw its demise before the hourly gayer to Liverpool Central service had been introduced

There were only four trains a day yes that’s right only four trains a day operating along the north Liverpool extension line so it comes as no surprise that beaching swung his axe and the line north of gateacre was discontinued to passengers in 1960 gateacre outlived all the other North

Liverpool extension Line stations seeing a service operating till April of 1972 when the hourly service was the only left operating into Liverpool Central High Level which was uneconomical to operate as that was the only service the rail hubard scene it’s quite a similar demise story to Broad Street really in

1975 freight trains to Liverpool dock stopped and the tracks were lifted in 1979 there were plans for gateacre to reopen as part of the Mery Rail Project where trains would continue on from hunts cross to instead terminate at gateacre however nothing materialized gataker as area I believe would benefit

From the reintroduction of a railway service if it were to ever materialize when the north Liverpool extension line was first constructed the area was mostly home to wealthy business owners who used the area as a Rural Retreat to what was an Ever industrializing Liverpool City Center although once it

Was incorporated into Liverpool in 1913 and saw large scale housing developments in the 1960s I believe that the station would have a lot more use nowadays local bus services such as the 389 and 174 All Connect gat tiger to existing Mery Rail stations at hailwood on the 3 hunts

Cross in the 89 and Mosley Hill on the 174 suggesting that there would be a demand for a Mery rail extension if it were to ever materialize further down the road from the station in bellil lies the bellil shopping center a shopping center established in the 1970s which

Along with housing developments around a similar time saw an increase in the significant within the gateacre area so that would only strengthen a business case I believe the gateacre to Hunts crosssection of the extension line is the most requested section of the route to reopen so I could see this section

Maybe reopening this station since has been completely demolished moving further down the line we reach child war a fairly insignificant station in the grand scheme of things child wall serve the middle class suburb of the area with the same name the area’s history dates back to the Doomsday Book in 1086 with

The area adopting different variations of its name over the 13th and 14th centuries child war is home to a large Jewish community in Liverpool and is also home to television production company lime pictures who are based on a large patch of land in Char W woods they

Produce TV shows such as Jordi Shaw The Only Way is Essex gra Hill Holly Oaks and Brookside as for transport within the area the child wall is home to the child wall five ways further down the road from the station notorious for being one of the busiest roundabouts in

Liverpool perhaps that would be one of the benefits of reopening Char wall station the area might see a reduction in congestion which would overall be very positive for the area the services also homes the frequent 79 and 79c which both offer fast and frequent links from chall into Liverpool and down towards

Bellevale Huff green and witness though it could be argued that whilst the site on which charol stood is quite far from broad green station an existing station currently served by Northern rail Services towards Liverpool Lim Street Wigan Northwestern and Manchester Airport is far closer to the the actual

Area of child wall I will be coming back to broad green later on in the video however as for the station itself it opened on the 1st of December 1879 like with many of the other stations on the railway line however the Station closed prematurely on the 1st of January 1931

To passenger service due to the Liverpool Corporation tramways offering a fast and frequent service into Liverpool that the trains could simply not compete with due to the station being slightly further out of the area child wall previously had a Goods yard with one siding which the station

Remained open for until the 6th of August 1943 with the station building being completely demolished in 1948 moving further down the line we reach na Ash and Stanley which serves the present-day suburb of East presar it opens as old Swan and naughty Ash on the 1st of December

1879 the main station building was at street level but supported by an arched bridge made of sandstone each Arch could only accommodate two tracks but another Arch was built future proofing a quadrupling of the tracks which ended up never taking place old Swan and naughty Ash contained a Goods yard with cattle

Pens as this was where cattle was transported to and from before being moved on to the abattoir in Stanley the cheshier lines committee renamed the station to its current name noty Ash and Stanley on the 1st of December 1888 the name the station adopted until its closure in November of

1960 like with the downfall of child wolfer F down the road the widening of East Prescott Road allowed tramways to be built in the center of the road which led to fewer people catching the train from noash and Stanley as it was a far more direct alternative compared to the

Train via Hunt’s cross notash where the station site was located is a small area on the Eastern Fringe of Liverpool with a population of over 13,000 residents Nash is home to an extensive bus Network into Liverpool on the Prescott road with Services 78 9 10 10 a 10B 50 and 204

Linking the suburb to the city center and given the sheer volume of capacity necessary I think a reintroduction of a train station within the suburb would be welcomed there’s also two hospitals located just down the road from the station site being broad green hospital and aler Hayes children hospital which

Both offer a wide variety of Health Care Services having a train station would also mean easier access to and from the hospital facilities especially as the north Liverpool extension line mostly traveles through suburbs where patients might live the station site nowadays is mostly demolished although the access ramps

From street level are still visible as well as the red brick rule on the finion bound side of East Prescott Road from when the station was opened I think a station being reintroduced to ni as would provide massive benefits the area and so I would be behind it in that

Sense we’ve now moved into West Derby the name West Derby has pretty extensive historical significance where the southwest of Lancashire was mostly under the West Derby 100 where West Derby was the main administrative area within the subdivision of Southwest Lancer West Derby Castle within the area was important in rivaling nearby Lancaster

In the north of the county and the Castle’s proximity to the docks in Liverpool only strengthened their position within the county West Derby is also where the Beatles perform their first gig in the Casper coffee Club opened by Pete best’s mother Mona best with the predecessor of The Beatles The

Quarry man performing Saturday Night concerts in there from late August to October of 1959 The Beatles were actually the final band to perform in the venue before it closed on the 24th of June 1962 I think that’s enough history about the area now but when researching this video it was

Fascinating to read up on because one could enter West Arby not re realizing a thing about what the area’s significance historically was many years following the 14th century West Derby saw the establishment of a railway service operating through the area in the form of the north Liverpool extension line

The station building is still intact although is now used used by a company named the gas station and is a two-story building hanging over the railway line You’ll see if you Traverse the Liverpool Loop line that the platforms are also still very much intact even if in this

Shot it’s mostly been disguised by snow there were ramps leading down from Mill Lanes the platforms which are still fully intact today for Walkers to leave the pathway and reach West Derby itself as for transport links within West Derby you have an intensive 1213 and 15 bus service from West Arby into Liverpool

City Center at frequent in and further down the road from the station into the village you have the slightly more infrequent 61 61a and 61b towards child wall Norris green and a tree areas which the line if reopened would serve this I imagine would create a slight modal shift and also suggests

That if bus services are viable between these areas then perhaps the reintroduction of a train service is possible the next station we arrived at is the site of the old Club Moore station in Norris green Club Moore opened later than the majority of the stations on the North Liverpool

Extension line opening on the 14th of April 1927 when the station opened there was intense development taking place within the area where Club Moore had become home to a Harge housing estate by the late 1920s the station was somewhat doomed from the get-go where the Liverpool Corporation Tramway was

Already operating tram Services into Liverpool City Center with a tram terminous located nearby to the station on Town sen Lane it was a far quicker alternative to catching the north Liverpool extension line via hunts cross into the city center the demand from the station was likely more for destinations

On the Eastern cord towards Manchester and further north towards anry the old station still has ramps from the Broadway up to the platforms which if the station were to ever be rebuilt I believe should be made safer as they were quite steep when I was walking the

Path and could be quite hazardous in adverse weather conditions such as when there’s snow or ice due to extensive bombing during World War II on the line from Liverpool to Southport via boal despite the cut back in service leaving the war on the North Liverpool extension

Line the Lin saw an increase in the number of services operating through the station as a result of the line closure through Bole although didn’t actually stop at cloudmore itself suggesting the writing really was on the wall passenger numbers wise the line through Club Moore saw operation post 1960 once the Station

Closed and when the majority of the passenger service was culled for Excursion Services towards anry Central for the race course before those stations eventually disappeared Club Moore nowadays doesn’t have the Tramway however and instead relies on bus services into Liverpool which include the frequent 14 14a and 14b towards

Everton and the City Center Norris green depending on how Services would look if Club more reopened could really benefit from a railway station I think and could really benefit the area as the area has a vast supply of road infrastructure suggesting that there’s quite a lot of throughfare through Norris green so I

Wonder if the station if it were to reopen would instead create a modal shift towards more sustainable modes of transportation such as a train service warre is the penultimate station that I’ll be reviewing in this video built in a cutting underneath Walton veale this station was opened by the chesher lines

Committee warre was already a fairly well established suburb when the north Liverpool extension line had opened although a station wasn’t constructed until 1929 and opened in the same year the station was tactically constructed by the cheser lines committee to undercut the existing Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway service from oral Park

To southp as it only took 35 minutes from warre at the time an overall journey of time reduction compared to their competitors one significant reason behind the popularity of the service was how many workers were now entitled to at least one week of paid holiday in 1925

And given Southport was a Seaside town and warre was a densely populated suburb the service saw many Leisure patrons using the service to reach the town however I do wonder if the north Liverpool extension line were to reopen whether or not the servers would see anywhere near as much popularity given

The number of alternative stations within the area including rice Lane oral Park a tree and faser definitely something to ponder over the final station we reach is anry Central honestly there’s not a whole lot to discuss about anry centr other than it being situated very close by to the

Existing anry station on the line up to ORS Kirk on Mery rail in fact it just being on the other side of the road the station opened as anry race course because as the name suggests it was built in order to serve the race course the station was was swiftly renamed just

Anry in September of 1884 the station was located on the opposite side of Park Lane to where the existing Mery rail station stands which was at the time run by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway one of the clc’s main competitors there were five platforms opened at anry Central which is incredibly generous for

The passenger numbers the station received for much of the time however that provision was in place due to the heavy demand for anry race course I strongly suspect that if the north Liverpool extension line were to ever reach anry again that chances are it probably wouldn’t serve a rebuilt anry

Central station mainly because a massive industrial site has been built on the old station site and it just wouldn’t be worth reopening instead likely serving the anry station on the lineup to orser now if the railway were to reopen well where abouts could it run to well

Obviously you could look at an extension of the existing Northern line services on Mery rail from hunts cross to a street up the north Liverpool extension line and given no new third rail is being placed and the 777s despite their woeful introduction operate with batteries and so battery operation could

Work one alternative could be diverting the servers from just before warre to run to the newly constructed headbolt Lane station to provide links from Kirby and for connections from further a field into the headbolt lane park and ride and Kirby stations respectively one of the main criticisms of the north Liverpool

Extension line was how long it took to get from suburbs that weren’t actually that far outside the city center due to the route having to head via Liverpool South Park when St Michaels so a circular service off operating from the city center in some fashion might be

More ideal in this scenario as it would allow those living near the warre club mall and West Arby section of the line to have a faster connection to and from the city center with a curve perhaps constructed just east of rice Lane to allow an orbital route to come to

Fruition a station at Rice Lane would allow for connections to Services towards fazar for the anry university hospital and further down the line at kirkdale for connections to anry this Loop would provide a similar type of service to what the London overground currently offers from clap Junction to

Clap Junction via hyri and Islington with the South London line and East London lines respectively I’m not so sure on how a link to hailwood could be utilized if the East was ever reinstated as there are plenty of other existing connections to Manchester from Liverpool South Parkway hunts cross broad green

And headbolt Lane hailwood also only sees 50 to 60,000 passenger Journeys per year so not too sure on how much links to and from there would actually be justified well I guess the big question is is it particularly likely that the line would actually reopen in the 1970s

There was a suggestion made that the north Liverpool extension line after the majority of it was closed for quite some time that it could form part for a Liverpool orbital Loop circling the city in the docks however the project wasn’t successful and was a victim of economic

Hardships in the late 1970s on other infrastructure projects and local political opposition before being abandoned by Mery travel in the 1980s much of the North Liverpool extension line is still protected however for rail use and so I don’t think all hope should be to die out for a reopening just yet

The problem with reopening the line however is that much of Old Railway alignment is currently used by cyclists Walkers and Runners as a safer way of Crossing Liverpool without needing to Traverse through the city center when I was out filming it seemed quite well used despite the cold weather and so

Removing it and reconverting it back into a raway might be quite counterintuitive there’s also concerns about the impact that development would have on local community ities much of the benefits that the reopening of the project would bring would be connecting local communities once again to a reinstated Railway alignment however

There has been much development housing wise especially towards the Hunt’s cross end of the alignment and so any Works made to reinstate the railway line would be very disruptive to those living nearby as the railway hasn’t been operational for 50 years or so now there’s also the question of how would

Any stations be moved or added to better connect up with the existing Railway infrastructure that the line would intersect broad green would make sense nowadays to open as a station given the northern services that stop there towards Liverpool Lime Street and wiger Northwestern however the extensive road infrastructure may prove to be a

Challenge when it comes to connecting between the two stations and an underpass would likely have to be constructed to allow passengers to move from one station to another there would also be the argument that the station might be situated slightly too closely to nsy Ash and Stanley and child wall

The most important point to bear in mind is that other than periodic calls for the stretch to gataker to reopen there isn’t really a lot in in the way of reopening plans for the North ofall Extension line so I’m doubtful anyway that’s it for this video what do you all

Think of the north Liverpool extension line do you think it could reopen and if so how would you like to see its reopening pan out would you suggest any other changes than the ones I’ve suggested leave them all down in the comments section below I really enjoy

Reading and responding to them if you liked this video remember to like subscribe and share this video as it massively helps me out when you do and anyway see you in the next video take care folks