West Kirby railway station

West Kirby railway station is situated in the town of West Kirby, Wirral, England. The station is located at the end of one of the branches of the Wirral Line, part of the Merseyrail network, and is the westernmost terminal on the Wirral Line. There is a central island platform between two terminus tracks, and two parallel sidings for out-of-use electric trains. The beach can be reached easily from the station.

West Kirby
West Kirby railway station in 2012
Location	West Kirby, Wirral England
Grid reference	SJ213869
Managed by	Merseyrail
Transit authority	Merseytravel
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	WKI
Fare zone	B2
Classification	DfT category E
Key dates
1878 1938	Opened Electrified
Passengers
2015/16	1.150 million
2016/17	1.095 million
2017/18	1.106 million
2018/19	1.244 million
2019/20	1.380 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

West Kirby on the Wirral Line

A second station, terminal to a rail link to Hooton, lay to the east of the Wirral Line station, but closed in 1962.

History

Wirral line

In 1873, the Hoylake and Birkenhead Railway was authorised to construct two extensions to its lines. One was a short connecting section near to Birkenhead docks, and the other was the 1.225 mi (1.971 km) extension from Hoylake to West Kirby.[1] The station and the extension were opened on 1 April 1878[1][2] as the terminus of the Wirral Railway's route from Birkenhead Park station. The station's original signal box was built in 1886, to a London and North Western Railway (LNWR) design.[3] This signal box was removed and replaced in 1932.[3] After the opening of the Mersey Railway Tunnel in 1886, carriages were operated through Birkenhead Park, every half-hour, all the way to James Street station in Liverpool.[4] As traffic increased, the line into West Kirby was doubled, from a single track, in 1896.[1] After a board meeting on 28 October 1895, it was decided to extend the line from Hooton, into West Kirby.[4] The station was relocated on the western side of the original station, with an enlarged island platform[5] and rebuilt, in 1898–9,[6] in red brick, with a turreted clock tower and mock Tudor frontage.[4] A further platform was constructed for the Hooton line, on the eastern side of the original station.[5] The site of the original station was used for goods sidings.[4] In the present day, this is the site of The Concourse, a community building operated by Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council.

In 1932, the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) constructed a new signal cabin, used jointly with the Great Western Railway (GWR),[3] which was installed on the western side of the tracks, just beyond the end of the platform.[7] This replaced the earlier signal box in the same place.[7] This signal box was closed on 17 September 1994 and demolished a week later.[3]

There was an active freight depot, until 1964, on the eastern side of the station. The freight depot occupied the triangular area between the former Wirral Railway station, which received the electrified lines, and the former Birkenhead Joint branch station. The depot was mainly used to receive coal for domestic distribution. The area occupied by the freight depot was later used for the construction of The Concourse. The West Kirby goods depot was principally served by a daily goods train along the electric line from Birkenhead, which also served goods depots at Hoylake, Moreton, and the Cadbury's factory near Leasowe.

West Kirby to Hooton line

A 1903 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (centre) railways in the vicinity of West Kirby (present station on left; C&BR station on right)

West Kirby's station for trains from Hooton opened on 19 April 1886[8] when the Chester and Birkenhead Railway (C&BR) extended their line to West Kirby from Parkgate. This now meant there was a direct route from Hooton to West Kirby.

The station for the Hooton line was to the east of the current station. The station was along the alignment of what is now Orrysdale Road,[8] between Bridge Road and Grange Road, and was equipped with a small turntable.[5][8] The station was single-platformed, and a single-storey building provided passenger and parcels facilities.[8] The station also had steam locomotive watering facilities at the southern end of the platform, and a passing loop.[8]

The only significant train along this route was a once-daily through service, often just one or two coaches, which ran until 1939. This service was from New Brighton, via Bidston, to Hooton and Chester. The coaches were then attached to a London Euston train.[8] A principal traffic was scholars travelling from stations along the route to the secondary schools in West Kirby.[8]

The Birkenhead Joint branch station was effectively a separate facility to the main station on the electric lines. There was a junction between the two lines, underneath the Bridge Road overbridge. However, very few train movements connected between them.

In its final years, the almost-unused line was employed for the training of diesel multiple unit crews operating from Birkenhead and Chester via Hooton.[8] The station closed to passengers on 17 September 1956,[8] and closed completely on 7 May 1962.[8] The station site is now the location for several civic buildings, and the route all the way to Hooton is now a footpath, known as The Wirral Way, which forms part of the Wirral Country Park.[8]

LMS electrification

One of the original 1938 LMS electric trains at the platform, at West Kirby, in 1982, during the BR era. The two others, of similar design, were built in 1956.

Beneath the Art Deco platform canopy, which was installed in 1938.

Through electric services commenced on 13 March 1938, when the LMS electrified the lines from Birkenhead Park to West Kirby.[9] The service was provided by the then-new LMS electric multiple units. However, on Sunday mornings, the service was provided by the older Mersey Railway electric units[10] which, up until that point, had only ever run from Liverpool to Birkenhead Park. The 230 ft (70 m)[7] concrete platform awning was erected, at the time of the 1938 electrification, along with a similar structure at New Brighton.[11][12] However, the station building, across the end of the tracks, was left untouched from Victorian times.

Service disruptions

When the Open Golf Championship was held at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, which is situated between West Kirby and Hoylake, in July 2006, services terminated at Hoylake station during the tournament.[13] This was to allow competitors to cross the tracks from the practice course on one side to the championship course on the other.[13][14] This caused some controversy locally, especially given the large increase in passengers during the championship.[15][16]

During the Wirral Loop Line track renewal project 2017, trains ran to Birkenhead North or Liverpool James Street stations during different sections of the project. Passengers could then transfer to the appropriate rail replacement bus services to their destinations. Service frequency was reduced to one train every half-hour during this period.[17]

Facilities

West Kirby station sign

The station has a booking office and a drop-off point for cars, with a cycle rack for 16 bicycles and secure storage for 10 bicycles. The station is staffed, at all times during opening hours, has departure and arrival screens for passenger information, and platform CCTV. The terminus island platform has open-air seating, beneath a platform canopy, and there are two payphones on the platform. Wheelchair and pram access to the platform is straightforward, with no steps to ascend.[18][19]

Much of the station building has been rented out as retail units, accessed from the public road rather than from the railway premises.

Services

Current services are every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to Liverpool. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes.[20] These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of Class 507 and Class 508 EMUs. These trains from the late '70s will be replaced by the end of 2020 by new trains manufactured by Stadler Rail, as was announced by Merseyrail in January 2017.[21]

Gallery

• 
  The station entrance.
• 
  Beneath the station canopy.
• 
  The station building, viewed from the main road.
• 
  The end of the platform, looking towards Hoylake.

References

1. Maund 2009, p. 18
2. Gahan 1983, p. 15
3. Maund 2009, p. 230
4. Maund 2009, p. 37
5. Maund 2009, p. 127
6. Gahan 1983, p. 18
7. Maund 2009, p. 165
8. "Station Name: West Kirby (Birkenhead Joint)". Disused Stations. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
9. Gahan 1983, p. 63
10. Gahan 1983, p. 67
11. Maund 2009, p. 159
12. Gahan 1983, p. 47
13. "Open Golf:: Park and ride sites now identified". Wirral Globe. 1 March 2006. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
14. Dunn, Justin (11 July 2006). "Station ready after £600,000 revamp". Wirral Globe. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
15. "Lessons that must be learned..." Wirral Globe. 12 September 2006. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
16. Dunn, Justin (21 July 2006). "Record number take the train to the Open". Wirral Globe. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
17. http://www.merseyrail.org/wirral-track-renewal.aspx
18. "West Kirby Station Plan". National Rail. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
19. "West-kirby train station | timetable | ticket prices & facilities". www.merseyrail.org. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
20. "Wirral Line timetable" (PDF). Merseyrail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
21. "New Trains For Merseyrail". www.merseytravel.gov.uk.

Sources

• Gahan, John W. (1983). Steel Wheels to Deeside - The Wirral Railway past and present. Birkenhead: Countryvise. ISBN 0-907768-70-9.
• Maund, T.B. (2009). The Wirral Railway and its Predecessors. Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press. ISBN 978-1-899-88938-9.

Further reading

• Merseyside Railway History Group (1982). The Hooton to West Kirby Branch Line. Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. ISBN 9780904582048. OCLC 60074290.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2014). Birkenhead to West Kirby. Middleton Press. figs. 59-73. ISBN 9781908174611. OCLC 885451764.

External links

• Train times and station information for West Kirby railway station from National Rail

• Station information for West Kirby railway station from Merseyrail