North Mersey Branch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Engineering trains only | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Network Rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Sefton, Merseyside | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini |
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Stations | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Heavy rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System | National Rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1866 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 4 miles 46 chains (7.4 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of tracks | Single (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Loading gauge | W6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification | Not electrified | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operating speed | 20 mph (32 km/h) maximum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The North Mersey Branch (NMB) is a railway line that was constructed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to connect its mainline (the former Liverpool and Bury Railway) with the northern Mersey dock system.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built this 4 miles 46 chains (7.4 km) long double-track branch line to capture some of the increasing freight passing through Hornby Dock, Alexandra Dock and the Canada Dock systems at the northern end of the Mersey docks. [lower-alpha 1] [1]
The scheme was authorised in May 1861, a contract was let to George Thomson in 1864 and the line opened on 27 August 1866. [lower-alpha 2] [1] [3]
The line initially had no stations, it ran from a new Fazakerley junction between Kirkby and Fazakerley on the former Liverpool and Bury Railway terminating in the North Mersey goods yard where an end-on connection was made to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB) rail network which gave the L&YR access to the docks further south. North Mersey goods railway station opened in 1866, albeit without buildings until the 1880s, being renamed to North Mersey and Alexandra Docks in 1892. [4] [5]
Part of the branch was electrified in 1906 as the L&YR tried to win back traffic lost to competition from trams. It was electrified between Marsh Lane (on the former Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway) and Aintree Sefton Arms (on the former Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway) using the Seaforth connecting line and the Aintree curve. [6]
Two stations were opened on 1 June 1906 on the newly electrified section at Linacre Road and Ford. [7] [8]
The branch was connected via a crossover to the Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR) a little to the east of Seaforth Sands creating Rimrose Road junction. The connection was used by a short-lived service between Aintree and Dingle at the southern end of the LOR, it was not successful and only lasted for two years from 1906 to 1908. [9]
By 1910 18 trains were operating each way, each day, along the branch with trains terminating at Liverpool Exchange in the south and Aintree Sefton Arms, where 10 services terminated, and Maghull to which the other 8 carried on. [10]
Gladstone Dock station opened on 7 September 1914, when the section of track to it from North Mersey Branch Junction (the junction where the Seaforth Connecting line left the branch) was electrified, it became a halt in 1916 and closed on 7 July 1924. [11] [12]
In 1922 the branch had seven daily services (eight on Saturdays, none on Sundays) between Aintree Sefton Arms and Gladstone Dock, and fifteen daily services (fourteen on Saturdays, nine on Sundays) running from Liverpool Exchange to Aintree Sefton Arms. [13]
Linacre Road and Ford closed on 2 April 1951. [7] [8] The line was de-electrified in 1966. [14]
The branch was used to get passengers to race meetings at Aintree Racecourse especially for the Grand National in several ways. Excursion trains were run to a temporary, race-meeting only station, first noted in 1878, on the line called Aintree Cinder Lane. [15] [16]
Cinder Lane was replaced by Aintree Racecourse station and was officially renamed in 1910, it also only operated on race days, it saw its last service on 25 March 1961. [15]
Annual Grand National Express services ran from London Euston and other locations, such as Bridlington, Hull and Goole, direct to racecourse station via the North Mersey Branch. [15] [17] [18] These excursion trains all arrived travelling westwards, discharged their passengers, went to Aintree sorting sidings for servicing then all departed eastbound after the race meeting, the line being made one way and single track for the duration of the meeting. [19]
In 1988 BR decided to cancel the Grand National Express permanently, due to attacks by vandals along the line. Bricks and other missiles would be hurled at the trains when coming down the line in Litherland on the old site of the North Mersey Junction at the end of the crossover above the Merseyrail Northern Line.[ citation needed ]; and too many trains and coaches were arriving at Aintree with significant damage.[ citation needed ]
Other special services were run along the branch to Aintree Sefton Arms (on these occasions the L&YR stations at Aintree were differentiated by adding Sefton Arms or Racecourse) in addition to the regular service from Liverpool Exchange [20]
The Liverpool Overhead Railway also ran trains from its line onto the branch using the connection at Seaforth Sands, in 1955 they ran nine specials from Dingle. [21]
Intermodal and engineering trains ran from Garston, Edge Hill and as far away as Southampton, along the North Mersey Branch to Aintree Container Base, Aintree Metal Box and Fazakerley permanent-way yard.[ citation needed ]
In 1986 the line to Aintree Container Base was cut, leaving no further need for container trains along the line. In 1987 the short spur to Fazakerley sidings was closed, and the Metal Box service had finished by 1991, leaving no regular goods services on the North Mersey Branch. [22]
The line from Bootle junction to Aintree station junction (that is the whole branch) was taken out of use on 19 April 2002. [23]
The section of the line between Sefton Junction and North Mersey Branch Junction is no longer maintained to basic Network Rail operational standards and as of December 2017 is completely overgrown in places.[ citation needed ]
Occasionally diesel-powered engineering/maintenance trains used the branch to access the Southport line, saving the need to reverse at Sandhills.[ citation needed ]
For trains to access the branch, a key must first be obtained in advance from the Merseyrail IECC signalling centre which unlocks the gate allowing access to/from the branch line at Aintree.[ citation needed ]
Plans to open this section as part of Merseyrail's Northern Line have been put forward in Sefton's transport plan, with the first details to emerge about its possible reopening being published by the media on 28 February 2008.[ citation needed ]
The Crosby Herald newspaper reported that the line could be reopened in conjunction with a proposed new stadium for Liverpool F.C., to provide additional transport links via the town of Litherland, likely to cost millions. [24]
This was again mentioned in Merseytravel's 30-year plan of 2014. [25]
In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments). [26]
Merseyside is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Liverpool.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) built suburban electric stock for lines in Liverpool and Manchester. The line between Liverpool to Southport began using electric multiple units (EMUs) on 22 March 1904, using a third rail 625 V DC. Additional trains were later built for this route, and in 1913 incompatible stock for the route to Ormskirk. Lightweight units were built to run on the Liverpool Overhead Railway.
The Liverpool Overhead Railway was an overhead railway in Liverpool that operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number of world firsts: it was the first electric elevated railway, the first to use automatic signalling, electric colour light signals and electric multiple units, and was home to one of the first passenger escalators at a railway station. It was the second-oldest electric metro in the world, being preceded by the 1890 City and South London Railway.
The Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway was a British railway company, which opened a line in 1848 between Southport and Waterloo, extending into Liverpool in 1850. The company was acquired by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1855. The line is still open.
The Liverpool, Ormskirk & Preston Railway in north-west England was formed in 1846. It was purchased by the East Lancashire Railway the following year and opened to traffic on 2 April 1849.
The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed by an Act in 1845 to link Liverpool and Bury via Kirkby, Wigan and Bolton, the line opening on 20 November 1848. The line became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's main line between Liverpool, Manchester and Yorkshire. Most of it is still open.
Seaforth is a district in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is north of Liverpool, between Bootle and Waterloo.
The Northern line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Wirral line. The cross-city route runs from Hunts Cross in south Liverpool then branches in the north to terminate at Southport, Headbolt Lane and Ormskirk (Lancashire).
The North Liverpool Extension Line was a railway line in Liverpool, England in operation between 1879 and 1972. It was at one stage intended to become the eastern section of the Merseyrail Outer Loop, an orbital line circling the city.
Bootle New Strand railway station is a railway station in the centre of Bootle, Merseyside, England. It is on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network and serves in particular the nearby New Strand Shopping Centre. The platforms are elevated and are reached by ramps from the entrance at street level. Connecting bus services leave from the nearby bus station in the basement of New Strand Shopping Centre.
Bootle Oriel Road railway station is a railway station in Bootle, Merseyside, England. It is situated near the town's Victorian civic centre, opposite Bootle Town Hall, although the surrounding area is now largely residential. It is located on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.
Aintree railway station is a railway station that serves the village of Aintree, Merseyside, England. It is on the Ormskirk branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line. Until 1968 it was known as Aintree Sefton Arms after a nearby public house. The station's design reflects that it is the closest station to Aintree Racecourse, where the annual Grand National horse race takes place.
Fazakerley railway station is a railway station in Fazakerley, Liverpool, England. It is situated on the Headbolt Lane branch of the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.
Seaforth & Litherland railway station is a railway station in Seaforth, Merseyside, England, on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. It also serves the adjacent area of Litherland.
Blundellsands & Crosby railway station is a railway station in the Blundellsands area of Merseyside, England. It also serves the adjacent town of Crosby. It is situated on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.
Ford railway station was a station located on the North Mersey Branch, north Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
Linacre Road railway station was a station located on the North Mersey Branch in Litherland, Lancashire.
Aintree Racecourse railway station was a station located on the North Mersey Branch, in Sefton, England. It originally opened as Aintree Cinder Lane around 1890 as the only station on the line at the time, only opening for race days at Aintree Racecourse.
Gladstone Dock railway station was a station in Bootle, Lancashire, England, located on the North Mersey Branch. Situated west of Rimrose Road within the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Estate, it was named after the nearby Gladstone Dock.
Aintree railway station may refer to:
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