Birkdale Palace railway station

Birkdale Palace
Remains of the station in 1964
Location
Place	Birkdale
Area	Sefton
Grid reference	SD322163
Operations
Original company	Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway
Pre-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Post-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
History
19 June 1901	Station opens
1 January 1917	Station closes
1 April 1919	Station reopens
7 January 1952	Station closes
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
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Birkdale Palace was a station located in Birkdale, Merseyside.

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 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, due to World War I economy measures.

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. The line remained open for public goods traffic until 7-7-1952 at Southport Lord St., Birkdale Palace and Altcar & Hillhouse Stations. Public goods facilities were ended at Woodvale, Lydiate and Sefton & Maghull stations on the same date as passenger services (7-1-1952*) and there were never any goods facilities at Ainsdale Beach station to begin with. After 7-7-1952, a siding remained open at Altcar & Hillhouse for private goods facilities until May 1960. The very last passenger train to run on the SCLER was a railway enthusiasts 'special' between Aintree and Altcar & Hillhouse railways stations on 6-6-1959.

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 of last trains run. As this is almost always a Saturday, if 7 January 1952 (Monday) is given as the date of closure, this means the actual last day of services was Saturday, 5 January 1952. This is proven by last day tickets which bear the 5 January date.

Later the track bed was utilised to support what is now the Coastal Road, which runs from Woodvale to Southport.

References

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

Coordinates: 53°38′20″N 3°01′37″W / 53.63880°N 3.02694°W / 53.63880; -3.02694