CLC Pleasure Route. Halewood - Aintree - Southport Forgotten Railways around Merseyside

The North Liverpool Extension Line connected the CLC Liverpool and Manchester line at Halewood to Aintree and via a branch to the north Liverpool docks at Huskisson Dock before extending up to Southport. with stations at Gateacre, Childwall, Knotty ash, West derby, Clubmoor, Warbreck, Aintree Central, Sefton & Maghull, Lydiate, Altcar, Moorbridge, Woodvale, Ainsdale Beach, Birkdale Palace & finally Southport Lord Street.

Southport Lord Street was the northern terminus of the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway (SCLER) which was authorised as a route between the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) North Liverpool Extension Line at Aintree and Southport, the SCLER opened in 1879.  

The station was a grand affair. Fronting on to Lord Street was a red-brick Italianate structure with a tall clock-tower projecting between the glazed verandahs which characterise the street.The four-stage tower has stone dressings, round-headed lancet windows, and chamfered corners on the top stage, surmounted by a squat, four-sided spire. Stone panels bear the initials ‘SCLER’, but ‘1884’ has been misguidedly erased by ‘1993’, presumably by the supermarket company which occupied the site of the trainshed – unfortunately demolished in 1989.

Behind the building was a trainshed which consisted of an iron and glass roof supported on iron columns. Under the trainshed were four platforms. The trainshed covered about half the length of these platforms which extended from the rear of the station building to a point just west of Rotten Row Road, which passed over the station on a bridge. Iron and glass canopies provided protection to passengers at the western end of the platforms. There were two further platforms located at the western end of the station on its southern side. They were shorter than the other four and were provided with iron and glass canopies.

Unusually for a terminus the station had a footbridge which linked the four platforms at the western end of the trainshed roof. A cab road was located on the south side of the station; it was protected from the elements by an iron and glass roof.

To the west of the passenger station, south of the line, was a goods yard which included four sidings, a large goods shed and offices, weighing machines and cattle pens. South of the goods yard was a two-road engine shed which was a sub-shed of Walton-on-the-Hill.

A signal box located on the north side of the line to the west of the station controlled traffic movements at the station. The box was a Railway Signalling Company timber structure with a 42-lever frame. On 1 August 1897 the MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway (GCR). The new name was quickly applied to the locomotives that served Southport Lord Street.

In the early years of the twentieth century the CLC was promoting its services to Southport Lord Street to holidaymakers and day trippers. In the summer months many excursion trains were run and the station was a busy place. It was less so in the winter period as the SCLER passed through an area of very little population.

On 1 January 1923 the Grouping of British railway companies into four large organisations took place. The CLC remained independent but its owning companies became the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) with two-thirds of the shares and the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) with one-third. The LNER provided the locomotives for CLC services. The former LYR lines at Southport became part of the LMS.

The 1920s and 1930s were the golden years for British seaside towns such as Southport. Hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers and day trippers visited. Southport Lord Street handled its fair share of the traffic. The North Liverpool Extension Line passed through the expanding outer suburbs of Liverpool and the opening of new stations at Clubmoor in 1927 and Warbreck in 1929 gave their inhabitants a fast and direct link to Southport. In 1949 British Railways extended platforms 1, 2 and 3 at Southport Lord Street so that they could take longer excursion trains. They also re-signalled the station approaches. A new signal box, an LMS Type 11c with a 50-lever frame, opened in April 1949.

British Railways was able to run trains from the North Liverpool Extension Line to Southport Chapel Street via a junction with the former LYR Liverpool and Preston line at Aintree and a curve at Burscough that connected to the Southport and Wigan line. This meant that excursions could run from locations on the former CLC network to Southport without having to use the former SCLER line.

Despite the recent investment at Lord Street British Railways decided to close it to passenger services with effect from 7 January 1952. The intermediate stations between Southport Lord Street and Aintree also closed. Goods services continued to serve Lord Street until 7 July 1952 after which the station closed completely.
Directed by Allan Roach.