- North Mersey Branch
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North Mersey Branch LegendKirkby Branch Line Kirkby (Divided Platform) Junction with LBR Fazakerley Aintree Racecourse Aintree Junction with LOPR Orrell Park Ford (Sefton) Linacre Road Seaforth & Litherland Junction with LSCR Bootle New Strand Junction with LOR Seaforth Sands Gladstone Dock North Mersey(goods) Junction MDHB lines The North Mersey Branch (NMB) is a railway line that connected the Liverpool and Bury Railway at Fazakerley Junction with the Gladstone Dock. It was opened in 1867 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
Contents
Usage
From 1896 there was a junction to the Liverpool Overhead Railway between North Mersey Branch Junction and Gladstone Dock.
Aintree Racecourse station opened around 1890 as the only station on the line and saw its last service on 31 March 1962. It only operated on race days at Aintree Racecourse. Gladstone Dock station opened on 7 September 1914, when the section of track from North Mersey Branch Junction was electrified, and closed on 7 July 1924. Two more stations on the line opened on 1 June 1906 with the electrification of the line; these closed on 2 April 1951.
Today
The section of the line between Sefton Junction and North Mersey Branch Junction still exists, although has no services running and is no longer electrified.
Future
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. The Crosby Herald newspaper reported that the line could be reopened in conjunction with Liverpool FC's new stadium, to provide additional transport links via the town of Litherland, likely to cost millions.[1]
References
External links
- Historic map of railways in Liverpool
- Potential Rail Improvements in North Western England - Evidence presented to the Transport Select Committee, 2002-03
- Engineering train on the North Mersey Branch in 2007
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