Churchtown railway station

Maps showing Churchtown Station

Old OS Maps (estimated 1925 to 1945)

NPE Maps (1947-48)

Vision of Britain

Other maps

53°39′43″N 2°57′55″W / 53.661965°N 2.965384°W / 53.661965; -2.965384

Churchtown railway station was on the West Lancashire Railway (WLR) in England. It served the Southport suburb of Churchtown.

In the Churchtown area the railway ran above the local streets on an embankment, and crossed Cambridge Road to Churchtown station on an iron bridge. The station itself was on the north side of Cambridge Road immediately after the bridge, with the booking office situated at street level, on the northbound side of the station, roughly where Churchtown Medical Centre stands today.

Originally services ran from Southport Central to Preston Fishergate Hill. However, upon the WLR's absorption by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1901, both termini were closed to passengers and became goods depots. Services then ran from Southport Chapel Street to Preston.

The 3.5 mile section of the Southport-Preston line running from Southport Chapel Street station to Crossens station was electrified by the LYR in 1904 using the same 630V DC system as had been installed on the Liverpool-Southport line a few months earlier. Consequently after this date travellers from Churchtown station used both electric and steam-hauled trains.

Upon closure of the West Lancashire Railway in 1964, Churchtown station was demolished within days, to prevent any possible acts of vandalism and arson, as the station had been made entirely of wood (as with Penwortham Cop Lane railway station), along with both of its platforms.

The bridge was dismantled during 1965 and the embankments on either side removed soon afterwards. It has been said that this was to prevent any possible future opening of the line, had the closure under the Beeching Report ever been reprieved by a new Labour government.^{[citation needed]}

References

• Merseyside Electrics. Jonathan Cadwaller & Martin Jenkins. Ian Allan Publishing. 2010. ISBN 978-0-7110-3417-4

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Hesketh Park towards Southport		West Lancashire Railway		Crossens towards Preston