Hightown railway station
Hightown  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| General information | |||||
| Location | Hightown, Metropolitan Borough of Sefton England | ||||
| Coordinates | 53°31′30″N 3°03′25″W / 53.525°N 3.057°W | ||||
| Grid reference | SD300036 | ||||
| Managed by | Merseyrail | ||||
| Transit authority | Merseytravel | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | HTO | ||||
| Fare zone | D2 | ||||
| Classification | DfT category E | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 24 July 1848 | Opened as Hightown | ||||
| by 1852 | Renamed Hightown & Ince | ||||
| 1861 | Renamed Hightown | ||||
| 7 September 1964 | Closed for goods | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.394 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  98,624 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.248 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.267 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.291 million | ||||
| |||||
Hightown railway station serves the village of Hightown in Merseyside, England. The station is located on the Southport branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line.
History
[edit]Hightown railway station opened as Hightown on 24 July 1848 when the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway (LC&SR) opened its line from Waterloo to Southport Eastbank Street.[1]
The station was situated on the north side of Alt Road which was crossed using a level crossing.[2][3]
The station had two platforms, one each side of the double-track with brick and stonework buildings, both sides had glazed awnings and waiting facilities.[4][5]
There were goods facilities with a siding on the down side and a small goods and coal yard on the up to the south of the level crossing.[a][7][8]
By 1852 the station had been renamed Hightown & Ince and in 1861 it reverted to Hightown.[1]
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was Grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948.[9]
The goods facilities closed on 7 September 1964.[10]
The level crossing was closed by British Rail in March 1967 when a road bridge was constructed nearby. The footbridge was replaced in 1972 with a pre-fabricated ramp and stair footbridge more suitable to the needs of mothers with children and the elderly.[11]
In 1978 the station became part of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line (operated by British Rail until privatised in 1995).[12]
Facilities
[edit]The station is staffed, from 15 minutes before the first train until 15 minutes after the last train.
Platform 1 (Southbound) has a waiting room, ticket office, cycle storage and a photo booth, whilst Platform 2 (Northbound) has a shelter, a payphone and cycle storage. There are live dot-matrix departure screens, for passenger information and platform CCTV on both platforms. The platforms are linked via a stepped bridge but both may be accessed via road.[13]
Services
[edit]Northbound trains operate to Southport, and Southbound trains to Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central.
On Mondays to Saturdays there are four trains an hour throughout the day in each direction; on Sundays there are two per hour.[14]
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formby towards Southport |
Merseyrail Hunts Cross - Southport Line |
Hall Road towards Hunts Cross | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Formby towards Southport |
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway |
Blundellsands & Crosby (until 1874) Hall Road (since 1874) towards Liverpool Exchange | ||
Gallery
[edit]-
The station booking office. -
The Alt Road footbridge. -
The waiting shelter on the Southport-bound platform. -
Merseyrail Class 508s pass at the station. -
Hightown station in 1948-showing older footbridge and level crossing.
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References
[edit]Notes
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b Quick 2023, p. 242.
- ^ Lancashire Sheet XC (Map). Six-inch. Ordnance Survey. 1848.
- ^ Gahan 1985, p. 86.
- ^ Gahan 1985, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Gell 1986.
- ^ Simmons 1997, p. 548.
- ^ Gahan 1985, p. 87.
- ^ Lancashire Sheet XC (Map). Six-inch. Ordnance Survey. 1848.
- ^ Ferneyhough 1975, pp. 164 & 176–177.
- ^ Clinker 1978, p. 63.
- ^ Desmond, Paul (1 December 1971). "New bridge cost is almost double". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 9. Retrieved 5 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Pettitt & Comfort 2015, pp. 59 & 171.
- ^ "Hightown train station". www.merseyrail.org. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ Table 82 National Rail timetable, May 2023
Bibliography
[edit]- Clinker, C. R. (October 1978). Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1977. Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. ISBN 0-905466-19-5. OCLC 5726624.
- Ferneyhough, Frank (1975). The History of Railways in Britain. Reading: Osprey. ISBN 0-85045-060-8. OCLC 2120140.
- Gahan, John W. (1985). Seaport to Seaside: Lines to Southport and Ormskirk - 13 decades of trains and travel. Countryvise. ISBN 978-0-907768-07-5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link) - Gell, Rob (1986). An Illustrated Survey of Railway Stations Between Southport & Liverpool 1848-1986. Heyday Publishing Company. ISBN 0-947562-04-4. (No page numbers.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Pettitt, Gordon; Comfort, Nicholas (2015). The Regional Railways Story. Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-86093-663-3.
- Quick, Michael (2023) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF). version 5.05. Railway & Canal Historical Society.
- Simmons, Jack (1997). "'up' and 'down'". In Simmons, Jack; Biddle, Gordon (eds.). The Oxford Companion to British Railway History From 1603 to the 1990s (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 548. ISBN 0-19-211697-5.
External links
[edit]
- Train times and station information for Hightown railway station from National Rail
- Station information for Hightown railway station from Merseyrail