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.
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 | |||||
| 2018/19 |  0.353 million | ||||
| 2019/20 | 0.394 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  98,624 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.248 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.267 million | ||||
| |||||
History
editHightown 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
editThe 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
editNorthbound 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
editNotes
editCitations
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