liverpool – Rainham Rail Enthusiast

Meols Cop – Top Ten Least Used Railway Stations – Merseyside

The station was opened in 1887, as part of the Liverpool Southport and Preston junction railway. However this was integrated in to the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway in 1897 due to financial difficulties.

The line here was an early adopter of electrification in 1909, and in 1911 more train services were introduced when the Pool Hey Junction was opened, allowing services from Wigan to Southport.

Although no goods facilities were here, freight passed through the station until 1952.

Station buildings were in the form of a large timber building, situated on the island platform, which had canopies on either side. It was a large structure, being as it would be expected to serve a large number of passengers from the Southport suburbs. It contained not only a booking hall, but toilet facilities and a waiting room.

The line to Preston was earmarked for closure by the Beeching report of 1963, and so by 1964 that particular line closed. This lead to reduced services, and was the first decision that led to the decline of the station during the next thirty years.

The station building was demolished in the year 2000, being replaced with simple shelters. However, the reintroduction of a Sunday timetable in 2009, gave the station a much needed upturn in passenger numbers. A ‘friends of Meols Cop station’ group formed in 2010, and led to the station gaining floral displays, and the general upkeep of the station has continued ever since.

Below are images taken in 2022 of the station notice board :

Meols cop is an interesting station. Certainly it is well looked after by the station group, and new shelters and information boards show that it has not been a forgotten station. The lack of lift however restricts its use, and so will never be busy. The curve makes it interesting for photography, however the lack of services make interest low for the enthusiast.

The video below was filmed in 2022 :

Heswall – Top Ten Least Used Railway Stations In Merseyside

The station I am covering here is the present day station on the borderlands line, and is between Neston and Upton. Heswall used to have another station on the now extinct Birkenhead railway, and this closed in 1962.

Originally named Heswall Hills and opened in 1898, it was part of a railway between Bidston and Hawarden Bridge, and was owned by the Wirral railway and the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway. Eventually the line would be called North Wales and Liverpool joint railway.

An extensive goods yard was provided, with sidings to the South West. This was used extensively, until the diesel railcars started operation on the line in 1960. However the yard was still used until 5 years later. Many freight operations would continue to pass through the station however, these coming to and from Bidston dock, heavily laden with steel for the steelworks at Shotten.

It is said that these freight trains could be heard from miles away as they made their way up the nearby Storeton Bank. This freight service did cease though around 1980.

Heswall Hills was renamed Heswall in 1973, to reflect the fact that it was now the only station in the area. It received a refurbishment in 2008. There have been proposals to electrify the line, which would enable Merseyrail services to use it, and this would increase the service to 2 trains per hour each way, with one going to Liverpool. This sadly has not been realised at time of writing, but hopefully will happen in the future.

A small and quaint station, Heswall may seem a little boring at first glance, but the original features shine out like the underpass and what seems to be original wood holding the platforms. It also benefits from being totally accessible. Sightlines are good for the enthusiast, and generally it is quiet.

Currently (2024) passenger services are provided by a mixture of class 197 and 230 units. These replaced the Class 150 units which were filmed in 2022 in the video below :

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