Merseyside – Rainham Rail Enthusiast

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 :

Mossley Hill – Top Ten Least Used Railway Stations – Merseyside

The station lies on the Liverpool to Manchester Line and is the first one after leaving Edge Hill. The Alstom railway depot is on the line to the north just after the spur from or to Edge Hill.

Mossley Hill opened in 1864 as Mossley Hill for Aigburth. It and Allerton were the only stations opened on the line when the St Helens Railway extension from Speke to Edge Hill opened. The entire station including platforms were replaced in July 1891, when the Edge Hill to Speke line was quadrupled.

The station was renamed from Mossley Hill for Aigburth to Mossley Hill on 6 May 1974

To the North of the station, on the route towards Edge Hill are the sites of two former stations, that of Sefton Park and Wavertree stations.

A wide variety or rolling stock can be seen from this location, and at time of writing this includes Class 150, 156 158 and 195, plus passing pendolinos. When I visited in 2022 occasional Transpennine class 68 hauled services also came through the station.

Mossley Hill has a very interesting station design. All platforms are of an island design, and even from the outset these seem to have been reached by ramped walkways, which is obviously a great idea. It would be nice however to see these refurbished, as the station building does look very well looked after.

For the enthusiast, plenty of traffic and good sight lines make for good photography and videography.

Below is a video taken in 2022 when I visited the station.

Thatto Heath – Top Ten Least Used Stations in Merseyside

Thatto Heath is on the Liverpool to Wigan city line, the stations of St Helens Central and Eccleston Park being to the east and west respectively.

The station was opened in 1871, the same time as the line, and is set within a very slight cutting. Extensive research as as yet to yield no other significant history surrounding the station, so if you know any different please e-mail myself so that I can update this blog, I and others would be very interested to read about the history of the station.

It is located in the area of St Helens, and a notable claim to fame is that Thatto Heath is the birthplace of British comic actor Johnny Vegas. As far as the station is concerned you can see it is very picturesque, with stone walling which does seem to be very well looked after. A small ticket office exists, and this does seem quite old, but again I cannot find out whether this was the original location or not.