Report - North Mersey Branch Line (Liverpool, May, 2021)

[urbanchemist]

...I always wondered if there was any trace of the two stations at Ford and Linacre left. Did you get any shots of their remains?

Nothing left to see as far as I remember - overgrown wasteland at the Ford sidings and a few bumps in the embankment at Linacre.

 

[Jake littler]

Look at an old map of Liverpool and what you see are many railway lines converging on about 10 miles of shoreline, from Garston in the south to Seaforth in the north.
The aim of this outing was to explore one of the disused ones, the North Mersey Branch Line.
This used to run across the north of the city as shown below, red = dead railway, blue = live railway.

It originally connected the docks to other lines, although both ends (dotted red lines) were removed in the 1970s.
Two other connections are still mostly there though, one heading up past Aintree on the right and the other heading down to join the main Southport line on the left.
I’m not sure if the red bit which carries on south beside the Southport line is officially part of the North Mersey Branch, but I walked it anyway since there was what looked like an abandoned ticket office at one of the stations.

Pictures are a mixture of phone and camera, taken on a day of sunshine and showers.

Climbing in a few hundred yards north of Aintree station the double lines becomes single past the back of the station….

…before disappearing completely for a bit under the bridge over Park Lane.

The entire line used to have two tracks but is now single.

Caged point levers.

I made a short detour here to inspect the Aintree Tunnel (1879 - 1968), X on the map, where another defunct railway went under the North Branch.
The south portal is still there, but at only 40 yards long and deeply flooded I’m not surprised I can’t find any pictures of the inside.

Back on the route we pass an area of dense and lumpy undergrowth which used to be Aintree Sorting Sidings before arriving at the site of Ford Station, long demolished, next to the Netherton Way road bridge.
There was a shady character under the arch with rails here doing something with dead weed plants.
He seemed alarmed at the sight of my camera so I took a picture of the arch next door.

Onwards under a few bridges for Harris, Orrell and Hawthorn Roads.

Then one of two crossings over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The railway is now on an embankment, starting to curve down to meet the Southport line.
Some cable hooks on the bridge over Linacre Road and a grease pot just beyond.

There was another station, Linacre Road Station, just before this bridge, but only the foundations and walkways can now be seen.
Heading round the bend a couple of views from another bridge.
Looking towards the docks, the original Branch Line went over the Southport line in front with the train on it, but the only trace of this crossing is some of the embankment.

A view down Hornby Road towards the Strand shopping centre, with the Johnson building lowering away on the left.
I noticed this has recently been acquired by a property developer - if it happens to be open, which it seemed to be last time I passed, it does have a nice view from the roof.

Now pulling into Bootle New Strand Station across a bridge over Marsh Lane.

The entrance to the station used to be under the bridge, the yellow door on the left in the picture below, with a ticket office halfway up a ramp leading up to track level.

Sometime after the branch line was closed the entrance was moved round the corner leaving the bottom section of the walkway and the ticket office isolated, although the top half of the ramp is still in use - picture on the right above.
A view of the now derelict ticket office and ramp from the other side of the station, showing the layout.

Yellow door from the inside.

Heading up the ramp…

…it became apparent that the office is completely stripped and full of scaffolding holding up the roof.

On top of the scaffolding.

Someone’s been having fun up here.

Carrying on over a couple more bridges and the canal again we arrive at the back of Bootle Oriel Road Station.
Nothing much to see here except the overgrown platforms.

And some steps down to an underpass, now bricked up at the bottom.
The underpass is still in use and you can see people walking underneath through the windows in the ceiling.

A bit further on and we are now opposite some of Bootle’s older civic buildings, with what I’ll call Millers Bridge on the right (this section of road is actually called Millers Bridge).

A phone picture from the other side looking back, since I had it.
This was taken at about the position of another demolished station, Bootle Balliol Road, which served the Alexandra Dock Branch, the line heading down the tunnel on the right to the docks.
You can still walk down the overgrown ramp to this branch line but it’s still in use and there isn’t much to see except the remains of platforms under the bridge (out of sight on the left).

Back on the other side again the derelict bit finally runs out beyond Millers Bridge, joining the main line.

Like many of the disused rail lines and tunnels in Liverpool there have been proposals over the years to reuse the North Mersey Branch, which is presumably why it’s just been left.

Do you know if you can still get in?

 

[urbanchemist]

Do you know if you can still get in?

It's a big long defunct railway line, you can walk onto it in many places.

 

[Jake littler]

It's a big long defunct railway line, you can walk onto it in many places.

Thankyou