Parkgate railway station

Former railway station on the Birkenhead Railway in Cheshire, England

Birkenhead Railway
London Midland Region (British Railways)

Key dates1 October 1866First station opened19 April 1886Second station opened17 September 1956Closed to passengers7 May 1962Closed to freight

Parkgate railway station was a station on the single track Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Birkenhead Railway, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, England. The station served the village of Parkgate.

History

The Birkenhead Railway, owned jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and North Western Railway (LNWR), opened a branch line from Hooton to Parkgate on 1 October 1866. An extension to West Kirby was completed twenty years later.^[1]^[2] The original station at Parkgate was a temporary wooden structure as a possible future extension to West Kirby had been taken into consideration.^[2] For this purpose, a second station was built, which opened on 19 April 1886. The old station buildings were retained as a goods yard.^[1]^[2]

Closure

Once motor transport reached the area passenger numbers dwindled and on 17 September 1956 the station was closed to passengers. The track continued to be used for freight transportation and driver training for another six years, closing on 7 May 1962. The tracks were lifted two years later.^[1]^[2]^[3] The station buildings have been demolished, although the stationmaster's house remains as a private residence.^[1]

Wirral Country Park

The route became the Wirral Way footpath and part of Wirral Country Park in 1973, which was the first such designated site in Britain.^[4]^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Disused Stations: Parkgate, Subterranea Britannica, retrieved 21 November 2008
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Maund, T.B. (2000), The Birkenhead Railway, The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society, pp. 33–34, 43–44, 69, ISBN 0-901115-87-8
^ Merseyside Railway History Group (1982), Scheele, R. (ed.), The Hooton to West Kirby branch line and the Wirral Way, Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, ISBN 0-904582-04-3
^ Wirral Country Park, Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, archived from the original on 30 October 2008, retrieved 21 November 2008
^ Wirral Country Park, Visit Liverpool, archived from the original on 15 October 2007, retrieved 8 December 2007