Friday Photo: Old West Kirby Station
Many thanks to Chris Hankin for sending me a few old photographs of the old West Kirby Station. This is the old station that served the line that ran the route of what is now the Wirral Way. Those of you who have lived in West Kirby for some years will recall the old railway bridge that was at the bottom of Grange Hill (if that’s you, you’ll also remember the old Crosville bus yard too)? I think that old bridge must have been demolished around 1980.
Chris comments:
The GWR (or more correctly GWR/LMS joint) station was to the east of the current station [Orrysdale Rd]; coming from Hoylake the track curved left pretty sharply after coming through the Bridge Road bridge, and through the station, onto what is now the Wirral Way.
The photo of the demolition of the GWR station was taken from the bridge that took Grange Road over the railway track. If you extend the Wirral Way over Grange Road towards Hoylake that puts the station just about where the eastern edge of the Concourse Car Park is now. There were a number of sidings between the GWR Station and the current station – lots of coal and timber was dealt with here – there was a massive fire in the timber yard once.
I’ve found this wikipedia article about the old station too that adds a little more detail.
Possible related posts (computer generated):
I remember frequent family departures from this station in the 1940′s and 50′s for holidays with my grandparents in Wales – slow and stately journey through to the terminus at bleak Hooton Junction where, after often a chilly wait, one joined a train on to Ruabon. The West Kirby to Hooton branch line was known locally as the “New and Expeditious” – in deference to a faded sign, proudly displayed for many years outside the station, which, until it mouldered away with age, read something like “Announcing a New and Expeditious route to Chester…….” By my day, the route was by no means new and had never been expeditious!
The wayside stations such as Kirby Park, Caldy and Thurstaston, were little enough frequented and very basic in their facilities – Caldy station platform still lit by oil lamps.
Near Kirby Park, the line ran past my father’s allotment and my sister and I used to amuse ourselves by placing pennies on the line and then standing back to watch the train (which could be heard coming for miles) turn them into impressively larger discs of copper.