Hadlow Road

Hadlow Road station opened in 1866.  The line closed in 1962 and is now the track of the Wirral Way cycle and  footpath. The station building is restored to its 1950s state as a typical village station and acts as a visitors centre. Tickets anyone?

Mary is the hostess of the midweek meme Windows...and doors too

ABC Wednesday - Railway Station

A red danger sign on the gate and the semaphore signal is straight, stop, danger, risk.

The station seems empty, just one man and his dog

Oh here is the ticket office, I wonder if I have the requisite change

Well really, there is nobody resident here

A girl relaxing and texting on this sunny and radiant day.  Lets roam down the platform and have a look in the signal box.

Remarkably two are pulled out, a train must be due.

But what is this no rail track, just a little family group taking refreshment, the rails have been removed.

A railway station frozen in time, as this notice explains.  How many stories are told of ghost trains but not even these run here.
Go round the back of the station house by the roadside

and with Victorian confidence the date is emblazoned above the door, 1866, the 1st October to be precise, when this railway opened to serve the Wirral.  A peninsula jutting out south of Liverpool with the River Mersey on one side and the Welsh coast and the River Dee on the other.

The line declined after WW1 when the main users became the rural community and secondary school pupils, with a further reduction in traffic as the Neston Colliery closed  in 1927 it became uneconomic, but remained open for the local communities and day trippers to the seaside of Parkgate and West Kirby. The increase in road use and further decline in passengers saw the service withdrawn in September 1956 but it continued to be used for goods vehicles until May 1962 when it finally closed and Hadlow Road was - redundant.  In 1964 the demolition gangs moved in.

But this is not a story with a sad end for in 1968 the Hooton West Kirby Branch was chosen to be part of Britain's first Country Park.  There are now over 400 Country Parks in England alone, accessible green spaces near or within towns and cities. The railway station was preserved in 1950s condition. The old railway line is now replaced with a 12 mile cycleway and footpath

Popular with horse riders too.

R

Walkies anyone?

Run over to the ABC Wednesday meme for more words starting with the letter R