Liverpool - Southport Line: Sandhills - Liverpool Exchange
(Merseyrail Northern Line)
Our journey today starts at Southport Chapel Street and follows the line to the site of the erstwhile Liverpool Exchange using Google Streetview images. Should you use the individual Google navigation tools, and wish to restore the page to its default views, just refresh the page.
As it takes a few seconds for each of the Google maps to be retrieved, the line is broken into sections, and generally these are station-to-station. Each Google Streetview image is presented facing the direction of travel, in this case southwards. The intention is that to see the northwards view, the Google navigation tool needs to be used.
Bank Hall had significance, as the main L&YR loco shed for Liverpool Exchange was here - although not visible from the Southport train. The screen grab is looking south over the bridge parapet towards the junction at Sandhilss, where the lines from Wigan and Preston came in.
Slightly further along and looking over the bridge parapet more of the junction area can be seen, again with a train in view.
Sandhills station was a classic L&YR design, with wooden platform buildings and screens to protect passengers from the winds blowing off the Mersey. As it was at the start of the approaches to Exchange, it had four platform faces. Today it is just a simple island platform with a reversing siding. However the modern buildings look a vast improvement on what was there in the 70s.
The bridge over Boundary Street again shows the original width of the alignment at this point.
Love Lane provides a good view of the viaduct structure at this point.
22 Tithebarn Street - or the frontage to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's Liverpool Exchange Station. It has to be said that it looks a splendid frontage now that it has been cleaned-up, and far removed from the grime-smeared exterior that welcomed rail passengers in previous times.
Reproduced from the 1961 Ordnance Survey map.
Copyright J K Wallace, t/a 'Hall Royd Junction' 2013-2023 email: Hall Royd Junction
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