In this inaugural post of a brand new series on my blog, I will be exploring various branch lines, including those from New Brighton, West Kirby, Wigan, Windermere, and many more. I hope you will enjoy this first instalment. Starting locally for convenience at Birkenhead North, we will make our way to New Brighton, the terminus.

Our train was thankfully on time, despite our train from Birkenhead Park being just a couple of minutes late. Birkenhead North is an interesting station, serving as a junction for West Kirby, Liverpool, and, of course, the focus of today’s post, New Brighton. There are two intermediate stops: Wallasey Village and Wallasey Grove Road.

I boarded the train towards the rear but made my way to the front to secure a good spot for quickly jumping off to capture a photo of the station as we arrived at our first stop, Wallasey Village, on time. I really like Wallasey Village; it opened in 1907 and was electrified in 1938. The original terminus of the line was Birkenhead Park before it was fully electrified.

Once on board, we remain on the main section for trains heading to New Brighton and West Kirby, eventually branching off to the right at what was the old Bidston Triangle. Trains from Wrexham used to terminate at New Brighton Station, which sadly no longer takes place. However, in the future, trains may continue towards Liverpool Central with TfW, which would be interesting, of course.

The distance between Wallasey Grove Road & Wallasey Village is about 30s between the two stations, probably the shortest on the entire network. The longest distance between two stations is probably Formby to Ainsdale on the Southport line, let me know if you think that would make an Interesting Blog Post in the comments section.

From Wallasey Grove Road we head south towards New Brighton the terminus of the line, New Brighton once had an extensive sidings before the 1960s where goods and locos would have been stored. We also pass the site of a Disused Station called Warren Station closing in 1915. Sadly nothing really remains of the old station that you can see.

Arriving at New Brighton the train has about 10 minutes stand time before making its way back around the loop to Liverpool Central. The beauty of the Merseyrail Wirral lines is that it goes back on its self around the Liverpool Loop with stations at James Street, Moorfields, Lime Street & Liverpool Central then heading back towards Birkenhead! Built in the 1970s.

It still runs fairly well today and I rather enjoy the stations on the line especially Moorfields! I may do a blog post on the Loop line and sharing some of its secrets and history. However back to the main post where now at New Brighton station, it’s an island platform with 2 platforms, at the time of writing it had 2 trains on platform 1 stationary.

Being the terminus of the line, you’ll never miss a train, although there have been occasions when I do if I walk slowly from my home to the station. There’s something about New Brighton for me that gives it a sense of adventure; it is always the start and end of many adventures I take.

That’s all for this post. I truly hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my journey along the New Brighton branch line. I’m planning to share my next adventure on the West Kirby Line, where I’ll be riding and ticking off all the branch lines in the United Kingdom. Let me know which branch lines you’d like me to visit or explore on my blog.