Day One

In our next instalment of Every Station, we explore the stations between Hooton and Helsby, including Overpool, Ellesmere Port, and Ince & Elton. Ince & Elton presents a bit of a challenge for this post. Given the line’s brevity, I’ve opted to merge my visit to Ince & Elton with my journey from Hooton to Ellesmere Port in this post.

Upon arriving at Hooton, you can admire the magnificent station building, which was originally much larger with six platforms instead of the current four visible in the photo. Hooton also served as the terminus for the branch line towards Parkgate and then onward to West Kirby, which closed in the 1950s. From Hooton, we continued to Overpool and then to Little Sutton.

This line is relatively short compared to other branch lines, such as the line from Birkenhead to New Brighton, although it still has two stops between the terminus and the main station at Hooton and Birkenhead North, for example. However, returning to the main topic of today’s post, we are heading to our next station, Little Sutton, before continuing up towards Ellesmere Port.

I travelled from Little Sutton to Ellesmere Port, the terminus for Merseyrail Trains. Northern Trains also stop here twice a day, once in the morning on the route between Ellesmere and Helsby, and I believe it continues to Liverpool Lime Street from Ellesmere Port. On another day, I returned to Chester to complete the line from Ince & Elton/Helsby and onward to Runcorn.

Once upon a time, services from Hooton used to travel all the way to destinations far beyond today’s familiar Merseyrail boundaries, forming an important part of the region’s early rail links. Before the network was reshaped into the modern electrified system we know now, Hooton acted as a genuine junction, with trains heading not only toward Birkenhead and Chester but continuing deeper into Cheshire and beyond.

These longer-distance routes gave the station a strategic role that’s easy to overlook today, yet they remain a fascinating reminder of how the area’s railways have evolved over the decades.

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Day Two

The following day, I travelled from Chester to Warrington Bank Quay, stopping at stations like Frodsham, Helsby, Runcorn East, and, of course, Ince & Elton. I was quite pleased to finally visit the station, as I had been trying to do so for many years. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed both of my trips on the main and branch lines.

I began my journey at Warrington Bank Quay and headed to Frodsham instead of Helsby, as my original plan changed due to a fault with trains coupling at Chester station. From Frodsham, I travelled to Runcorn East before continuing back down the line towards Helsby. I quite enjoy the stations on this line because TfW operates them, giving them a rather quirky charm.

From Frodsham Station, I travelled to Warrington Bank Quay, a large station with services from London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Transport for Wales to Llandudno, Holyhead, Birmingham, and Manchester via Earlestown and Newton-for-Willows. I then proceeded to Runcorn East Station before heading back towards Helsby to catch the twice-daily train to Ellesmere Port.

I boarded a Class 195 train operated by Northern Trains from Runcorn East to my penultimate station, Helsby. This station is where the line branches off towards Ellesmere Port and Ince & Elton, as well as a closed station called Stanlow & Thornton, which I have visited. I particularly enjoy Helsby station, especially with the old signal box still in working order.

I travelled from Helsby on the train that runs twice a day to Ince & Elton station. From there, I took another train back towards Liverpool Lime Street. It’s a quirky little station with a barrow crossing and a rather lovely-looking waiting shelter on either side. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else at the station. Helsby Station 95/2589.

For some reason, I can’t seem to find a photo from my visit to Helsby Station, even though I’ve been there quite a few times. However, Ince & Elton was a rather quaint little station, and I was quite excited to finally tick it off my list. At the time of writing, I have visited a total of 393 stations, which is 15.2% of them. I am currently in the process of rewriting about them for the blog.

To those of you who have recently subscribed to my blog, I greatly appreciate it. My next posts will be from Glasgow, which I visited a few weeks ago in September, before heading to London. We have quite a few exciting posts coming up on the blog as I continue my quest to visit every station in the United Kingdom.