In this two-part series, I’ll be visiting the stations along the longest branch of Merseyrail’s Northern Line, travelling between Liverpool Central and Southport. The branch has 14 stops in total, starting at Liverpool Central before heading north through the suburbs of Merseyside and eventually terminating at Southport. Southport itself is an interesting station, as alongside Merseyrail services, it also provides connections further east towards Wigan and Manchester via the East Lancashire Line, with those services operated by Northern Trains. Along the way, I’ll also be passing through Sandhills, a station I’ve already ticked off in a previous post when I travelled between Liverpool Central and Ormskirk on the other Northern Line branch, while I’ve also previously visited the stations on the Headbolt Lane branch in an earlier post. With that in mind, this two-parter gives me the chance to explore more of the Southport branch and take a closer look at the stations along one of Merseyrail’s longest and busiest routes.

After leaving Bootle Oriel Road, I decided to walk to the next station along the line, Bootle New Strand. This is another interesting station for me, mainly because of its staggered platforms, which are quite rare across the Merseyrail network. If I’m correct, I believe Bootle New Strand is the only station on the entire network to have staggered platforms in this way, although if there is another example that I’ve somehow missed, then please do let me know in the comments! I also wanted to take a moment to mention that the blog has now reached over 10,000 views since I launched it back in 2024, which is honestly quite insane to think about. I really do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my posts and follow along with my various adventures, although I would love to see a little more interaction here too, whether that’s through comments, sharing your own experiences or simply letting me know what you think about the places I visit.

Once I had explored Bootle New Strand, I continued my journey towards Liverpool and headed for our next station, Bank Hall. This is another station with plenty of history surrounding it, with the site still featuring remnants of its past, including abandoned and overgrown platforms alongside an old LYR (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) style building. The line through Bank Hall was originally built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway during the 1840s, so it’s quite fascinating to see some of those historical features still visible today alongside the modern Merseyrail network. It really gives the station a sense of character and reminds you that the railway here has been serving the local area for well over a century.

After leaving Bank Hall, I only had a short wait for my next train, which took me further along the line towards Blundellsands & Crosby. This is another rather interesting station, with an underpass providing access between the platforms as well as an exit from the station itself, while the railway is also situated fairly close to the main roads in the surrounding area. There are also a number of other interesting examples of how the railway interacts with the local roads further along this branch, including level crossings at places such as Waterloo and Birkdale. This also brought back a few memories for me, as when I first started making YouTube videos back in 2019, I had a series where I travelled around the Merseyrail network on the Class 507 trains, with the aim of visiting every station that was open at the time. Back then, there were 68 stations across the network, as Headbolt Lane hadn’t yet been opened, or even built for that matter. After spending some time at Blundellsands & Crosby, I had a few minutes before my next train, so I decided to continue onwards and get off at Seaforth & Litherland rather than Waterloo, which I’ll explain a little later on in the post.

I had around six minutes at Seaforth & Litherland after my train arrived a couple of minutes later than scheduled, so I didn’t have too long to wait before my next service arrived to take me to my penultimate station of this part of the trip, Waterloo. The name Waterloo is quite interesting as there are three railway stations in England that use the name, with London Waterloo and Waterloo East both located in central London. I’ve visited London Waterloo quite a few times over the years, although I haven’t officially ticked it off as part of my station challenge just yet. I’m hoping to spend a few days in London during 2027, which should give me the opportunity to visit and hopefully tick off a good number of stations across the capital, so that’s certainly something to look forward to!

Waterloo would be my penultimate station for this particular trip, as I’m splitting my journey along the Southport branch into two parts. The next part will continue from Hightown and take me all the way through to Southport, allowing me to explore the remaining stations along this stretch of the Northern Line. There are still plenty more stations and places to see, so if you’ve enjoyed following along with this part of the journey, please consider subscribing and keeping an eye out for the next instalment of the blog. I’ll be continuing the adventure from Hightown all the way to Southport, so hopefully you’ll join me for the next part!

And finally, I headed to our final station of the day, Hall Road, which would be the last stop on this part of the journey along the Southport branch. From Waterloo, it was only around eight minutes to Hall Road, with the train calling at Blundellsands & Crosby before arriving at my final station of the day. I only had a few minutes at Hall Road before catching the next train back towards the city, where I would eventually get off at Moorfields and make my way home. It was a good way to finish this part of the journey, having visited several stations along the line and explored a few places I hadn’t properly covered before. As I mentioned earlier, this is being split into two parts, so the adventure doesn’t end here! The next post will continue from Hightown and take me all the way through to Southport, covering the remaining stations along this stretch of the Northern Line, so I hope you’ll join me for the next part of the journey.

And finally, we reach the last station for this post and the end of my trip along the Southport branch of Merseyrail’s Northern Line. I’ve really enjoyed visiting the stations along this route, as it has brought back a lot of fond memories from my time as a creator on YouTube, travelling around the network, visiting stations, ticking them off one by one and documenting each part of the journey along the way. Being able to eventually complete the entire challenge would be an incredible achievement and something that would genuinely mean a lot to me, although we still have plenty of stations left to visit before we can reach that final one. For now, though, this is where I’ll leave this part of the journey, with the next post picking up from Hightown as we continue our way along the line towards Southport.

If you’ve enjoyed coming along with me so far, be sure to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts, and consider subscribing to the blog so you can follow along with the rest of the journey. Until then, I’ll see you in the next adventure as we continue towards Southport!