Liverpool Exchange railway station

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox station

Liverpool Exchange was a railway station located in the city centre of Liverpool, England. Of the four terminus stations in the city, Exchange was the only not accessed via a tunnel.

The station was damaged during World War II and lost a proportion of the trainshed roof, which was never rebuilt. The station's long-distance services were switched to Template:Rws in the 1960s, and, as a terminus, the station became redundant in the late 1970s, when its remaining local services switched to the newly opened Merseyrail tunnels under Liverpool city centre. It was closed in 1977, being replaced by the new Template:Rws underground station nearby.

First station

Tithebarn Street as it was between opening in 1850 and 1859

The grandly-appointed station was jointly owned and operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) and East Lancashire Railway (ELR), it opened on 13 May 1850, replacing an earlier temporary terminus at Template:Rws a half-mile (0.8 km) further out of Liverpool.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On opening it was described as being second in architectural effect to none in Liverpool, yet it has been completed in the short space of six months.<ref name="ILN"/>

The first section of the extension involved crossing the concurrently being built London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) Waterloo goods line which emerged from Waterloo tunnel immediately south of Template:Rws. To span the Template:Abbr branch John Hawkshaw, the chief engineer of the Template:Abbr,Template:Sfn designed two bridges, one, described in the Illustrated London News as being of large span and exquisite workmanship was a wedge-shaped brick arch Template:Convert wide at the north end and Template:Convert wide at the south end, on a level with the passenger station and about Template:Convert above the Template:Abbr lines.Template:Sfn<ref name="ILN">Template:Cite news</ref>

The other bridge was a large bridge close to the mouth of the Template:Abbr Waterloo tunnel, this comprised seventeen cast-iron arched girders and had a span of Template:Convert at ground level.Template:Sfn

The station had two names, as did its predecessor, because the joint owners could not agree on a name. The Template:Abbr named the station Liverpool Exchange Station with the Template:Abbr naming the station Liverpool Tithebarn Street.Template:Sfn

The lines into the station were carried on a brick-built viaduct with several bridges over roads and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the lines were Template:Convert above Tithebarn Street and the station itself rose to Template:Convert above the street so that it had to be approached by an inclined road, it was fronted by a balustraded terrace approached from below by an ornamental stairway.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="OS1864">Template:Cite map</ref>

The main two-storey building façade facing onto Tithebarn Street was Template:Convert long with two single-storey wings at right-angles each Template:Convert long, the Template:Abbr occupying the western (Bixteth Street) side of the station and the Template:Abbr having the eastern (Key Street) side. Each company had completely separate facilities with the exception that there was only one arrival platform which was located on the extreme eastern side. The Template:Abbr were not happy about this arrangement as it meant Template:Abbr trains shunting across their side of the station to get to their own side often causing delays to Template:Abbr trains.Template:Sfn

Each side of the station had booking offices, refreshment rooms, waiting rooms etc. each company having two departure platforms covered by iron and glass roofs designed and built by Fox, Henderson & Co.Template:Sfn There was a carriage shed and an engine shed with a turntable at the station approaches.Template:Sfn

From 1 October 1850, trains of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway (LC&SR), which was operated on their behalf by the Template:Abbr, began to run into Exchange/Tithebarn Street station, so now there were three companies using the terminus. The Template:Abbr became part of the Template:Abbr on 14 June 1855.Template:Sfn In all there were about 28 arrivals and departures each working day.Template:Sfn

On 13 August 1859, the Template:Abbr absorbed the Template:Abbr, from which date the name of the station was Liverpool Exchange and from then it was worked as a single station of five platforms.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Second station

By the 1870s, the five platform station was struggling to cope with demand, in 1877 for example, there were 105 working day arrivals and departures, it became urgent to expand the station capacity.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Initially the Template:Abbr sought to replace the station at the same height above street level, the lines still had to clear the canal and local streets. An act of ParliamentTemplate:Which giving approval was granted in 1875 and due to the difficulties in acquiring land in such a built-up area the powers were renewed in 1879. The company at this point decided to hold a design competition for the new station which attracted forty three entrants, the winner of which, John West, was announced on 3 August 1881. Detailed specifications were drawn up and tenders invited in early 1882, at which point a plan was submitted to build a station at street level.Template:Sfn In July 1882 the company chief engineer, Sturges Meek, was asked to prepare new drawings for the station, and he instructed the newly-appointed company architect, Henry Shelmerdine, to design it and to include a hotel.Template:Sfn

At the same time, Liverpool Corporation was concerned about the poor road system in the area, the council, railway and canal company came together and agreed to fill in Clarke's Basin at the end of the canal, building a new basin and warehouse for the canal company, allowing the road system to be improved by extending Pall Mall over part of the infill with some of the remaining land sold to the L&YR to enable a lower level approach and an expanded, rebuilt, station.Template:EfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

New powers were obtained in 1882 and 1883 to build the station at street level and lower the approach lines, the approaches were improved by building of a new four-track loop line which avoided Template:Rws and the awkward bends on the approach to the original station resulting from the imposed conditions to avoid the Borough gaol which had since been demolished.Template:Sfn

The new station was built in two halves, the first half accessed by the new loop line was opened on 12 December 1886 and the 1850 station closed and demolished to provide the space for the second half of the new station. Two platforms of which opened on 23 February 1888 and the remainder on 2 July 1888.Template:Sfn

There were ten platform faces each about Template:Convert long, platform 1 was at the eastern (Pall Mall) side of the station and was slightly shorter than the others.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The platforms were protected by four longitudinal glazed gabled roofs, initially there were all the same length, the ones over platforms 1 to 5, for the longer distance services, survived until closure but the roofs over platforms 6 to 10 were shortened after being damaged during World War II, the roof work was completed in 1954.<ref name="RWL"/>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Trains were controlled from two signal boxes, box 'A' in the centre of the station approach lines and box 'B' in an elevated position above the carriage sidings adjacent to Pall Mall.Template:Sfn

There were two turntables. One Template:Convert long between the approaches to platforms 3 and 4 where there was enough space as an access roadway off Pall Mall running between those platforms.Template:Sfn The other served the western side of the station (the higher numbered platforms), it was used less after electric trains began operating as they did not require turning.Template:Sfn

The front portion of the station looking out onto Tithebarn Street contained the hotel and railway offices, it was separated from the platforms by a carriage concourse, later a cab road, with its own glazed roof that had an entrance on Pall Mall.Template:Sfn

Beyond the carriage concourse was a circulating area containing several booking offices (General, local, season tickets etc.), parcels offices (inbound and outbound) various waiting rooms and conveniences, refreshment rooms (first class tea room and third class refreshments), a telegraph office and the stationmaster's office.Template:Sfn

There was a subway connecting the platforms about half-way down their length which meant that passengers connecting between services did not need to go through the ticket barriers twice to change trains.Template:Sfn

In 1886, there were 216 trains in and out of the station daily rising to over 300 by 1928.Template:Sfn In 1895, trains departed to a wide variety of destinations including Template:Rws, Template:Rws (via Template:Rws and via Template:Rws), Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws, Template:Rws (some of the services to Blackburn and Accrington involved a slip coach).Template:Sfn

The Midland Railway (MR) started using the station on 1 August 1888 to provide services to Template:Rws and Template:Rws via Template:Rws, Template:Rws and Template:Rws.Template:Sfn

In 1960, loudspeakers were introduced; there were 46, in nine groups, with an announcing room over the left-luggage office and auxiliary microphones positioned in the inspector's office on platform 7. There were four speakers on the concourse, each in multiple units of six.<ref name="RWL"/>

Template:Disused Rail Start Template:Rail line Template:S-end

Station hotel

The Template:Abbr opened the Exchange Hotel at the station on 13 August 1888.Template:Sfn The eighty bedroom hotel shared the building on Tithebarn Street with the railway offices being to the right of the central pedestrian entrance and the hotel to the left with its own decorative iron entrance canopy stretched out over the pavement.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn

Exchange station and hotel frontage in 2008

The hotel was designed by Henry Shelmadine, the Template:Abbr land agent and architect.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The hotel frontage was in free renaissance style with columns dividing the windows, an intricately decorated iron porte cochère and a matching projecting clock. John Pearson. a former chairman of the Template:Abbr, mayor of Liverpool and High Sheriff of Lancashire is commemorated by a bust in bas-relief.Template:Sfn

In addition to the bedrooms the hotel provided private sitting-rooms, a ballroom and hair-dressing rooms, it had its kitchens sited on the top floor which created problems keeping food cool during the summers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="OS1935">Template:Cite map</ref>

The hotel name was changed to Exchange Station Hotel on 11 January 1892.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn The hotel's coffee room was extended in 1892 and a new banqueting hall was built.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Author and First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon frequently lodged in the hotel adjoining Exchange station. In 1917, after having earlier written at his London club his A Soldier's Declaration which appeared in the press and was read to the House of Commons, Sassoon was visited at the hotel by Colonel Jones Williams who reprimanded him for his actions. It was from Exchange station that Sassoon made his famous trip to Formby the next day, ripped the ribbon of his Military Cross off his tunic and flung it into the waters at the mouth of the Mersey.Template:Sfn

In 1933, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) improved the premises. Running hot and cold water and central heating was fitted to all rooms. Additional bathrooms were built, alterations were made to the front hall and lounge, with an extension of the dining-room. On top of this, a new smoke-room and lounge were built on the first floor and the hotel was completely redecorated.<ref name="RWL">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In March 1971, it was announced that the Exchange Hotel (now rated as three-star) was to be closed. This occurred on 3 July and on 11 August the insides were stripped and auctioned. The hotel business being transferred to the Liverpool Adelphi.<ref name="RWL"/>Template:Sfn

Electrification

The Template:Abbr introduced multiple-unit third-rail electric powered trains from Exchange station to Template:Rws, Template:Rws and Template:Rws from March 1904,Template:Efn with a full service from 13 May 1904. The trains used two platforms at Exchange, prior to electrification there were seventy-four trains a day, the maximum the platforms could manage, after electrification the number of services increased to one hundred and nineteen.Template:Sfn

On 1 June 1906, the North Mersey Branch was electrified and services began to run from Exchange to Template:Rws and later that year on 19 November 1906 a direct electric service to Template:Rws via Template:Rws began.Template:Sfn The electrification of this line was subsequently extended to Template:Rws in 1913.Template:Sfn

Electric trains used platforms 6 to 10, with trains to Template:Rws usually departing from platforms 9 and 10 though platform 8 would also be used when it was busy.Template:Sfn

World War II damage

Exchange station was blocked for over three months when three fallen arches and two bridge-piers blocked the lines as a result of the particularly devastating bombing raid of 20 December 1940.Template:Sfn

Services out of the station were disrupted by enemy action and to assist the Cheshire Lines Committee ran special trains between Template:Rws and Template:Rws to relieve some of the pressure, this service ran from 24 December 1940 to 5 July 1941.Template:Sfn

During the night of 7–8 May 1941, the loop-line viaduct was damaged and impassable resulting in Wigan services terminating at Preston Road, and later at Kirkdale. Preston services terminated at Aintree and the electric services at Kirkdale with buses making the connection into the city centre. The station was completely out of use for three months and normal service did not resume until May 1942.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Operations post-World War II

Liverpool Exchange Station in 1954
Liverpool Exchange's departures end on 4 May 1968 showing station structure and roof and the morning express to Glasgow Central about to leave for Preston

On 2 May 1944, the station staff were provided with Liverpool’s first rail canteen. After the war, Exchange Station was thought to have a long future ahead of it and a series of improvements followed, heralded by the alteration of the Exchange clock to show the right time. This impressive machine, above the Tithebarn Street entrance, had previously been five minutes fast.<ref name="RWL"/>

In 1951, the decision was taken to renew the roof which had been damaged by a bomb during the war; it was completed in 1954.<ref name="RWL"/>

Closure

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The withdrawal of the Template:Rws via North Mersey Branch services took place in 1951.<ref name="RWL"/>

The early sixties saw the beginning of the decline of the station, fourteen cuts in services between Manchester Victoria, Wigan, Southport and Exchange took place in September 1958.<ref name="RWL"/>

The programme of route closures in the early 1960s, known as the Beeching Axe, included the closure of Template:Rws. The Beeching Report recommended that the mostly-electrified suburban and outer-suburban commuter rail services into Exchange and Central High Level stations from the north and south of the city be terminated. Long and medium-distance routes would be concentrated on one mainline terminal station at Lime Street station serving Liverpool, the Wirral and beyond.<ref name="RWL"/>

Liverpool City Council took a different view, proposing the retention of the suburban services and integrating them into a regional electrified rapid-transit network by linking all lines via new tunnels under the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead. This approach was supported by the Merseyside Area Land Use and Transportation Study (the MALTS report). Merseyrail was born when Liverpool City Council's proposal was adopted.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 3 August 1968, the last British Rail scheduled passenger train to be hauled by a standard gauge steam locomotive ended its journey at Liverpool Exchange, Stanier 'Black 5' no. 45318 having hauled from Preston the Liverpool portion of the evening Glasgow to Liverpool and Manchester train.Template:Sfn

Platforms 1 to 3 were closed in 1970 and the area used for car parking.Template:Sfn

In 1973, platforms 8 to 10 at Exchange were closed and their site used for construction and access to the underground station being built by Merseyrail at Template:Rws. Platforms 4 and 5 were provided with conductor rails to accommodate the trains that would have used the now closed platforms. There was only one remaining diesel service that went to Template:Rws and Bolton.Template:Sfn

To mark the final closure of Liverpool Exchange station on 29 April 1977, the London Midland Region of BR ran a special of Mk II coaches at 23.32 thence to Wigan and Liverpool Lime Street, where it was due at 01.11 on the next morning.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

This ambitious scheme involved diverting the Ormskirk and Southport electric services under Exchange station and into a new tunnel running north to south under Liverpool's city centre, named the Link Tunnel, linking separate lines in the north and south of the city creating a north–south crossrail. Exchange station would be replaced by a station in the new tunnel named Template:Rws.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Trains formerly serving Exchange station call at the new nearby Moorfields underground station then continue in the tunnel to terminate at Template:Rws, or onwards to Template:Rws in the extreme south of the city. At both Moorfields and Central stations easy interchange was possible for the first time with Wirral Line services, which until then had operated as a completely separate network.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Liverpool Exchange closed on Saturday 30 April 1977.Template:Sfn The replacement Template:Rws station opened the following Monday, 2 May 1977.Template:Sfn

After closure, in 1978, the old station was demolished by Oldham Bros, a local demolition company.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Subscription required</ref>

However, the frontage of the station building was preserved and incorporated into a new office building built behind, named 'Mercury Court' opening in 1986.Template:Sfn

In 2013, after a £5 million redevelopment it was renamed Exchange Station.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Reopening for high-speed rail

As of 2023, the planned route of HS2 has been scaled back. There had been calls by local architects to open Exchange station extending over Leeds Street to the north and onto the approach viaduct.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The proposal had been to branch off the 1830 Liverpool-Manchester line at Broad Green and onto the North Liverpool Extension trackbed. The line runs to the north then curves to the south at Walton and Kirkdale. The old Exchange station site is in the heart of Liverpool's business quarter and not far from the cruise liner terminal and the Liverpool Waters development.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Station masters

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  • John Ingham 1879 - 1897<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Thomas Wood ca. 1897 - 1902<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (formerly assistant station master at Manchester Victoria)
  • Frederick Shaw 1902 - 1921<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • James Abram 1921<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> - 1930 (formerly station master at Blackburn)
  • James Hale 1930<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> - 1932 (formerly station master at Blackburn)
  • William Miller 1932 - 1938
  • Sidney RIchard Sayer 1938 - 1943<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (formerly station master at Blackburn)
  • Francis Joseph Boothroyd 1943 - 1956
  • Robert W. Ward 1956 - 1961
  • Matthew Edward Redhead 1961<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> - 1964 (formerly station master at Rugby)
  • Walter Bishop 1964 - 1966<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (afterwards station master at Bootle)

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Notes

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References

Citations

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Bibliography

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Further reading

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