Birkenhead Woodside
Location
Location	Birkenhead
Area	Wirral
Operations
Original company	Chester and Birkenhead Railway
Pre-grouping	GWR & LNWR Joint
Platforms	Five
History
Key dates	Opened 31 March 1878
	Closed 5 November 1967
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D-F G H-J K-L M-O P-R S T-V W-Z
UK Railways Portal

Birkenhead Woodside was a railway station at Woodside, in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Wirral or the Wirral (ˈwɪrəl is a Peninsula in the north west of England. The Chester and Birkenhead Railway ran from Birkenhead to Chester. The Great Western Railway ( GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of Civil engineering, linking London with the West The London and North Western Railway (LNWR L&NWR was a Railway company of the United Kingdom which existed between 1846 and 1922 Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following The list of closed railway stations in Britain includes the following |}A train station, railway station, railroad station, or station yard is a facility at which Passengers may board and alight from Trains Woodside is a small riverside locality in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, situated almost Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Wirral or the Wirral (ˈwɪrəl is a Peninsula in the north west of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

Contents 1 History 1.1 Background 1.2 Station Building 1.3 Services 1.4 Demise 2 See also 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links

History

Background

Birkenhead Woodside railway station was opened on 31 March 1878 to replace the increasingly inadequate passenger facilities provided at Birkenhead Monks Ferry station. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 1878 ( MDCCCLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Birkenhead Monks Ferry railway station was a Railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. ^{[1] [2]} It was built further inland than originally conceived, in order to avoid demolition of the Mersey ferries workshop, situated on the bank of the river. The Mersey Ferry is a Ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool and the Wirral Peninsula ^[1]

In order to join up with the existing track of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway, a half mile-long tunnel from Woodside to alongside the existing Monks Ferry tunnel entrance, near Grange Lane, had been constructed using the cut-and-cover method. The Chester and Birkenhead Railway ran from Birkenhead to Chester. A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States A tunnel is an underground passageway The definition of what constitutes a tunnel is not universally agreed upon ^[1]

Station Building

The station was a grandiose building, with two semi cylindrical roofs covering much of the platforms. However, given the size of the station, it only had five short (but wide) platforms, as much of the space was taken up by middle tracks and a roadway. ^[1]

The station building was known to local rail users as "the wrong way round", because for the majority of the station's life, its original rear entrance was used as the main booking hall, whereas Woodside's 'front' entrance was mainly used for handling parcels. This entrance, covered in a porte-cochere to allow travelling gentry to avoid inclement weather, faced the graving dock on the south side of the station. A porte-cochere ( French porte-cochère, literally "coach door" also called a carriage porch) is the architectural A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform It had been intended that passengers disembarking from the nearby ferry terminal of the same name would use this entrance. Unfortunately, the ferry companies were slow at co-operating and when the tram terminus opened in front of the ferry terminal in the early 1900s, the decision was made to keep the small 'back' entrance a permanent fixture. This was very unfortunate, as passengers arriving at the station never got to see the huge sandstone fireplaces, decorative brick work and massive timber roof trusses holding up the roof of the intended booking hall, which has been described by Marcus Binney of SAVE Britain's Heritage as "a station of truly baronial proportions and being worthy of any London terminus". Marcus Binney CBE is a British architectural Historian and author SAVE Britain's Heritage is a Pressure group in the United Kingdom that campaigns for the conservation of buildings

Services

Birkenhead Woodside was the terminus for services to West Kirby, Chester, Warrington and North Wales. West Kirby is a town located on the north west corner of the coast of the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee Chester is the County town of Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77040 Warrington is a large town borough and Unitary authority area in Cheshire, England. North Wales (Gogledd Cymru is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England. ^[2] Routes further afield included Great Western Railway (GWR) services to Birmingham Snow Hill railway station, Wolverhampton Low Level and London Paddington. The Great Western Railway ( GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of Civil engineering, linking London with the West Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station and tram stop in the centre of Birmingham, England on the site of a much larger station which was built by London Paddington station, also known as London Paddington, or just simply Paddington, is a major National Rail and London Underground station

Demise

The station was very busy right up to nationalisation. Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government However, as with many other stations and rail routes in the UK, the then Chairman of the British Railways Board, Dr Richard Beeching, found the need for the terminus superfluous, as most of the routes served could also be taken from Liverpool Lime Street station, on the other side of the River Mersey. The British Railways Board (BRB was a Nationalised industry in the United Kingdom. Richard Beeching Baron Beeching ( 21 April 1913 - 23 March 1985) commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Liverpool Lime Street railway station on Lime Street is a mainline and underground Railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England See also Mersey River (Tasmania and Mersey River (Nova Scotia. ^[2]

By early 1967, there were still six through trains on weekdays between Birkenhead Woodside and London Paddington. In March of that year, the route was effectively curtailed at Wolverhampton, as a result of the introduction of electric trains on the West Coast Main Line. The West Coast Main Line (WCML is a busy mixed-traffic railway route in the United Kingdom. ^[1] At the same time, the last steam service from the station took place, in the withdrawal of through services to Birmingham. A steam locomotive is a Locomotive powered by Steam. The term usually refers to its use on Railways but can also refer to a "road locomotive" ^[1]

Only the hourly DMU service to Chester and trains to Helsby remained to use the station. A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel Helsby is a Village and Civil parish in Vale Royal, Cheshire, England. With the curtailment of these at Rock Ferry,^[1] the station closed to passengers on 5 November 1967 and was demolished within a couple of years. Rock Ferry railway station is situated in the Rock Ferry area of Birkenhead, Wirral, England. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar.

Today, the only evidence of its existence is part of the station wall, a road bridge and the tunnel, which lay at the station throat. The gates of the station were reused at a house in Gayton. Gayton is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, located between Heswall and Parkgate. ^[2] The rest of the land is now used as a bus depot.

See also

• Birkenhead Central railway station
• Birkenhead Grange Lane railway station
• Birkenhead Monks Ferry railway station
• Birkenhead North railway station
• Birkenhead Park railway station
• Birkenhead Town railway station
• Hamilton Square railway station
• Chester and Birkenhead Railway
• Wirral Railway

References

Further reading

• Merseyside Railway History Group (1994). "Railway Stations of Wirral". ISBN 1-899241-02-7.  
• T. B. Maund (2000). "The Birkenhead Railway". ISBN 090 1115 878.  

External links

• Birkenhead Woodside on Disused Stations
• Wirral Transport Museum website

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Terminus		GWR & LNWR "Chester & Birkenhead Railway"		Birkenhead Town

The Great Western Railway ( GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of Civil engineering, linking London with the West The London and North Western Railway (LNWR L&NWR was a Railway company of the United Kingdom which existed between 1846 and 1922 The Chester and Birkenhead Railway ran from Birkenhead to Chester. Birkenhead Town railway station was a Railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England.

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