Aintree Central railway station


Aintree Central railway station was a station located on the North Liverpool Extension Line on Park Lane, Aintree, Merseyside, across Park Lane from the current Aintree station.

History

The station opened on 13 July 1880 as Aintree Racecourse for racedays at Aintree Racecourse. It was renamed Aintree on the opening of the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway on 1 September 1884. In 1950 it was renamed once more becoming Aintree Central.
The line was opened by the Cheshire Lines Committee, in direct competition with the L&Y's Liverpool Exchange to Southport Chapel Street service. However, it was never as successful because the CLC's route was much longer than that of the L&Y, serving areas within South Liverpool and along to Hunts Cross, before going north again up to Aintree.
On 7 January 1952 the Liverpool Central to Southport Lord Street service ended, leaving Aintree Central as the terminus for all trains from Liverpool.
The station finally closed to passengers on 7 November 1960 and then to race traffic in March 1963. It finally closed on 7 December 1964 with the withdrawal of freight traffic.
The official day of a closure is given as the Monday following the date of the last train to run. As this is almost always a Saturday, if 7 January 1952 is given as the date of closure, this means the last day of service was Saturday, 5 January 1952. This can be shown by last day tickets bearing the 5 January date
Today, no evidence of the station's existence remains, as the site is buried under an industrial estate, located off Park Lane.