Hoylake Railway

The Wirral Railway was a railway network in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England. It was incorporated in 1863 as the Hoylake Railway, running from Hoylake to Birkenhead Docks. After changes of name and of ownership, it was purchased by the Wirral Railway Company Limited in 1884. The network was extended to West Kirby, New Brighton, and Seacombe, and to Birkenhead Park station where it joined the Mersey Railway, enabling through trains through the Mersey Railway Tunnel to Liverpool. In the 1923 grouping the Wirral company became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which electrified the line (except the Seacombe branch) in 1938, allowing passenger services to be integrated with the Liverpool urban system. Most of the Wirral Railway network is still in use today as part of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail commuter rail network.

The Chester and Birkenhead Railway opened on 23 September 1840. This was the first penetration of the Wirral by a railway, and for some years no further attempt was made to build in the peninsula.

Observing the success of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in encouraging residential building, and travel, a group of business people led by Braithwaite Pool, a career railwayman, proposed a railway, to be called the Hoylake Railway. It was to connect Hoylake with Birkenhead. The route was soon modified to connect Seacombe (instead of Birkenhead) to Hoylake, with a branch from Bidston to Wallasey Bridge Road to serve Birkenhead docks. Parliamentary powers were obtained on 28 July 1863. Authorised capital was £100,000 with £33,000 in permitted borrowing.

The Hoylake company desposited further Bills in quick succession, showing a desire to reach far beyond the initial area and break the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and North Western Railway (LNWR) duopoly in the Wirral; these proposals included a long viaduct over the River Dee to Mostyn. All the Bills were heavily cut back or rejected.

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