I asked my glamorous assistant, the BF, to pick the first station out of the lunch box. (Obviously I also made him wear a spangly catsuit for this purpose). He managed to grab Hooton which, of course, isn't in Merseyside, so that was a great start. None the less, I got on the train and went out there. Each station I visit from now on will get two posts. The first will be like this one: a bare bones run down of the station itself, a bit of its history, what I saw, and what's changed. A second post will follow - hopefully tomorrow - with the more interesting wandering around I did. But first:
1. Hooton
Line electrified: 30th September 1985 (to Liverpool); 7th October 1993 (to Chester); 29th May 1994 (to Ellesmere Port)
Number of platforms: Four. Sort of. There were once six platforms here but Beeching and lack of use have seen them cut back. Two are gone forever, and the Wirral Way is in their space. Two are dead ends, on the station side, used for storing trains. The platform by the station building doesn't have a number. The platform on one side of the island is platform 1, and rarely gets any use. The southbound platform is platform 2, also on the island, and the northbound platform is platform 3. So it has four platforms, three with numbers, and two that actually see passenger service on a regular basis.
Original Blog Post: 11th March 2008
What's changed since then? The biggest change is a massive footbridge which includes lift access. I thought this was pretty new, and then I saw a sign on the platform commemorating its opening on the 4th March 2011, and I realised time makes a fool of us all. It also explains why the bridge is starting to rust away.
An MtoGo shop was installed in the ticket office, back when that was a thing the Dutch owners of Merseyrail were trying to impress upon disinterested Brits. It's long gone now, and tickets are dispensed from a blank space that still had its Christmas lights up when I passed. No chance of getting a Twix there these days, although there is a vending machine on the platform.
There are also toilets, which are currently out of use because of drainage issues. One thing Hooton has become notorious for in the last few years is flooding, and it seems Network Rail is trying to address this, judging by the plethora of orange suited workers and long pipes running in and out of the area. Just beyond the road bridge, one of these pipes disappeared into a hatch, presumably pumping away.
This yellow and grey painted laurel is still above the ticket office door, however.
Proof of visit: Oh dear. This is where it gets depressing.
It seems Hooton's ALF isn't the only thing to have decayed considerably over the past eighteen years. On the plus side, I now know how to take a selfie without my thumb getting in the way.
2 comments:
Keep on!
Great stuff. Looking forward to part 2
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