Sandhills railway station

Sandhills railway station is a railway station in Kirkdale, Liverpool, England, located to the north of the city centre on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. It was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and now stands at the junction between the branch to Southport and the branch to Ormskirk and Kirkby.

The two platforms form a single island, overlooking the River Mersey on one side, and the former industrial area of Commercial Road on the other. It is also used by football fans heading for Liverpool F.C. and Everton F.C. matches: a bus service called Soccerbus runs between the station and the football stadiums on match-days only.

Previously passengers had to walk up a ramp to reach the ticket office, then through a subway and up ramps to reach the platform. Now the ramp remains, with alternate staircase. Leading to a lift directly into the Booking Office, accessing both sides of the island platforms.

History
The line through the site of the station was opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) on 20 November 1848, other stations on the line opened at this time but there was no mention of this one, the first mention of this station was in the July 1854 edition of Bradshaw's General Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, for Great Britain and Ireland when the station was called Liverpool North Docks, sometime shortly afterwards its name was shortened to just North Docks. The station was renamed Sandhills in 1857.

The station was situated on the north side of Sandhills Lane, there were two platforms, one to the east of the twin running lines and an island platform to the west between the main running lines and two lines forming a loop on that side of the station, but not serving the station. The station building was located east of these lines.

The platforms were moved from north to south of Sandhills Lane by 9 July 1881. By 1890 there were four platform faces, one either side of the four-track running lines and an island platform serving the inner two lines. The outer platforms had waiting rooms with a small canopy in front of them over the platform. The booking office was located to the south of the eastern platform.

By 1966 the island platform had also acquired a waiting room with a small canopy. Prior to the 1974 refurbishment the outer platforms were wooden on concrete supports, the island platform had concrete slabs for the platform surface on concrete supports. The island platform was the only one to remain open after the 1974 refurbishment.

The station was sometimes known as Sandhills for North Docks.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was Grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948 and in 1978 the station became part of the Merseyrail Network's Northern Line (operated by British Rail until privatised in 1995).

An extensive refurbishment plan for the station was suggested in 2006 which involved the building of a completely new booking hall and greatly improved facilities on the platform. A large canopy was constructed - originally intended to cover the entire length of the platform, but now eventually covering approximately half. In addition, a dedicated bus-rail interchange point was built, improving transport beyond the station to localities such as Kirkdale, Anfield and Everton. On 24 April 2007, improvement works to the station at a cost of £6 million were agreed. In November 2007, it was announced that the station would be closed from 17 November 2007 until March 2008 for refurbishment. The refurbishment work was extended until July 2008, when the station reopened in a partly completed state. The full completion of the work at the station was finished in early 2009.

Between March and December 2024, the station is due to have its capacity increased as part of the development of Liverpool Waters.

Facilities
The station is staffed 15 minutes before the first service and 15 minutes after the last service. There are toilets, platform CCTV and a booking office. There are departure and arrival screens on the platform for passenger information. Each of the two platforms has sheltered seating. The station does not have a car park, though there is a cycle rack with 10 spaces. The station is fully wheelchair accessible and access to the station is via lifts and ramps.

Services
Off-peak service frequency is as follows:


 * 4 trains per hour (tph) to Southport
 * 4 tph to Ormskirk
 * 4 tph to Headbolt Lane
 * 12 tph to Liverpool Central
 * of which 4 tph continue to Hunts Cross

During late evenings and on Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2 tph on the Ormskirk and Headbolt Lane lines. On Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2 tph beyond Liverpool Central to Hunts Cross and to Southport, giving a total 6 tph from all lines between Sandhills and Liverpool Central.

Land history
In the early nineteenth century, the estate of Sandhills was purchased by Liverpool solicitor and land speculator, John Leigh (1752-1823). As well as building a 'handsome house, where he had beautiful gardens, complete with hothouses and conservatories'. He also turned much of the pasture land to clay pits and brickworks needed to fuel the rapid growth of Liverpool - he reputedly lowered the ground level by seven or eight feet (well over two metres). His son, John Shaw Leigh (1791-1871) reaped the most benefit, selling plots piecemeal at huge profits to supply the land needed for the expanding docks and railways.