Formby railway station

Formby railway station opened as Formby and Altcar on 24 July 1848 when the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway (LC&SR) opened its line from {{rws|Waterloo|Merseyside}} to {{rws|Southport Eastbank Street}}.{{sfn|Quick|2023|p=197}}

The station was situated on the north side of Kirklake Road which was crossed using a level crossing, shortly before the station the line became double with the formation of a long loop through the station so that trains could pass each other, the line reverted to single-track on leaving the station.{{cite map |title=Lancashire Sheet XC |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344036 |year=1848 |scale=Six-inch |publisher=Ordnance Survey }}

The station had two platforms, one each side of the double-track, it was described as "cramped and inconvenient, there being a station house, and a waiting room with an ungainly wooden awning on the up platform, and only a small timber waiting shed on the opposite side. An open-air footbridge connected the platforms whilst the main road passed over the railway via a level crossing".{{efn|Up trains usually headed towards the major conurbation, usually London, some railway companies ran 'up' to their headquarters location. In this case 'up' was towards Liverpool.{{sfn|Simmons|1997|p=548}}}}{{sfn|Gahan|1985|pp=29 & 88}}

In 1850 the LC&SR had been authorised to lease, sell or transfer itself to the L&YR and on 14 June 1855 the L&YR purchased and took over the LC&SR.{{sfn|Marshall|1969|p=154}}{{sfn|Awdry|1990|p=88}}

The station was renamed to Formby in 1866.{{sfn|Quick|2023|p=197}} By 1893 a goods yard opened to the south of Kirklake Road, on the coastal side of the line, it was two sidings forming a run-around loop with a headshunt, it was equipped with a three and a half ton crane.{{sfn|The Railway Clearing House|1970|p=205}}{{cite map |title=Lancashire XC.8 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/126520913 |year=1893 |scale=25 inch |publisher=Ordnance Survey }}

The level crossing was replaced with the road bridge in 1912. The station was rebuilt in 1913 getting waiting rooms on each platform, the booking office being on the road bridge.{{sfn|Gahan|1985|p=88}}{{sfn|Gell|1986}}{{sfn|Yorke|1987|p=27}}

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.{{sfn|Ferneyhough|1975|pp=164 & 176–177}}

The goods yard closed on 3 October 1960.{{sfn|Clinker|1978|p=49}}

Formby is mentioned in the song Slow Train by Flanders and Swann. This is because the Beeching Report listed Formby as a station to be closed, along with the entire Liverpool to Southport route, which never happened.{{sfn|Williams|2011|p=179}}

In 1978 the station became part of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line (operated by British Rail until privatised in 1995).{{sfn|Pettitt|Comfort|2015|pp=59 & 171}}

The station is staffed, 15 minutes before the first train and 15 minutes after the last train, and has platform CCTV. There is a payphone, ticket machines, booking office and live departure and arrival screens for passenger information. The station has a free car park, with 126 spaces, as well as an 8-space cycle rack and secure indoor storage for 40 cycles. The platforms are fully accessible for wheelchair users with lifts available.{{cite web|title=Formby train station {{!}} timetable {{!}} ticket prices & facilities|url=http://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/stations/formby.aspx|website=www.merseyrail.org|access-date=9 February 2017|language=en}}

Trains operate every 15 minutes throughout the day from Monday to Saturday to Southport to the north, and to Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central to the south. Sunday services are every 30 minutes in each direction.{{NRtimes|May 2023|82}}

{{rail start}}

{{rail line|next={{rws|Hightown}}
towards {{rws|Hunts Cross}}|previous={{rws|Freshfield}}
towards {{rws|Southport}}|route=Merseyrail
Southport branch
Northern Line |col={{Merseyrail colour|Northern}} }}

{{Historical Rail Insert}}

{{rail line|next={{rws|Hightown}}
towards {{rws|Liverpool Exchange}}|previous={{rws|Freshfield}}
towards {{rws|Southport}}|route=Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway |col={{LYR colour}} }}

{{s-end}}

Image:Formby railway station (4).JPG|The ticket office at Formby.

Image:Formby railway station (1).JPG|The station frontage, on the main road.

Image:Arriving at Formby Railway Station (geograph 2993737).jpg|A Merseyrail Class 507 waits at the station.

Image:Platform building, Formby Railway Station (geograph 2993720).jpg|A building on the Southport-bound platform.

File:Formby railway station from the south (geograph 5115833).jpg|The station from the south

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Awdry-RailCo}}
• {{Clinker-Stations|year=1978}}
• {{cite book |last=Ferneyhough |first=Frank |title=The History of Railways in Britain |publisher=Osprey |publication-place=Reading |date=1975 |isbn=0-85045-060-8 |oclc=2120140 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofrailway0000fern |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Gahan |first=John W. |title=Seaport to Seaside: Lines to Southport and Ormskirk - 13 decades of trains and travel |date=1985 |publisher=Countryvise |isbn=((978-0-907768-07-5))}}
• {{cite book |last=Gell |first=Rob |year=1986 |title=An Illustrated Survey of Railway Stations Between Southport & Liverpool 1848-1986 |publisher=Heyday Publishing Company |isbn=0-947562-04-4 |postscript=. (No page numbers.)}}
• {{Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Pettitt |first1=Gordon |last2=Comfort |first2=Nicholas |title=The Regional Railways Story |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-86093-663-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/regionalrailways0000gord |url-access=registration}}
• {{Quick-stations-5.05}}
• {{cite book |chapter='up' and 'down' |last=Simmons |first=Jack |page=548 |editor1-last=Simmons |editor1-first=Jack |editor2-last=Biddle |editor2-first=Gordon |date=1997 |edition=1st |title=The Oxford Companion to British Railway History From 1603 to the 1990s |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-211697-5}}
• {{cite book |last=The Railway Clearing House |origyear=1904 |year=1970 |edition=1970 D&C Reprint |title=The Railway Clearing House Handbook of Railway Stations 1904 |location=Newton Abbot |publisher=David & Charles Reprints |isbn=0-7153-5120-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/railwayclearingh0000rail |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Michael |title=On the Slow Train |publisher=Random House |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-84809-208-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/onslowtrain0000will_h4l7 |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |last=Yorke |first=Barbara |title=Formby and Freshfield in times past |year=1987 |publisher=Countryside |url=https://archive.org/details/formbyfreshfield0000barb |url-access=registration}}

{{Commons category|Formby railway station}}

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Category:Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton

Category:DfT Category E stations

Category:Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations

Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848

Category:Railway stations served by Merseyrail

Category:Formby