The History of Liverpool Lime Street Station
Nowadays, train travel is ubiquitous. Wherever it is that you want to travel to, there is a very good chance that you will be able to either get there by train or else get close enough.
It is a method of transport that is extremely expensive in some countries and yet perfectly reasonable in others. What a lot of people might not realise, though, is that the city of Liverpool has close ties to the very origins of train travel.
That can be seen at Liverpool Lime Street Railway Station more than anywhere else thanks to both its age and its prestige.
The Oldest Still-Operating Terminus in the World
Liverpool Lime Street Railway Station can trace its origin back to 1830, insomuch as that was when the original terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was in operation.
That was located at Crown Street in Edge Hill, but it was outside the city centre and the need for another station to serve the city was clear. As a result, in the October of 1833, work began on the construction of a purpose-built railway station in the city centre, located on Lime Street. Liverpool Corporation sold the land for the new station for Β£9,000.
Happy 186th birthday, Lime Street Station!
On the 15th August 1836, Lime Street Station officialy opened.
It is considered the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. pic.twitter.com/6M22IkmYv4
β βπππππ πππ§ππ£π‘π π π (@hiddenliverpool) August 15, 2022
A twin-track tunnel linking Edge Hill and the new station had begun a year before work on the station itself, ensuring that it could connect to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The new station was designed by Arthur Holme, John Cunningham and John Foster Jr.
It was officially opened in the August of 1836, even though it took another year for the construction process to be completed. That means that it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station anywhere in the world, offering trains to the likes of London, Birmingham and beyond.
An Early Expansion
The steep incline downhill from Edge Hill to Liverpool Lime Street meant that initially the trains would be halted at Edge Hill before the locomotives would be removed. At that point, the passenger carriages would be allowed to complete the journey according to gravity, with the arrival controlled by a brakeman.
The return journey, meanwhile, would see ropes used to tow the carriages to Edge Hill. This practice was abandoned in 1870, with trains entering and departing from the station in an entirely normal and conventional manner, which has essentially remained the case ever since.
Lime Street was an instant hit, meaning that it soon needed expanding. As railway systems were opened elsewhere around the country, the station had to be made bigger and the same sort of iron roof found at Euston was rejected in favour of a single curved roof. By 1867, even more of an expansion was necessary thanks to the operational demands placed on the station.
The original train shed was replaced, then a second one was added in 1874. The concourse was remodelled in 1955 and then again in 1984, giving it the combination of old and new looks we know today.
