A railway station in Wirral has no trains stopping at its platforms and appears frozen in time.
Hadlow Road Station in the village of Willaston is a unique place. It's a Grade II listed heritage railway station and now a free museum and café.
It’s situated on the Wirral Way footpath and has the look and feel of when it was still operational before it closed to passengers on September 17, 1956. The station opened on October 1, 1866, and had a single track on the Hooton to West Kirby branch of the Birkenhead Railway.
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After it closed to passengers in 1956, the track continued to be used for freight transportation and driver training for another six years, before permanently closing on May 7, 1962. The tracks were lifted two years later and now no trains visit there.
People visiting Hadlow Road Station today can explore the authentic ticket office and waiting room that’s full of original furniture and items. This includes the guard’s uniform and hat, leather suitcases, and old money. There's even a toy cat fast asleep on the worn leather chair.
A red telephone box stands proudly on the station platform alongside a cart carrying milk churns, a luggage carrier and vintage signs. A small waiting shelter is situated on the opposite platform, plus a signal box further down the platform.
The station master’s house has been turned into a café, aptly called The Station Master’s House. You can enjoy food and drink inside the old building or sit out on the platform overlooking a short section of track that was re-laid by Friends of Hadlow Road Station (FHRS).
FHRS is a community organisation that helps to maintain the station. Chris Hampshire from FHRS told the ECHO last year: “In 2014, the Willaston community requested that Hadlow Road Station be preserved and developed as a community resource given it is a unique village asset. As a result, Friends of Hadlow Road Station was formed in 2015 to actively pursue these objectives.”
The group installed a model railway of Hadlow Road Station as it was in the 1950s in the signal box which can be seen through the window. FHRS also hosts a pop-up community café on the platform every two weeks, with all funds raised going into the maintenance, restoration and development of Hadlow Road Station. The museum is open most days and is free to enter.
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