IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Station Approach, ORMSKIRK, L39 2YN

The Merseyrail system ends at Ormskirk and a set of buffers separates it from the main line system. A Merseyside triple electric multiple unit (EMU) is met by a single car from Northern Railways. A similar system operates at Kirkby Station.

Looking north. The buffers separate the line in two, trains running south towards Liverpool or north towards Preston.

Ormskirk has an unusual layout with one long platform used by Merseyrail services to Liverpool and Northern trains to Preston - but there is no physical connection between the two. In this view a Merseyrail service is in the foreground and a train to Preston can be seen in the process of departing further along.

The line from Liverpool to Preston was electrified as far as Ormskirk back in 1913, but a separate steam (later diesel) service from Liverpool Exchange to Preston continued until 1977 when Exchange station was closed. Since then there has been a physical break in the line at Ormskirk with the Liverpool and Preston services departing from opposite ends of the platform. At this time (1988) a 2-car diesel train was used but a picture from ten years later Image shows that only a single car train was in use by then. There are slight differences visible in platform furniture, buffers etc between the two photos but the view is essentially the same. At the time of submission (2010) there was talk of extending the electrification to Burscough a few miles further north. See http://www.railwaybritain.co.uk/merseyrail%20electrics.html for a fuller history.

Ormskirk railway station opened on 2 April 1849 having been built for the East Lancashire Railway. The station building, which dates from the 1860s, is Grade II listed (http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-386417-ormskirk-railway-station-booking-office- British Listed Buildings).

The station was unusually quiet on this sunny Sunday morning. Not a single passenger in sight.