Hadlow Road to Hooton
On November 13, 2020 I walked the final section of the Wirral Country Park which runs along the track bed of the former Great Western and London North Western (later London Midland and Scottish) Railway Birkenhead Joint Railway.
This concluded my walk along the former railway line which I have undertaken in four separate stages during 2020.
This section of the railway was the first to open on October 01, 1866. The section north to West Kirby from Parkgate opening nearly 20 years later April 19, 1886.
Between Hadlow Road and Hooton Station which now serves the Merseyrail electric lines (Formerly the GWR mainline from Birkenhead Woodside to London Paddington) the track bed has not suffered from any modern building incursions. There is only one overbridge of note at Heath Lane approximately halfway between Hadlow Road and Hooton.
What I did find interesting was that the scrap recovery along the line in the 1960s managed to overlook a lattice signal post which had obviously been lifted out of its ground mounting and lies beside the track bed near where a junction existed the internal tracks of the Royal Ordnance Factory Ten referred to as ROFTEN or ROF Hooton.
ROF Hooton was where the HAA ( Heavy anti aircraft gun) was manufactured during the Second World War. After closure the ROFTEN site was used as an industrial estate but has in recent years been cleared and is being developed for housing. The perimeter was guarded by ROF type pill-boxes and two can be seen from the former track bed.
At Hooten Station the Wirral Country Park concludes at the north end of what was platform 6. The former waiting room is quite overgrown but remains in fairly good condition though one of the windows is broken despite being covered in mesh.
Read MoreThis concluded my walk along the former railway line which I have undertaken in four separate stages during 2020.
This section of the railway was the first to open on October 01, 1866. The section north to West Kirby from Parkgate opening nearly 20 years later April 19, 1886.
Between Hadlow Road and Hooton Station which now serves the Merseyrail electric lines (Formerly the GWR mainline from Birkenhead Woodside to London Paddington) the track bed has not suffered from any modern building incursions. There is only one overbridge of note at Heath Lane approximately halfway between Hadlow Road and Hooton.
What I did find interesting was that the scrap recovery along the line in the 1960s managed to overlook a lattice signal post which had obviously been lifted out of its ground mounting and lies beside the track bed near where a junction existed the internal tracks of the Royal Ordnance Factory Ten referred to as ROFTEN or ROF Hooton.
ROF Hooton was where the HAA ( Heavy anti aircraft gun) was manufactured during the Second World War. After closure the ROFTEN site was used as an industrial estate but has in recent years been cleared and is being developed for housing. The perimeter was guarded by ROF type pill-boxes and two can be seen from the former track bed.
At Hooten Station the Wirral Country Park concludes at the north end of what was platform 6. The former waiting room is quite overgrown but remains in fairly good condition though one of the windows is broken despite being covered in mesh.
