At the time of opening Gateacre was served by trains between Walton-on-the-Hill and Liverpool Central. Walton-on-the-Hill was a temporary terminus on the Huskisson branch as tunnels leading down to the docks had not been completed. They were ready by 1 July 1880 when goods services started to run to Huskisson. On 2 August 1880 the passenger service was extended from Walton-on-the-Hill to Huskisson.
For race meetings at Aintree special trains were run for the first time on 13 July 1880 to a CLC station at Aintree provided for that purpose. Gateacre would have been served by some of these trains. The CLC owned its own rolling stock but possessed no locomotives: all local CLC services were hauled by MS&LR locomotives.
The December 1895 timetable showed Gateacre as having nineteen trains in each direction on Monday-to-Friday as seen by the table below. There were two extra up and an extra down train on Saturdays. On Sundays there were eight up and six down trains.
Up Trains December 1895 |
Destination |
Down trains December 1895 |
Destination |
7.20am |
Liverpool Central |
7.40am |
Southport Lord Street |
7.49am |
Liverpool Central |
9.30am |
Southport Lord Street |
8.18am |
Liverpool Central |
10.36am |
Southport Lord Street |
8.42am |
Manchester Central |
11.37am |
Southport Lord Street |
8.57am |
Warrington Central |
12.32pm |
West Derby |
8.57am |
Liverpool Central |
1.35pm |
Southport Lord Street |
9.17am |
Liverpool Central |
1.43pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
9.45am |
Liverpool Central |
2.06pm |
Southport Lord Street |
11.23am |
Liverpool Central |
2.40pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
12.03pm |
Manchester Central |
3.36pm |
Southport Lord Street |
12.10pm |
Liverpool Central |
3.39pm |
Walton-on-the-Hill |
1.20pm |
Liverpool Central |
4.28pm |
Southport Lord Street |
1.47pm |
Manchester Central |
4.41pm |
Southport Lord Street |
2.48pm |
Warrington Central |
5.20pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Walton-on-the-Hill |
3.16pm |
Liverpool Central |
5.25pm |
Southport Lord Street |
3.23pm |
Manchester Central |
5.37pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
4.47pm |
Liverpool Central |
5.54pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Southport Lord Street |
5.05pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
6.23pm |
Walton-on-the-Hill |
6.21pm (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
6.31pm |
Southport Lord Street |
6.32pm (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
6.34pm (Saturdays Only) |
Aintree |
6.59pm |
Liverpool Central |
6.39pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Aintree |
7.43pm |
Manchester Central |
7.31pm |
Southport Lord Street |
8.00pm (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
8.13pm |
Walton-on-the-Hill |
8.08pm |
Liverpool Central |
8.37pm |
Southport Lord Street |
8.56pm |
Liverpool Central |
9.33pm |
Southport Lord Street |
9.40pm (Saturdays Only) |
Manchester Central |
10.46pm |
Walton-on-the-Hill (To Southport on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays) |
10.29pm |
Liverpool Central |
11.13pm |
Walton-on-the-Hill (To Southport on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays) |
Gateacre was still well served the July 1922 timetable showing twenty up and twelve down trains Monday-to-Friday. There were also a number of terminating trains from Liverpool. Trains ran in the main to Southport Lord Street, Manchester Central and Liverpool Central.
The summer timetable for 1932 showed Gateacre as having ten up and nine down trains. All of the down trains ran to Southport Lord Street. Most of the up services ran to Manchester Central.
On 1 January 1948 the CLC became part of British Railways London Midland Region. The summer timetable for 1948 showed Gateacre as having ten up trains and eight down on Monday-to-Friday as seen in the table below. There were eleven up and eight down on Saturdays and four in each direction on Sundays.
Up Trains Summer 1948 |
Destination |
Down Trains Summer 1948 |
Destination |
6.58am |
Manchester Central |
7.30am |
Southport Lord Street |
7.40am |
Hunts Cross |
11.05am |
Southport Lord Street |
8.08am |
Liverpool Central |
12.34pm |
Terminating train from Liverpool |
8.13am |
Manchester Central |
12.50pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
8.33am |
Warrington Central |
12.55pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Southport Lord Street |
8.39am |
Liverpool Central |
1.10pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
9.02am |
Liverpool Central |
2.06pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
11.35am |
Hunts Cross |
4.00pm |
Southport Lord Street |
1.22pm |
Warrington Central |
5.45pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Southport Lord Street |
1.35pm |
Liverpool Central |
6.02pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Southport Lord Street |
6.13pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
6.09pm (Saturdays Only) |
Southport Lord Street |
6.23pm (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
6.29pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Aintree |
8.10pm |
Garston |
6.58pm |
Southport Lord Street |
9.08pm (Saturdays Only) |
Warrington Central |
8.17pm |
Terminating train from Liverpool |
9.11pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Hunts Cross |
|
|
9.54pm (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
|
|
By the summer of 1957, after the line between Aintree and Southport Lord Street had closed, the service had been reduced to only four up and three down trains Monday-to-Friday as shown in the table below. On Saturdays there was an additional up train.
Up Trains Summer 1957 |
Destination |
Down Trains Summer 1957 |
Destination |
6.56am |
Manchester Central |
12.32pm |
Terminating train from Liverpool Central |
8.01am |
Manchester Central |
12.47pm (Saturdays Only) |
Aintree Central |
8.27am |
Warrington Central |
1.02pm (Saturdays Only) |
Aintree Central |
8.35am |
Liverpool Central |
2.03pm (Saturdays Only) |
Aintree Central |
1.39pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
5.50pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Aintree Central |
|
|
6.01pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Aintree Central |
|
|
6.25pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Aintree Central |
|
|
6.38pm (Saturdays Excepted) |
Terminating train from Liverpool Central |
With the last up departure being at 8.35am and the first Monday to Friday down departure being at 5.50pm the service was next to useless for anything other than work journeys. It came as little surprise when British Railways proposed the withdrawal of the service between Gateacre and Aintree in 1960. The last regular passenger trains to run north of Gateacre did so on Saturday 5 November 1960.
Large areas of housing had been built around Gateacre during the 1950s and with the introduction of the winter timetable for 1958/9 (In September 1958) an hourly service, in each direction, had been introduced between Liverpool Central and Gateacre. The service was operated by DMUs. Up until the withdrawal of the Aintree service one of the DMUs, the 5.35pm from Liverpool Central, went on all stations to terminate at Aintree Central and returned from there at 6.32 pm non-stop to Gateacre where it formed the 6.44 pm hourly interval service to Liverpool Central.
The April 1966 timetable showed nineteen trains to, and seventeen trains from Liverpool Central and one from Hunts Cross Mondays-to-Fridays as shown in the table below.
Departures April 1966 |
To |
Arrivals April 1966 |
From |
6.30 |
Liverpool Central |
7.00 |
Liverpool Central |
7.05 |
Liverpool Central |
8.11 |
Hunts Cross |
8.15 |
Liverpool Central |
9.00 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
9.43 |
Liverpool Central |
9.15 (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
10.43 |
Liverpool Central |
10.05 |
Liverpool Central |
11.43 |
Liverpool Central |
11.05 |
Liverpool Central |
12.09 (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
12.05 |
Liverpool Central |
12.25 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
12.25 (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
12.44 (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
13.05 |
Liverpool Central |
13.43 |
Liverpool Central |
14.05 |
Liverpool Central |
14.43 |
Liverpool Central |
15.05 |
Liverpool Central |
15.43 |
Liverpool Central |
16.05 |
Liverpool Central |
16.43 |
Liverpool Central |
17.00 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
17.03 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
17.40 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
17.43 |
Liverpool Central |
17.55 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
18.20 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
18.05 (Saturdays Only) |
Liverpool Central |
18.43 |
Liverpool Central |
18.14 (Saturdays Excepted) |
Liverpool Central |
19.43 |
Liverpool Central |
19.05 |
Liverpool Central |
20.43 |
Liverpool Central |
20.05 |
Liverpool Central |
21.43 |
Liverpool Central |
21.05 |
Liverpool Central |
22.13 |
Liverpool Central |
22.05 |
Liverpool Central |
The Liverpool Central – Gateacre service was withdrawn after the last train had run on 15 April 1972.
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