Notes: The Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR) opened on 6 March 1893 was an elevated railway track level being 16ft above the street. The line was carried on an iron deck supported on iron pillars. By the late 19th century the Liverpool dock system had become so congested that a passenger railway was required and the LOR was built to meet that need. From the start it was an electric railway using three coach electric multiple units that collected their current from a live rail laid in the centre of the running rails.

The line was an immediate success when it opened and it was not long before the first extensions were planned. The first was a northern extension to Seaforth Sands which opened on 30 April 1894.

Langton Dock station was not one of the original stations on the line opening by May 1906. It was on the west side of Regent Road on the east side of the dock system. In common with the other stations on the line it was elevated above the street and had the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board (MD&HB) railway running underneath. Passengers accessed the station by stairways. There were two platforms and shelters were provided on both. Ticket facilities were located on the platforms.

On 21 December 1896 the LOR opened a southern extension opened to the residential area of Dingle.From this date Langton Dock had a frequent service running between Seaforth Sands and Dingle.

On 2 July 1905 an extension was opened from Seaforth Sands to Seaforth & Litherland on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's (LYR) Liverpool and Southport line. From that date many northbound services ran through to the LYR station but Langton Dock was not served by them for long closing completely on 5 March 1906. Trains continued to pass through the station site until 30 December 1956 when the line was closed due to corrosion of the iron structure that carried it.

The LOR was demolished towards the end of 1957.

Click here for a brief history of the Liverpool Overhead Railway

Click here to see a selection of photos of the LOR by D J Norton

Route map drawn by Alan Young.

Sources:

• Lost Lines - Liverpool and the Mersey , by N Welbourne, Ian Allan, 2008.
• Seventeen Stations to Dingle , John W Gahan, Countryvise Ltd, 1982.
• The Dockers Umbrella , by P Bolger, The Bluecoat Press, 1994.
• The research notes of Tony Graham taken from the National Archives.

To see the other stations on the Liverpool Overhead Railway click on the station name: Dingle, Herculaneum Dock, Toxteth Dock, Brunswick Dock, Wapping Dock, Canning, James Street, Pier Head, Princes Dock, Clarence Dock, Nelson Dock, Sandon Dock, Huskisson Dock, Canada Dock, Brockleband Dock, Alexandra Dock, Gladstone Dock & Seaforth Sands