Disused Stations: Rock Lane Station

[Source: Paul Wright]

Date opened:	30.5.1846
Location:	South side of Rock Lane West
Company on opening:	Chester and Birkenhead Railway
Date closed to passengers:	1.11.1862
Date closed completely:	1.11.1862
Company on closing:	GWR/LNWR Joint
Present state:	Demolished - no evidence remains
County:	Cheshire
OS Grid Ref:	SJ330862
Date of visit:	18.7.2009

Notes: Rock Lane station opened in June 1846. The station was situated on the ‘Chester and Birkenhead Railway’ company's Birkenhead to Chester line which had opened on the 23rd September 1840.

At the time when Rock Lane station opened the Birkenhead to Chester railway was a single track line so it is likely that it was provided with only one platform. The station was in a cutting on the south side of an overbridge that carried Rock Lane West over the line. Trains serving the station would have run between Birkenhead Monks Ferry, Chester and points to the south of Chester.

On the 22nd July 1847 the line became part of the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway and shortly afterwards the new company doubled the track between Birkenhead and Chester. It is likely that at this time Rock Lane would have gained an extra platform. In 1859 the owning company changed their name to the Birkenhead Railway but by November

1860 the company was taken over by the GWR and LNWR who operated the line as joint concern. On the 31st October 1862 Rock Lane Station closed. It was replaced by a new station, situated a short distance to the north, called Rock Ferry. It is interesting to note the ticket above is dated 4th November 1863, a year after the station closed.

Between 1900 and 1905 the line through the site of Rock Lane station was quadrupled. This destroyed all traces of the station. In 1969 the line at this point reverted back to double track and in 1985 it was electrified as part of an extension of the Merseyrail line from Rock Ferry to Hooton. This electrification was further extended all the way to Chester in 1993.

Tickets from Michael Stewart

To see other closed stations on the Birkenhead Woodside to Chester line click on the station name: Birkenhead Woodside, Birkenhead Monks Ferry,
Birkenhead Town, Tranmere, Ledsham, Mollington & Upton-by-Chester

The site of Rock Lane Station looking south in in July 2009. The picture clearly demonstrates that at one time the line was quadrupled at this point. It was the 1900 to 1905 quadrupling scheme that would have obliterated all traces of Rock Lane Station.
Photo by Paul Wright

Because of its very short life, Rock Lane doesn't appear on any Ordnance Survey maps. The 6" OS map from 1870 shows a a ramp into the cutting which must have been the access onto the platform.

1830s tithe map dating from before the railway had been built does not show the site of Rock Lane station which opened six years after the line.

By 1900 the line had been quadrupled and there is no longer any sign of the access ramp on the map.

Station Name: ROCK LANE