Hooton is a stop on the Merseyrail Wirral Line between
Eastham Rake and either
Little Sutton or
Capenhurst. The Wirral line splits into branches for
Chester and
Ellesmere Port at Hooton.
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| Merseyrail 507 002 at Hooton |
| Information |
| Type: |
National Rail
(Merseyrail Wirral Line) |
| Station code: |
HOO |
| Opened: |
1840 |
| Platforms: |
4 |
The station was opened by the Chester & Birkenhead Railway in 1840, later becoming part of the Birkenhead Railway, a joint endeavour between Great Western and London North Western Railways. A line to
West Kirby was later opened (this branch was later closed though Merseyrail trains can still reach West Kirby by another route), at it's height Hooton had seven platforms. The station was once on the main line between
London Paddington and
Birkenhead Woodside though by the 1970s the line was in decline with only services between
Rock Ferry and Chester or
Helsby.
The line through Hooton was electrified in 1985 [1] as part of Merseyrail and through services from Hooton to Liverpool began. Further electrification in the early 1990s saw Merseyrail extend to Chester and Ellesmere Port. The station retains four platforms though only the two through platforms are in regular use, the other two are bay platforms which are usually used for stock stabling though can be used for terminating trains. Access between the platforms is via a footbridge.
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| A through line train arrives, a stabled Merseyrail train stands on the bay platform (right) |
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| View down the platform |
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| Steps up to the footbridge |
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| 508 103 on the bay, the main station building is behind |
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Chester to Birkenhead (Middleton Press, 2012) Fig. 36
