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Garston Dock
(1852 - 1947)


Garston Dock station was the western terminus of the St Helens Canal & Railway Company (SHC&RC) Garston and Warrington railway which opened on July 1 1852 and a passenger station was provided at Garston Dock

The line was double-track and Garston Dock was provided with two platforms. The station building was on the Warrington direction platform, a modest, square brick-built structure with a hipped roof. Passengers walked through the station building to reach the up platform which, in 1852, would have been used for departures

The down platform had a single-storey pent-roofed brick building and a canopy; in 1852 it would have been the arrival platform. A brick arched gateway at the north-west end of the station gave access to Dock Road. To move between the platforms passengers used the Dock Road level crossing

The goods facilities developed into an extensive facility that had a goods shed, a coal depot and numerous sidings

Passenger trains departed alternately for St Helens or Warrington; the same was true for arrivals. On February 1 1858 through services were run between Garston and London Kings Cross by the Great Northern Railway (GNR). Two trains per day in each direction were provided and onward travel to Liverpool was by river using a paddle steamer or by horse-drawn omnibus

By December 1895 Garston Dock had thirteen departures and arrivals on weekdays

Garston Dock was closed as a wartime economy measure on April 5 1917 and it did not reopen until May 5 1919. By July 1922 the service had decreased to eight trains in each direction on weekdays with only six departures on Saturdays

Finally, LMS withdrew the service completely on June 1 1947, and Garston Dock closed as a passenger station










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