If you take the train down from Southport into Liverpool or get off at Bootle to pop into the Strand, you are travelling along a route with a lot of local history.
On this day, 24th July 1848, the first passenger trains started running on the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway, altering daily life across the area.
Before the line opened, getting anywhere along the Sefton coast was slow work. Moving between towns meant taking horse-drawn carriages over rough turnpike roads or setting off on a slow journey along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
While inland Lancashire had used the Liverpool and Manchester line since 1830, the coast waited another 18 years. It was only when local traders and landowners came together in the late 1840s that work began on a proper coastal route.
When public services started on 24th July 1848, the single-track line ran from Waterloo up through Crosby, Formby, and Ainsdale, stopping at a temporary station on Eastbank Street in Southport. Within a few years, the tracks reached further south into Liverpool and north to Chapel Street.
The impact was immediate. Farmers across the Lancashire plains could send their produce to city markets in hours rather than days, and local shops saw far more trade.
The railway also opened up the coast to everyday visitors. Families from across Merseyside could take the train to the beach at Formby, Crosby, and Southport, helping turn quiet seaside villages into the towns we live in today.
