Скачать или смотреть Merseyrail Trains at Sandhills on March 7th 2023

1st visit to Sandhills on Merseyrail's Northern Line featuring services to and from Hunts Cross, Liverpool Central, Kirkby, Ormskirk and Southport plus a few ECS Moves via the reversing the siding from Kirkdale C.S.

Sandhills station opened originally in 1850 by the former Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway as as a intermediate stop, the line itself opened 2 years earlier in 1848 from Liverpool Exchange to Waterloo (Merseyside) not to be confused for the same name of Waterloo Station (London)

On one side it overlooks the River Mersey whilst the other side is a former industrial area.

The LCSR became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire (LYR) in 1855 before being merged with the London North Western Railway in 1922 then grouped with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923 before being nationalised in 1948.

At one time there was 4 platforms at Sandhills however was scaled down to 2 between December 1973 and September 1974.

The Liverpool Exchange station although rebuilt in 1888 was closed in 1977 which was replaced by Moorfields Station same year Merseyrail network was formed.

It was privatised in 1995 when British Rail was disbanded which became Merseyrail Electrics until 2001 when Arriva Trains Merseyside however since 2003 Merseyrail is operated by Serco-Abellio

Since 2014 the operator comes under the authority of Merseytravel which manages although Merseyrail Northern and Wirral Lines, City Line, Mersey Ferries, Mersey Tunnels and even the iconic The Beatles Story Museum located on Albert Dock situated nearby next to the River Mersey.

As for 3rd line The City Line which runs out of Liverpool Lime Street however nowadays it's operated by Northern Services to Wigan North Western via St Helens Central and Warrington Central via Widnes and Crewe via Runcorn with the latter being a semi stopping service by hourly services to and from Birmingham New Street by London Northwestern Railway.

As for Sandhills itself the station dates from refurbishment in 2008 which can be busy during match days especially used by football fans from both Liverpool and Everton with both grounds of Anfield and Goodison Park not far from the station which access on Match Days only provided by a connecting bus service known as Soccerbus.

Today 12 trains per hour run South towards Liverpool Central with 1 every 15 some 30 minutes continuing on towards Hunts Cross.

All services from Ormskirk and Kirkby terminating at Liverpool Central with the only main through service being Hunts Cross which originate from Southport.

Theres a reversing siding south of the station to enable trains to turn back if the line through Moorfields and Liverpool Central is closed and can be used by ECS moves to and from Kirkdale C.S.

The Class 507s and 508s have been on the Merseyrail Network since 1982 on the Northern Line and 1984 on the Wirral Line

Sadly at the time of filming were sadly on borrowed time which all sets being replaced by new Class 777s builds by Stadler in Spain.

On the week of filming the Class 777s had completed taking over the services from Liverpool Central to Kirkby with Ormskirk due to be next up.

However full fleet replacement for Northern Line is likely to be completed first before the changeover starts on the Wirral Lines

The first Class 777 entered service on January 23rd 2023

At the time of filming 44 of the 53 4 car sets have been built with 9 still ongoing and whilst they look the same however of the 53 sets 46 of them the 777/0s are 3rd rail only whilst 7 sets the 777/1s are 3rd rail and battery powered.

The 777/1s are for future provision for non-electrified operation if Merseyrail does expand it's network in the future with proposed plans to operate to Crewe, Wrexham General, Wigan as well as to Preston.

The full process according to Merseyrail is due to take approximately 15 months which during the changeover Kirkdale will swap roles become the main depot for the New Trains whilst the other depot on the Wirral Lines at Birkenhead North on the New Brighton and West Kirby lines will become a stability depot.

Although times on Merseyrail are slowing changing however the busy traffic of the station of Sandhills still remains busy no matter what time of day it is.

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - Copyr...  

Filmed on Tuesday March 7th 2023 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on iMovie

#merseyrail #sandhills #class777 #stadler #liverpool #merseyside