Cathcart Street Goods railway station

Cathcart Street Goods was a goods terminus in Birkenhead, England. It opened in 1847 and closed in 1961.

Cathcart Street Goods
General information
Location	Birkenhead, Wirral England
Coordinates	53.39985°N 3.02577°W / 53.39985; -3.02577
Grid reference	SJ318897
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Chester and Birkenhead Railway
Pre-grouping	LNWR/GWR joint
Post-grouping	LMS/GWR joint
Key dates
5 April 1847 (1847-04-05)	Opened as Bridge End
1855–1856	expanded
by 1880	renamed as Cathcart Street
5 June 1961 (1961-06-05)	Closed
Location

History

The goods station opened as Bridge End on 5 April 1847, adjacent to the East Float dock complex, when the Chester and Birkenhead Railway (C&BR) opened it's Docks Extension from Grange Lane. The extension was authorised in the Chester and Birkenhead Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. xcix) which received royal assent on 21 July 1845.^[1]

On 22 July 1847 the C&BR was absorbed by the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway (BL&CJR).^[2]

The BL&CJR changed its name to the Birkenhead Railway (BR) on 1 August 1859, shortly before being acquired jointly by the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) and Great Western Railway (GWR).^[3]

By 1855 the station needed enlarging to handle an increasing amount of traffic, the station re-opened in mid 1856, it was still known as Bridge End station at this time.^[4]

Greenwood (2007) notes that the station may have also been called East Float Goods station in 1857, when it doubled as a passenger station for emigrants to Australia, who were housed in the cellars while awaiting embarkation.^[5]

By 1880 the station had been renamed to Cathcart Street.^[6][7]

The station closed on 5 June 1961 although it had been moribund for some time before.^[8]

Location

The station was located between Corporation Street and the East Float, to the east of Cathcart Street.^[9] Road access was by Cathcart Street on the west side.^[5]

Description

The warehouse had two floors above ground and a loading basin for barges, entered by a larger brick arch.^[5]

There were a variety of cranes, particularly between the building and the dock, In the early days there was a coal tip which was given up in 1880 when the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB) equipped Cavendish Wharf with hydraulic hoists for coal traffic.^[10]

The barge dock was filled in when the transshipment of railway goods by barge ended in 1922.^[5][11]

The Company offices were adjacent to the station on Cathcart Street.^[12] The offices were described as "a rabbit warren of dark, comfortless rooms reminiscent of the Dickens era" little was done to modernise them, during the 1930s electricity was provided in one room to power an accounting machine, elsewhere was still lit by gas.^[13]

See also

• Mersey flat