I’ll get into trouble for this title. Some people still can’t face the fact the town I grew up in (Southport) was moved from Lancashire to Merseyside way back in 1974, but there you go..

I’d been working from home this morning to put the finishing touches and picture captions to my latest article for RAIL magazine after they’d sent me over the proofs. Then I logged onto the internet and noticed that the Merseyrail route into Southport was closed between Southport and the suburb of Hillside to allow the platforms at Chapel St to be extended into the station in order to fit 8-car trains. This caused me a wry smile. I remember the old Chapel St station. The very same platforms were shortened in the 1970s when the original station was demolished by BR so developers could build a God-awful shopping centre facing the main street in its place. How the world turns!

So, I decided to play a flying visit as the work is due to finish tomorrow. Here’s a few pictures of the work inside the station. As you can see, all three Merseyrail platforms are part of the possession, hence trains from Liverpool being turned back at Hillside.

Now I’m heading back with one more stop in mind. Well, if the weather holds…

19:00.

I stopped off but the weather got the better of me! The idea was to have a look at progress in electrifying the railway from Wigan to Bolton. I’d noticed real signs of progress on my way in so decided to make a stop at Hindley, where a diverse range of work’s going on. Despite threatening skies I made it as far as the famous bowstring footbridge a few minutes walk to the West of the station before the heavens opened – hence the lack of sky in this pic.

As you can see, the ‘march of the masts’ is getting closer to Wigan. It’s hard to believe now but until the 1960s there were at least 8 tracks here. The area was awash with colleries and ironworks. All are gone. A huge amount of lineside vegetation’s been cleared along the line which has opened up vistas not seen for 40 or more years. Once we have some better weather I’ll be popping back to visit a few more locations to show how work’s progressing.

Squelching back to Hindley along flooded footpaths and in the pouring rain I took refuge in the pub by the station until my train was due. Now I’m Manchester bound under dank depressing skies and downpours.

22:00.

I’m now home and drying out after a very wet evening. As I walked uphill torrents of water were flowing downhill after another downpour. Thankfully it’d just passed so I managed to avoid a complete soaking. As I was stripping off at home our ‘Alexa’ bleeped with a notification for a flood-warning for Halifax. Tomorrow could be an interesting day. Maybe I’ll stay at home…

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