In 1888 Liverpool Exchange had 115 departures and 115 arrivals which the new facilities easily accommodated. An hourly express to Manchester Victoria was intended to compete with the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) - which operated from Liverpool Lime Street station, and since the 1840s had owned the original Liverpool & Manchester Railway of 1830. A third company, the Cheshire lines Committee (CLC), had began to operate fast express services between the two cities in 1874, so competition was stiff. The LYR had the longest route but offered a 40-minute journey for its fastest trains.

The December 1895 timetable showed.............

With the introduction of electric servicces on xxx 1904 the station became even busier. The electric services proved to be a great success and within a few years there were 119 daily electric departures from Liverpool Exchange. Many ran only to Crosby but 65 continued to Southport Chapel Street; seventeen of the 65 went as far as Crossens.

The July 1922 timetable showed.................

On 2nd April 1951 the electric service to Aintree via Linacre Lane ceased. Only two stations closed as a result, and passengers could still reach Aintree on the direct route via Kirkdale; otherwise Liverpool Exchange remained very busy throughout the 1950s.

In summer 1960 there were still weekday long-distance departures to Bradford Exchange, Leeds Central, Windermere, Glasgow Central & Edinburgh Waverley, Newcastle Central and Workington. Regular services operated to Rochdale, Blackpool Central, Preston, Wigan Wallgate, Bolton Trinity Street and to Manchester Victoria. High frequency electric services ran to Southport and Ormskirk. In all there were 179 departures from the station. The first was a non-stop service to Preston with a connection to Glasgow leaving Liverpool Exchange at 1.45am. The last departure on weekdays was for Southport Chapel Street at 11:30pm.

In 1965-6 trains left Exchange for Southport every 20 minutes, with extra services at rush hour. This service interval applied on all days in summer, but the winter Sunday frequency was half-hourly. The Ormskirk off-peak service ran every 30 minutes, supplemented at rush hour, and an irregular service ran on to Preston. Nineteen trains left for Wigan Wallgate, including some for Leeds Central whose first stop was Wallgate.

The last express services to Glasgow ran from Exchange on Sunday 3rd May 1970. Direct services to Preston finished the previous year. This left the station with only the electric services to Southport and Ormskirk and DMU’s to Bolton. The electric services still ran at a high frequency.

During the last year of passenger services there were fifteen weekday departures for Bolton. The first left Liverpool Exchange at 07:04 and the last at 21:43. On Saturdays there was an additional late departure for Bolton at 22:37. There were also fifteen arrivals from the Bolton line on weekdays, the first at 06:44, but it originated from Wigan Wallgate. The last arrival was at 22:06 on weekdays, but on Saturdays there was a Bolton train at 23:42. There was no Sunday service to Wigan Wallgate or Bolton.

There were 56 departures for Ormskirk on weekdays. Thirteen of the trains had onward connecting services to Preston from Ormskirk. On Sundays there were 22 Ormskirk departures but no onward connections to Preston. The Southport line was the busiest with trains running at least every twenty minutes on weekdays from early morning to late evening.

The last departure from Liverpool Exchange was at 23.35 on Friday 29th April 1977: a special service to mark the station’s closure. It ran to Liverpool Lime Street - which lay less than a mile away - via Wigan Wallgate. Although the station officially closed the next day its booking offices remained open until Monday 2nd May, issuing tickets for the usual destinations, but on replacement bus services.

Tickets from Michael Stewart.

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