Notes: Speke Station opened as part of the St. Helens Railway's (SHR) extension from Runcorn Gap (Widnes) to Garston Dock. This connected to Warrington and via Altincham to Manchester. The primary reason for the extension was to enable goods to be delivered to a point where larger vessels could berth but from the start a passenger service operated. Although the line opened on 1.7.1852 the line is first shown in Bradshaw in August 1852 but no trains stop at Speke. Speke first appeared in the timetable the following month. Speke would have started life as a basic two platform station but events would lead to many changes.

On 1.6.1864 a new line was opened from Garston Dock to Brunswick which was only one mile from the centre of Liverpool. This new section of line became part of the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) on 5.7.1865 and that company hoped to use the St. Helens Railway line through Speke as a route from Liverpool to Manchester.

This was not to work out quite as the CLC had hoped as on the 15.2.1864 the LNWR opened its Speke Junction to Edge Hill Line giving access to its Liverpool city centre station Lime Street. Shortly after on 29.7.1864 the LNWR absorbed the SHR. Although the LNWR facilitated running of CLC trains over the line they were never to helpful and they had other ideas for the section of line through Speke. They already had a direct line from Liverpool to Manchester and so they saw little potential in developing the SHR route any more than it had already been. It would be relegated to a local route and important freight route. However the route as far as Ditton had other potential as in 1869 a new line was opened between Ditton and Weaver Junction crossing the Mersey at Runcorn Gap. The line on which the Speke station stood now became part of the Liverpool to London route.

The CLC went on to open their own direct line from Liverpool to Manchester in 1873 and from that date abandoned their rights to run services on the former SHR line.

On the 13.7.1891 the lines through Speke were quadrupled and it was at this time that the station took the form that it was to remain as until closure. This consisted of four platform faces which covered both fast & slow lines. The site of the middle platform is still indicated today by a widening of the gap between the fast and slow lines. The station was in a cutting that was crossed by a road bridge which carried Woodend Lane (Now Woodend Avenue) across the line. At road level a booking office was provided on the south side of the bridge. This connected to substantial platform facilities by a covered footbridge. All in all Speke was a substantial station following the quadrupling. However it was located some distance from Speke itself in at what was at that time a sparsely populated area. It would have been served mostly by local services running between Warrington and Liverpool Lime Street and local services running from Liverpool Lime Street to points south of the bridge at Runcorn Gap. It became a very early closure closing on 22.9.1930.

Today remains of the supporting structure for the booking office can still be seen but nothing remains of the platforms. The line still carries mixed Liverpool to London traffic and goods towards Warrington on the original line through Widnes.

See also Halebank on the Runcorn Gap (Widnes) to Garston Dock line