Alex Coomber
The Wirral Way. It opened between 1866 and 1886. It closed in 1956. Hooton to West Kirby. Hooton, Hadlow Road, Neston South, Parkgate, Heswall, Thurstaston, Caldy and West Kirby. Opened in 2 stages between 1866 and 1886. Much of this railway ran close to the western coast of the Wirral Peninsula. Operated by Great Western Railway Auto Trains. The intensive passenger service of the 1930s gave way to a decline in passenger traffic after the Second World War. Closure to passengers came in 1956 after which the line was used by freight trains and for training drivers of new Diesel Multiple Units. Complete closure came in 1962 and since then nearly all of the trackbed has been reopened as a footpath and cycleway.
