Liverpool Lime Street station has had a thorough overhaul recently, with new platforms, signalling and track. But its heritage has not been forgotten as three slabs from the original station platforms, dating from 1836, have been included as part of the rebuild.
The recent £140 million scheme has delivered a capacity increase of three extra services per hour by creating two new platforms, extending three others and realigning another three.
has delivered a capacity increase of three extra services per hour by creating two new platforms, extending three others and realigning another three.
All of the signalling has been renewed and four kilometres of plain line track and 24 point ends have been replaced, along with the associated overhead line equipment. So it was a major project, very much looking to the needs of the future.
During the two years of work on the historic grade-II listed station, three of the stone slabs that had formed part of the original 1836 platform surface were recovered. Made from Yorkstone supplied by a local quarry, the 19th century slabs were kept in safe storage until the station rebuild was complete.
The slabs were then brought out, cleaned up and inscribed with a message to explain their special significance. They were then installed on Platforms 1,3 and 5 to become, as senior Network Rail programme manager Sean Hyland described them, “a small reminder of the station’s rich heritage”.
