Margaret Cropper remembers travelling to Lime Street every day for her work

Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 20th February 2012 by Liam Physick

Margaret Cropper remembers how she would walk to school every day when she lived in Yorkshire, but is unable to remember how she got to Lime Street when she worked there (she received free travel): in particular she wonders how she was able to get there for six o’clock when now she cannot even get up for nine o’clock! Margaret mentions Allerton station, a station (in Garston, not Allerton) on Merseyrail’s City Line which opened on 15th February 1864 when the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was extended to Edge Hill, and located on the junction of the routes from Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington, and the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line to London via Crewe. On 29th July, it came under the control of the London and North Western Railway. It was serviced by the hourly service from Lime Street to Manchester Oxford Road. In 1978, Garston station was reopened (having been closed six years earlier) on the Northern Line, and Allerton lost a lot of its traffic as Garston could offer a faster and more frequent service to Liverpool Central. It closed to passengers on 30th July 2005 and was replaced by Liverpool South Parkway, which opened on 11th June 2006. It should not be confused with West Allerton, a still-open station on the Liverpool to Manchester line, which lies to the north of its defunct near-namesake

Interviewee: Margaret Cropper

Interviewee Gender: Female

Date of Interview: 24th November 2011

Interview Transcript

Jenny: What were your first impressions, maybe of Liverpool or of Lime Street itself when you first started, or when you first came to Liverpool?

Margaret: Oh my God, because I, I came from, you know, although I was born in Bramham . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Margaret: . . . I was brought up at Harewood, Harewood Bridge, which is between Leeds and Harrogate . . .

Jenny: Right, yeah.

Margaret: . . . and I went to school there, and it was right by the river wharf and it was country, only three little houses together, and the walk up to the school every day, really, a mile away, it was probably a bit of a shock, you know, but then, I was living in Woolton at the time and, and I, I can’t remember whether, how I used to get to Lime Street, I don’t whether I went up to Allerton station . . .

Jenny: Oh, yeah.

Margaret: . . . and, and went into Lime Street . . .

Jenny: By train?

Margaret: . . . or whether I, yeah, by train, or not. I can’t, I can’t really remember because I know that the trams were running to Woolton, but then they stopped, and I don’t really know what date they stopped because I think, maybe, I went on them, I’m not sure, don’t know.

Jenny: Did you used to get free travel or anything, yeah?

Margaret: Yes, I did get free travel, yeah, because, as I say, we were supposed to be in at six o’clock on a Sunday morning or any other morning, and I’m thinking, “How did I get there of a Sunday six o’clock, I can’t even get up for nine o’clock now!” (both laugh) Oh, yeah, it was good.

Tagged under: edge hill station, liverpool lime street station, liverpool central station, liverpool to manchester train, trams, merseyrail, woolton, london and north western railway, st. helens and runcorn gap railway, west coast main line

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives

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