Bescar Lane railway station is on the Manchester to Southport Line, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) east of Southport

Southport railway station

Southport railway station serves the town of Southport, Merseyside, England. It is at the end of one of the branches of the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network, and at the end of the Manchester-Southport Line which runs via Wigan...

 in the village of Scarisbrick

Scarisbrick

Scarisbrick is a village and civil parish in West Lancashire, England. It is spread out along the A570 so there is no real village centre, though the junction with the A5147 is close to the geographic centre...

. Bescar Lane is an old cottage-style station, operated by the Northern Rail

Northern Rail

Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...

 franchise. Its remote location, some distance from the centre of Scarisbrick Parish, is considered "problematical".

History

Bescar Lane station opened on 9 April 1855, as part of the Manchester and Southport Railway

Manchester and Southport Railway

The Manchester and Southport Railway in England opened on 9 April 1855. It merged with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in January 1885. The line eventually formed part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, 59.5 km Liverpool to Manchester route via a junction with the Liverpool and Bury...

. Later managed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...

, it had the distinction of being the lowest station on that network, situated 12.5 feet (3.8 m) above sea-level. Part of the line running from Bescar Lane en route to Southport through and closed in 1965, forcing trains to divert through on a section of the old Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway

Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway

The Liverpool, Southport & Preston Junction Railway was formed in 1884, and totaled 7 miles. In 1897 it became part of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and on 1 May 1901, its northern terminus switched from to ....

.

Services

Monday to Saturdays there is generally a two-hourly service to Southport westbound and Manchester Victoria eastbound at certain times of the day with the odd Southport to Manchester Airport service calling also at this station. The last service to Southport calling at Bescar Lane is at 21:27 and the last service towards Wigan Wallgate and Manchester stations is at 22:30 hours. This station is not served at all on Sundays. However a Normal service operates on most Bank Holidays.

External links