Liverpool Lime Street

The simulation covers the incorporates ground level services from Liverpool Lime street station between 6:00am until 4:00pm on a typical weekday of the 2024 winter timetable. Underground services are incorporated in mathstrains19's Merseyrail simulation.

Liverpool Lime Street
Description	Ground level services from Liverool Lime Street station from 6:00am until 4:00pm on a typical weekday of the 2024 winter timetable.
Country	United Kingdom
Time period	2024
Train Operating Company	Avanti West Coast, Northern, Transport for Wales, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, Transpennine Express
Simulation difficulty
Author	RailOSDev Team
Repository	Liverpool Lime Street
Website	Liverpool Lime Street
Rolling Stock	Class 150 Class 156 Class 158 Class 170 Class 185 Class 195 Class 197 Class 331 Class 350 Class 390 Class 397 Class 802
Route map Wigan Manchester Bryn Warrington Central Garswood Warrington West Earlestown Sankey St Helens Central Widnes St Helens Junction Crewe Thatto Heath Hough Green Lea Green Fiddler's Ferry Power Station Eccleston Park Runcorn Rainhill Halewood Prescot Ditton Whiston Exchange Sidings Allerton Depot Hunts Cross Huyton Roby Liverpool South Parkway Broad Green West Allerton Wavertree Technology Park Edge Hill Depot Bootle Mossley Hill Tubrook Sidings Edge Hill Liverpool Lime Street

Timetable

Liverpool Lime Street Services
Train Operating Company	Destination	Frequency (tph)
Avanti West Coast	London Euston	1
East Midlands Railway	Norwich	1
London Northwestern Railway	Birmingham New Street	2
Northern	Blackpool North	1
	Manchester Airport	1
	Manchester Oxford Road	1
	Warrington Central	1
	Wigan North Western	2
Transpennine Express	Hull	1
	Newcastle	1
Transport for Wales	Chester	1

Operational Tips

There are four routes out from the station:

1. East then north to Wigan and the West Coast Main Line (WCML) to the north of England and Scotland.
2. East to Manchester via St Helens Junction (the original route of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway).
3. South East to Manchester via Widnes and Warrington.
4. East then south via Runcorn to the WCML south to London.

All four routes are very heavily used, and care is needed in managing traffic in and out of the station to avoid delays and blockages.

• Liverpool Lime Street is very busy. Wigan and St Helens Junction routes mainly use platforms 1 to 5, whereas Warrington and Runcorn routes use platforms 6 to 10, so trains using these two sets of platforms can normally arrive and depart without obstructing each other. However there are a few exceptions so it's wise to check each arriving train's platform and each departing train's destination before setting long routes.

• The simulation can be run relatively easily at 1x speed when familiar with the routes, with some periods at 0.5x when traffic is very busy. If you like a very busy life then 2x is possible - just! At the start be aware that 5P15 from Edge Hill Depot to Lime St. arrives in platform 3 so allow 5F50 to clear the junction before setting the route into the platform.

• When two or more arriving trains are heading for the same set of platforms it's wise to check arrival times to avoid a later arrival holding up an earlier arrival.

• When setting routes into Lime St. it's wise to compare arrival times with departure times for trains that already occupy the arrival platform or an obstructing platform so that movements occur in the correct order to avoid blockages. Trains usually have arrival times that allow them to be held outside the station for a few minutes to await clearance of platforms.

• At Edge Hill trains departing from Lime St. platforms 1 to 5 normally use platform 1 and those departing from platforms 6 to 10 normally use platform 3. Trains arriving at Lime St. platforms 1 to 5 normally use platform 2 and those arriving at platforms 6 to 10 normally use platform 4. Again there are a few exceptions so it's wise to check in case trains need to cross the tracks either east or west of Edge Hill.

• At Roby and Huyton outbound trains use platforms 3 and 4 and inbound trains platforms 1 and 2. Trains to Wigan must use platform 4 at each station but trains to St Helens Jn. can use either, though platform 3 is normally used. Inbound trains from Wigan must use platform 2 and trains from St Helens Jn. must use platform 1.

• Between Liverpool South Parkway (LSP) and Runcorn most of the trains use the fast lines. Trains running towards Liverpool from Warrington have LSP arrival times that allow them to be held outside LSP until trains from Runcorn have left. The few exceptions that don't use platforms 1 & 2 at LSP have descriptions that show which LSP platform should be used, e.g. (LSP p3) or (LSP p4).

• Special care is advised for service 0K57, which is a light engine test run that arrives in Lime St. platform 6 at 07:32. Arrival is straightforward but when departing it stops at Ditton East Jn. for at least 11 minutes, so to avoid severe delays for following services it should use the slow line towards Ditton, and stop at the junction diagonally before signal 52-43.

• Service 1F44 from Birmingham should cross to the slow line (bottom track) then back up before LSP to platform 2. 1F92 from Chester doesn't depart Runcorn until 08:11 allowing 0K57 to depart the junction at 08:06 and cross over to the up fast line to exit at 08:13.

• With so many trains being held outside Lime Street. Call-ons are often offered to platforms that are inappropriate, so they should be ignored.

• It is wise to reset diverging points (switches) after trains have crossed tracks to avoid routes being set for later trains that use inappropriate tracks and delay following trains.

Trivia

Liverpool Lime Street is Liverpool’s principal station, and is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. It was built by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company to replace the first terminus (Crown Street) in order to be closer to the city centre. Construction started in 1833, just three years after the line was opened, and the first phase was completed in 1836. The line was the first steam-operated inter-city line in the world, operated by Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ and her sister locomotives after she won the famous Rainhill Trials.