The line ran across the Wirral Peninsula, joining Hooton with West Kirby, with the main intermediate stations serving Willaston (the station was named Hadlow Road), Parkgate, Neston, and Heswall.  As well as Thurstaston there were smaller stations at Caldy and Kirby Park, the latter being a halt on the outskirts of West Kirby.

The line was originally planned as a commuter route into Birkenhead and Liverpool, opening up the Dee Coast side of the Wirral Peninsula.  This is the reason that the connection at Hooton faces towards Birkenhead rather than Chester.  When originally opened on the 1st of October 1866, the line terminated at Parkgate.  A later extension completed on the 19th of April 1886 required a new, through station at Parkgate which allowed the line to continue to West Kirby Joint station.

The passenger service settled down to providing a local service to Hooton, with some trains continuing to Birkenhead Woodside to give a direct commuter service to Birkenhead.  Alternately, passengers could gp on the other direction and change onto the Wirral Line at West Kirby.

 

The line was also used for freight, as it provided a more direct route to the western end of Birkenhead docks than running over the dock lines from the Birkenhead end.  This used a freight only connection to the Wirral lines at West Kirby Joint.  After the Cadbury's factory at Moreton opened in 1953, trains of empty vans and slack coal were taken over this connection, however the full vans were routed outwards via Bidston.

 

The passenger service on the line stopped on the 15th of September 1956, and the line was closed completely on the 7th of May 1962.

From the enthusiast point of view, the line had a particular fascination, as it was a joint line, historically shared between the GWR and LMS.  This led to a mixture of stock being used, especially after the Grouping, with passenger trains being either GWR or LMS based, or a mixture with one company's loco hauling the other company's stock.  The most common locos in the later years were LMS Stanier 2-6-2 tanks and GWR 41XX Prairie tanks.  In what seems excessive in these days of main-line trains as small as one or two car multiple units, the normal branch train was either three or more LMS or constituent non-corridor coaches, or a 4 coach GWR B-set.  In one photograph, an extra coach has been used to strengthen the B-set to 5 coaches.  There were also push-pull workings, a GWR one up to the mid-1950's using the now preserved auto coach W212W and a 14XX, either 1417 or 1457, and an LMS rake with a BR 84000 standard in the final 2 months of passenger service.

Prior to nationalisation in 1948, all freight was worked by LMS engines and men.  British Railways goods workings were mixed, typically using Jinties or Pannier tanks.  Due to the down gradient from Neston towards West Kirby, 1 in 73, some were double headed to provide the necessary braking power.  Latterly, larger engines were used, such as 84000 standard tanks and Black 5's, and a Fairburn tank and Hughes Crab are recorded working the final freight trains in each direction.  I have heard of Stanier 8F's and BR 9F's being used, but have yet to see photographic evidence, other than an 8F on a demolition train.

The passenger service on the line was steam worked to the end, however, after closure it was used for driver training on DMU's for service on other local lines.  Some diesel locos were used for workings of empty vans to Cadbury's at Moreton in the short period between the factory opening and the line closing.

Thurstaston station was one of the smaller stations on the route.  One of the major local landowners, Sir Thomas Ismay, founder of the White Star line of Titanic fame, insisted that the railway was routed near the coast to keep it away from his home.  The cutting for the A540 road through the sandstone below Thurstaston Common was also made on his insistence.  The Railway Company did not actually want to build a station at Thurstaston at all, but was forced to by the owner of the land, Baskervyle Clegg and later his son, Birkenhead Clegg.

The station was originally built with a single platform, sometime after 1897 the other, West Kirby bound platform, was added allowing trains to pass.  A simple goods yard consisting of a siding with connections at both ends, and two dead end sidings, one with an end-loading bay, sufficed for the local traffic.

The station was located a considerable distance from the actual village of Thurstaston, which is nearer the main road.  Other local traffic would have been restricted to visitors to the beach, although there was also a café at the station.  Between 1919 and 1921, Lever Brothers constructed a camp by the station for staff holiday breaks, however this was closed at the start of World War II.  The site was subsequently used for an Anti Aircraft gun battery in 1941, which also happens to be where my father served during the war.

The goods yard was used for odd purposes, as a number of items were transhipped from road to rail, or vice versa there.  Often, a large stockpile was made during this process.  The goods are thought to have included stone, iron pyrites, and uranium ore.

Doubtless due to having very few passengers, Thurstaston station closed to passengers on the 1st of February 1954, 2½ years before the line closed to passengers.

In 1969, 7 years after final closure, the trackbed was purchased by Wirral Borough Council and Cheshire County Council, each taking ownership of that part within their boundary.  In 1973, the trackbed was reopened as a linear park, the Wirral Way Country Park.  Apart from a few sections used for housing development in the intervening period, the entire route is available for walking, with parts also accessible by horse and cycle.  The station at Hadlow Road has been restored to a 1950's appearance, complete with an imported signalbox and track panel.

All the station buildings at Thurstaston have been demolished, but there is a visitor's centre behind the platforms, and the café has been rebuilt and extended.  The goods yard has been converted to a car park and campsite, although the latter is now not available to the general public.

The waiting shelter on the un-restored platform at Hadlow Road shown below is thought to match the one on the West Kirby platform at Thurstaston, where the recess for it can still be identified.

Some features remain visible at Thurstaston, such as the end loading bay in the car park area, the arch in the platform facing in front of the site of the signal box, and the mounds from the wartime guns.  See The Prototype now for photographs of the station area in 2004.