Notes: The station was opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) as Barton Street on 2.7.1883. It was situated less than a mile from Southport on the Southport Chapel Street to Wigan line that had opened in 1855. In October 1883 the station was renamed as Southport St. Lukes Road. The station consisted of a wide island platform.

On 1.3.1902 the station was renamed as Southport St. Lukes and it gained another island platform. The reason for this was that by 1902 the LYR had taken over the West Lancashire Railway (WLR) Southport to Preston and Southport to Altcar and Hillhouse line which ran close by to the north. They diverted it in 1901 so that it connected to their line just to the west of the station so that they could close Southport Central. The LYR where then able to open the new platform on the Preston line. It was separated from the original station by a road but both platforms shared a booking office that was located at street level on the west side of St. Lukes Road Road.

St.Lukes - from Railways of Bolton web site

At this time the nearby former WLR station at Southport Ash Street closed. On 22.3.1904 the Preston Line was electrified as far as Crossens. Regular electric commuter services began to serve this platform. Other trains went from this platform to stations along the Altcar branch and towards Preston. The Wigan line platform served trains to that town and beyond as well as to Ormskirk.

In May 1914 the station was renamed as simply St. Lukes. In 1923 the station became part of the LMS and in 1938 the 'Preston Platform' lost its services on the Altcar Branch which by this time was only operating as far as Downholland.

On 6.9.1964 services on the Preston line ceased and the line closed. The busy electric service that ran as far as Crossens had ended the previous day. Right up until closure there had been 15 trains a day on this line and that was excluding the electric service. The Preston platform did not close though as some Wigan stopping trains where diverted to run along this route, they traveled along the route of the former Altcar Branch for a couple of miles before rejoining the main line to Wigan. On 14.6.1965 the direct line to Wigan through Southport was closed between St. Lukes and the point where the Altcar line connection joined it further east, all trains then took the former Altcar line route. The Wigan platform which had formed the original St. Lukes Station closed on this date.

The 'Preston' platform, now serving Wigan trains survived for a few more years. St. Lukes station closed completely on 8.9.1968.

Today the site of the Preston platform can be seen quite clearly as the tracks of the original WLR are quite widely spaced at this point. The Wigan platform site has been developed with apartments, as has the entire route of the former direct line to Wigan. A small section of the stations booking office can be seen on the west side of St. Lukes Road.

For more about Altcar Bob see the Southport.gb.com web site.

To see the other stations on the Southport - Altcar & Hillhouse line click on the station name: Southport Central, Southport Ash Street, Meols Cop, Butts Lane Halt, Kew Gardens, Heathley Lane Halt, Shirdley Hill, New Cut Lane Halt, Halsall, Plex Moss Lane Halt, Downholland & Altcar & Hillhouse