Wigan Album

Stephenson Locomotive Society end of steam special (No1).4th August 1968 Birmingham to Stockport electric loco as no steam allowed (under the wires). Diesel from Stockport to Man.Vic (No wires for part). Steam from Manchester Victoria – Diggle – Huddersfield – Sowerby Bridge – Copy Pit – Blackburn – (via Bolton avoiding line) – Wigan Wallgate – Kirkby – Bootle – Stanley – Rainhill – Barton Moss – Manchester Victoria – Droylesden – Stockport.

Kirkby to Bootle? Where's the connection?

Kirkby to Bootle was via the North Mersey Branch.

Back in the day when there was a lot of freight & coal along the Wigan to Liverpool Exchange railway, many of the goods trains left the main line between Kirkby & Fazackerley to a big marshalling yard at Fazakerley Here the trains were broken up and sorted into trains for the northern Liverpool docks. In reverse direction, wagons from the docks with incoming goods were made up into trains for various destinations in Lancashire & beyond. These trains ran over the North Mersey Branch from Fazackerley Junction, through Aintree to Bootle and on to the different docks.

The section from Fazack to Aintree is long gone. I think there is still a disused track in place from Bootle to dead end at Aintree Search for "North Mersey Branch" on Wikipedia and it will tell you more, plus it has a map of where the line ran.