In the Churchtown area, the railway ran above the streets on an embankment, and crossed Cambridge Road on an iron bridge.
The station was on the east side of Cambridge Road immediately after the bridge, with the booking office situated at street level, on the westbound[2] side of the station, roughly where Churchtown Medical Centre stands today.
Originally services ran from Southport Central to Preston Fishergate Hill.
However, upon the WLR's absorption by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1901, both termini were closed to passengers and became goods depots.
The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) section of the Southport-Preston line running from Southport Chapel Street station to Crossens station was electrified by the LYR in 1904 using the same 630V DC system as had been installed on the Liverpool-Southport line a few months earlier.