The North Mersey Branch line through the station site was opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) for freight on 27 August 1866, the branch connecting the North Mersey goods station to the main line between Liverpool Exchange and Wigan.
[4][5] There was an early short-lived service through, and probably using, the station when a connection was made with the Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR) near their Seaforth Sands station and through services were run from Aintree through the station onto the LOR to Dingle, this route needed needed lighter and smaller trains to operate along the LOR and twelve were built for this service, it was not a successful venture and stopped in September 1908, the trains being redeployed.
In the other direction the services ran over the Seaforth connecting line through Marsh Lane & Strand Road to Liverpool Exchange.
[11] In 1939 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was operating about 22 services each way that stopped at the station.
[citation needed] Since the 1970s there have been plans to re-electrify the North Mersey Branch and reintroduce a passenger service.