The Giant That Powered Our Railway – The Story of Formby’s Old Powerhouse

There was once a building in Formby that you simply could not ignore.

It stood vast and square against the skyline near Hogshill Lane, close to the River Alt. You could see it from fields, from the railway and even from a distance as you headed towards the dunes. Some called it ugly. Others called it impressive. Most simply knew it as ‘The Factory’.

Today the site is a peaceful housing development called Orchard Meadow, with its entrance off Park Road. But for more than a century, this land was the beating electrical heart of the railway network.

Why It Was Built

When the Liverpool to Southport railway first opened in 1848, trains were powered by steam. By 1902, the directors of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway made a groundbreaking decision to electrify the line at 600 volts DC using a third live rail. It was one of the earliest electrification projects in the country.

At that time, public electricity supply was still in its infancy. There was no national grid as we know it today. If the railway wanted electric trains, it had to produce its own power.

The contract was awarded to Dick Kerr and Co, and the power station was built on the banks of the River Alt. The location was carefully chosen. The river provided cooling water for the turbines. The site sat midway along the line. It was also far enough from housing to avoid disturbance.

The building itself was enormous. At 280 feet long, it was divided into two vast sections, one housing the boilers and the other the machinery. Overhead electric cranes ran along the interior. Coal arrived from Wigan in hopper wagons and electricity left the station at 7500 volts AC before being stepped down and converted to 620 volts DC at substations in Seaforth, Sandhills and Birkdale.

The station opened in 1904 and powered electric services between Liverpool, Southport and Ormskirk. Without it, those early electric trains would not have run.

The Private Railway Halt

Because there was no proper road access, workers reached the station by rail. Around 1917 a small halt was built beside the power station for employees only. It never appeared in public timetables. It was simply there to serve the workforce who kept the turbines running.

The halt closed during the Second World War and the power station itself ceased generating electricity in 1946 when supply switched to Clarence Dock.

The railway line beside it remains open today as part of the Merseyrail Northern Line.

From Powerhouse to Polystyrene

After standing empty for several years, the building entered a new chapter. In 1955 it was taken over by Ross Insulation Products. For many local residents, this is how they remember it. Not as a power station, but as the Rosslite factory. The polystyrene factory.

In the decades that followed it produced expanded polystyrene packaging, insulation, ceiling tiles, cups and moulded plastic products. During the war years, parts of the building were reportedly used in the manufacture of Spitfire fuselage components, adding another layer to its industrial story.

Those who lived nearby in the 1970s and 1980s often recall white flakes of polystyrene blowing across the surrounding fields like snow. On windy days it would drift across the landscape and sometimes float along the River Alt. It became a familiar sight and part of everyday life.

Hogshill Lane itself was known as a gathering place. In the 1970s rockers would race their motorbikes along the road near the factory. The building stood solid and imposing, surrounded by open land with the dunes only a mile away. It was described at the time as an active Formby factory standing foursquare against the winds of the Irish Sea.

When production eventually declined and the building fell into disuse, it took on a different character. Generations of local children remember sneaking inside the derelict structure. It was dark, echoing and more than a little dangerous. It became a place of adventure stories, dares and whispered tales.

It may not have been glamorous, but it had presence. It had purpose. It had history.

Demolition and a New Beginning

By the early twenty first century the site had become fully derelict. In 2016 the enormous structure that had dominated the skyline for more than one hundred years was demolished. The land was cleared and redevelopment began.

The new housing estate was completed later that year, with a new access road from Park Road. The roads were named after pioneers of electricity including Callan Crescent, Edison Close, Gilbert Close, Tesla Way and Wheatstone Road. A quiet nod to the site’s remarkable origins.

In February 2017 a gate was installed on Hoggs Hill Lane, closing off the original industrial access route for good.

The entrance to Orchard Meadow from Park Road

Today, unless you know the story, there is little to suggest that this peaceful residential development now called Orchard Meadow, once powered the railway network and shaped a generation of Formby’s working life.

The old powerhouse may have divided opinion on its appearance, but it was ambitious. It was innovative. It was part of Formby’s identity for over a century.

Do you remember the polystyrene blowing across the fields? Did you work there, or explore it when it stood empty?

We would love to hear your memories.

Photo credits to Formby Civic Society