Hahaha - thank you all who have responded - however, I actually meant pictures of Birkenhead Woodside & not the former Woodside stn that now forms part of the Croydon Tramlink!! I've trawled through the net & found a fair few on there, but I'm hoping that some of you may have pics in books or old photos, etc... Thanks awfully :o)
Heh, I began the article! A lot of the information was from the Railway Stations of Wirral book mentioned, there's not much in the periods you're after bar what's left of it now (the side retaining wall and the tunnel) but maybe if you're this way again there'll be something in the Wirral Museum or somewhere like that? One thing about the subbrit site I like is a photo of Monks' Ferry before it was flattened, shows the state of it quite well.
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Very memory provoking pics, thanks. It used to be a town and a half then. Woodside very busy, docks busy, lairage going full blast, everybody grafting and earning their crust. Happy days.
Aye, you're right. AND a proper bus service. AND proper money (pounds, shillings and pence). AND Bents bitter..... AND ...er.mm...forget the last bit !
Whey hey Pinz. You've got that amnesia thing as well, nobody said it was catching. I worked on the Birkenhead buses in the late 60's early 70's, can't believe the way it is now.
No, Snooze, those are the buildings on Bridge St. The shadow on the loco is of the Rose Brae bridge, the bridge you can see at the end of the platforms is the Church St. bridge. You can see the Hamilton Square station hydraulic tower in the pic. which is at the other end of Bridge St. The Woodside Hotel is roughly behind the tender of the loco. Attached is a map from 1909 & an aerial pic. from the 1947 Outline Plan book. Funnily enough, the loco. in the pic. below is at almost the exact point as the one in the other pic., but on a different track.
I think the white chimney that is shown immediately in front of the hydraulic tower (over the coals on the tender) belongs to the pub behind the Woodside Hotel.
It's marked "PH" with a bench mark. An imaginary line drawn from just under the Rose Brae Bridge (where loco is blowing off steam in photo) to the hydraulic tower (corner of Ham.Sq.Sta.) passes through that pub.
I think, as you say Chris, the white block of buildings (over loco boiler) are the buildings facing Bridge St.
Great station and loco photos ! THAT'S how locos were towards the end of steam - mostly filthy and neglected !
left side of the buildings are 89 Worsley Arms cum Queens Arms cum (Cuckoo) cum Riverview 16 Chester Street 16 1 Bridge Street 90 Kossuth Hotel 18 Chester Street 18 91 Dispensary cum Hamlet 20 Chester Street 20
and the pub alongside the Woodside Hotel wasWoodside vaults cum Rinty Monaghans Irish Bar
I suddenly realised I had a picture taken in almost exactly the same place as one of the set I uploaded last week, and thought it might be of interest to show a 'then and then' comparison, comparing 1967 and 1986.
Also, there is another picture from 1967, which I didn't include the first time around, as it was a bit 'atmospheric', but it might be of interest anyway. Apologies for the quality, but my mate tells me he was using a camera which was possibly the model before the 'box brownie' became available...
I have some more photos, but not of Woodside - most are from the sheds at Mollington Street, the docks, and few of Rock Ferry Station. If they are of any interest, perhaps someone can tell me if there are any topics on Wiki that would be a good place to put them?
Cheers, Billy.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
so I'll put the pictures of the sheds on there. As the other photos are a bit more scattered in their locations, I think it's best that I put them on another existing topic:
I'll put them up in batches of 3 (to stretch them out a bit!!): the first ones will go on in short while, and the others will probably follow in dribs and drabs - there aren't that many, but what there are, I hope will be of interest.
Cheers, Billy.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
I was talking to my dad today and he was telling me about this place and how he would go on the steam trains etc. I went for a look on my way to the shops later on and took a couple of photos on my mobile. I am just wondering where did the tunnel emerge at the other end?. I presume it must be somewhere near the Queensway entrance. Was it buried under concrete when the flyovers and connecting roads where built?. I assume it joined up with the existing line somewhere near the Mollington street sheds where the rock retail park is now.
The rail tunnel from Woodside Station emerged alongside the old Town Station at the junction of Tunnel Road and Grange Lane in Birkenhead, not far from the Queensway road tunnel entrance. The line then continued in the direction of Rock Ferry and to all parts of the country. In its heyday, it was an important main line route between Birkenhead and London. A second line at this point went via another tunnel across the town to the docks. Further down at Chester Street, there was a branch line to the Cammell Laird shipyards.
Yes, Yoller, there used to be a direct service between Woodside & London Paddington, via Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Banbury & Oxford. I made the trip a couple of times. It took about 7 hours! Any sane person wanting to go to London would go over to Lime St. & do the trip into Euston in 4 hours. As for the rail system in Birkenhead, this map gives an idea of the number of tracks. Town Station is at the top edge, with the start of the Haymarket tunnel just to the left. I've marked the site of the Rock retail park.
You get to the area you want to overlay the map then click on 'Add' at the top and select 'Image overlay' from the drop down menu (there is also a button for it on the top toolbar). It then asks you to browse for the image in a pop up menu. Once you select the image it puts it on the map . you then have to move it, stretch it by dragging the green bars that appear round it. Once you are happy with it click save.
I have had a go at overlaying the map but it must have been drawn by hand as is does not match the ariel photo very well no matter what I do with it.
Where abouts is the map of the Haymarket tunnels?. I can't find it.
The map is the O.S. 1910 25" to the mile so is very accurate. Of course, in manipulating it, I've changed the scale & it's not quite the same scale as the Google pic. The red additions are mine, of course, & may not be accurate.
Great shot taken from Blackpool St Signal Box looking north towards the site of the old Birkenhead Town Station. This area seems to be little recorded photographically, so it's rare to find this one.
The 3 lines on the left are sidings associated with Mollington Street locomotive depot. The next two (including the one which the '9F' is travelling Chester bound - cattle by the look of it) go to/from the docks. The next two go to/from Birkenhead Woodside, and the remaing tracks are the carriage sidings associated with the Woodside trains.
Judging by the state of the locomotive, I'm guessing somewhere between 1965-67.
Goes to show how complex and busy things once were...
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Re: that Public House next to Woodside Hotel do you have any idea what the name of the pub was? When I lived in Bebington in 1979/80 my great aunt told me that the pub her parents ran was just there. I have a wedding photograph that may have been taken in the back yard in December 1929. Would be great if I could put a name to this pub, if it is in fact the one. The way it was described to me: the pub was just outside the gates of Camel Lairds.
Re: that Public House next to Woodside Hotel do you have any idea what the name of the pub was? When I lived in Bebington in 1979/80 my great aunt told me that the pub her parents ran was just there. I have a wedding photograph that may have been taken in the back yard in December 1929. Would be great if I could put a name to this pub, if it is in fact the one. The way it was described to me: the pub was just outside the gates of Camel Lairds.
On the subject of the Royal Castle Pub, do you happen to know what street it used to stand on?
It's still there - now called "Hotel California" and is a Rock Pub - knwon by the regulars as the Cally....
Re: the Woodside Hotel and Rinty Monaghans - Rintys only opened there in the late '80s with the craze for 'Irish' pubs - it was just hived off from the Woodside Hotel and not an old pub...
Great shot taken from Blackpool St Signal Box looking north towards the site of the old Birkenhead Town Station. This area seems to be little recorded photographically, so it's rare to find this one.
The 3 lines on the left are sidings associated with Mollington Street locomotive depot
...and the remaing tracks are the carriage sidings associated with the Woodside trains. Goes to show how complex and busy things once were...
Lovely photo from the signal box - which was raised up on 'stilts' over a running line.
The 3 tracks on the left were actually for a coal depot for the gasworks.
The carriage sidings also had a long shed where coach maintenance could take place under cover.
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