Today I took some pictures on Shrewsbury station.
On platform 3, which isn't much used, they've done some preservation work. One of the things is this commemorative plaque for those killed in the 1914-18 war.
As you can see, there were quite a few from Wirral stations. The thing which puzzles me is the reference to "Birkenhead extension"
Any ideas what that refers to? My only thought is that it might be the dock branch.

The other thing I saw, which used to be common on the railways, was the old stair treads; 1" square end grain teak.

Not sure about the Birkenhead extension but I am sure they had those steps in James street and possibly other stations on the Wirral line in the past.

Not sure where that train operator worked but seems to be a hell of a lot of Wirral men in proportion to the others.

On the steps question, Helles is quite right. I'd forgotten all about them. I think they were on the steps at B'head Central moons ago too.

You're both right about the steps; had them on all of the Mersey Railway I think and many other stations; extremely hard wearing & naturally rot proof owing to the natural oil content.
You're right about the high proportion of Wirral names there. I don't know what area it covered, but at least as far South as Hereford and as far East as Wellington which isn't far from Shrewsbury. The line then ran through Gobowen, Chirk & Wrexham before reaching Chester. The only station name I don't recognise is Easton Court. (Found it; between Leominster & Tenbury Wells).

The floor of the sheds the Titanic was built in at Harland and Wolfe in Belfast had their floors made the same way. end on teak. When the sheds were demolished a few years ago, they were all dug out and taken to a local power station to be burnt!! I tried to get some thru my contacts in the demo company who had the contract but was too late!!

On the memorial above, are all the men "Shrewsbury men" and the locations mentioned their workplaces?

I run A C Hendrick, Birkenhead Woodside, through the Ancestry mangle.

Interesting, Bert. Don't know the answer to that; doesn't say on the plaque. If you have the time & the inclination it might be interesting to look up some of the others.

Just perused the CWGC search facility and checked a couple out. Looks like you are correct Bert.

Thanks Helles, a couple more who have the Salop/Shropshire connection.JW Farr,Bromborough, JR Wilde, Heswall.

I recall Shrewsbury station well,including the memorial, using it 6 times a year at the beginning and end of term.
The Birkenhead extention I think refers to the line from Chester General to Birkenhead. The original line went to Holyhead and the extention was built later. Can't be 100% of this, no doubt the railway buffs will have the answer

On the Birkenhead Extension question, i lean towards Chris's thoughts and think its the docks line, all other Birkenhead stations had names and i don't recall ever reading or hearing anything called (extension). On the memorial they have made it clear where and not just Birkenhead, am i right in thinking that all other places named must have had only one station at that period of time.

Just a thought but this is from Disused Railways bit on the old West Kirby station.

"West Kirby’s joint station was opened on the 19th April 1886 as the northern terminus station on the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London North Western Railway’s (LNWR) extension to their 1866 branch line from Hooton to Parkgate as part of their Birkenhead Joint Railway. The extension ran from Parkgate through Heswall, Thurstaston and Caldy terminating at West Kirby."

According to G Holt's 'A regional history of the railways of Great Britain', the Birkenhead Extension Railway was the line from Birkenhead Town station to Woodside.

I stand corrected. I thought it referred to the whole thing.

@uptoncx. Interesting about the naming of the line into Woodside; the problem with that being the reference is that the plaque also specifically names Woodside & that surely by 1919, over 70 years after the opening of the tunnel to Woodside, the name "extension" would no longer be in use.


On searching for "Birkenhead extension" I came up with this.

http://www.gwr.org.uk/notes/shunterallocations.doc

There's a reference on page 2, but without any details.


@masterbun. In fact the Chester to Birkenhead line (1840) pre-dates the Chester to Holyhead line (1850) & is pretty much contemporary with the Chester to Crewe line.

No, Bert; Chester had 3 stations, General, Northgate & Liverpool Rd.
But I think only General belonged to the GWR/LNWR so that would be the only one the plaque refers to I guess.

This site might be of interest. No mention of Birkenhead Extention though.
Disused stations. Woodside etc

Another interesting re Chester

not related ...but are you the chris kay who used to do hospital radio show and was a model railway enthusiast?

Thanks, masterbun; I'm familiar with the disused stations site; extremely informative.
The article on the Chester railways is very interesting.

torryman; no, not me.

Chris Kay....Cardiac FM Radio....Keeping his finger on the pulse !!!

very good hoseman.....side splitter

The Birkenhead extension is the Chester to Birkenhead line.

Bob

An extension of what? I'm not convinced.

I'm confused as well.

Extension from from tranmere to woodside?
Docks extension, these might have been classed separate)?

The main "Birkenhead Extension" act didn't come in until 1927 which was way after the great war.

Indeed a confusion. It is possible that what is being referred to as the Birkenhead Extention is not any railway created under an Act of Parliament but the railway's working name for the joint line. I don't think they would have referred to it as a branch.
It would be interesting to know what the track diagrams in Chester signal boxes had it marked as.
There used to through trains from Paddington to Woodside which used to reverse at Chester before going on to Woodside. As such it would be the extention of the main line !!

There is a reference to the Birkenhead Extension in the Local Instructions section of the 1903 Working Time Tables:

That act was to do with electric lighting & not railways.

From Hansard

Electric Lighting Provisional Orders (No. 3) Bill [H.L.] (No. 49). A Bill to confirm certain Provisional Orders made by the Board of Trade under the Electric Lighting Acts, 1882 and 1888, relating to Birkenhead (Extension), Bishop Auckland (Amendment), Huddersfield (Extension to Golcar), Maidenhead (Extensions), Milford-on-Sea, Newquay, Penzance, Ramsgate, Sunderland Districts, and Tavistock.

Well, still no nearer to certainty in this matter.
I think I was too hasty in dismissing the suggestion of 8HBOB who, from his previous posts, is very knowledgeable about the railways.

Upton's site has this snippet from the London Illustrated...


What do you reckon - could this be the extension?

That act was to do with electric lighting & not railways.

Whoops - I thought it was to do with trams

Question for 8HBOB.
Did you work at Mollington Street ?
I think 8H was the shed code.

That seems very likely.

Thanks, uptoncx. That strongly suggests that the Birkenhead Extension was the docks branch.

From online encyclopedia Britannica



In 1847 the Birkenhead Dock Warehousing Company opened their first warehouses, capable of storing 80,000 tons of goods. Each block is detached, and the whole premises are surrounded by a wall 12 feet high. A railway branch, called the Dock Extension Railway, is carried round the property. The company also built blocks of houses for their workmen, known as the Dock Cottages. This property is now in the hands of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.



Read more: Birkenhead - Acres, Dock, Feet, Town, Docks, and Market http://www.libraryindex.com/encyclo...nhead-acres-dock-feet.html#ixzz1PA1Lle5K

Thanks, bert; it's looking more & more likely that it refers to the dock branch.
Going back to the original plaque, Mr.C.W.Hayes is the only man not associated with a station. My guess would be that he was a linesman or a signalman on the dock branch.

I didn't work at Mollington St. but spent many unofficial happy hours there. Saturday afternoons were good, riding with the shed coalman,which involved turning, coaling & watering the locos, together with with a bit of driving.

Bob.

Chris, I think its G W Hayes and on putting that name through the Ancestry mangle i came up with this chap as a possible. His records are well and truly chewed up, i think he probably died of trench fever having been admitted to hospital and his wife and baby receiving a pension. They lived at 84 Hinderton Rd, Birkenhead, served with the 1st Batt Cheshire's, not sure about the parish he was born, where or what it is, he was a railway porter.

Hi, Bob; there seems to be a lot of evidence that the "extension" refers to the dock branch. Would you agree?
I used to spend time at Mollington St. around 1950. Just cleaning; never got to drive.

Thanks for that, bert. I'd read it as C.W. but I'm sure you're right & have got him. Not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. I got 5 C.W. Hayes's but none of them seemed to be a match.

mmm if it is G W Hayes,and bert thinks he died,he may be a non com!

There's a group on another forum,who research non coms,and get them recognised as they rightly deserve.

Looks to me as if it might be Rock Savage, near Runcorn.

Poodle, if you mean a non combatant, i think he did see action and what little of his records were there he developed Trench Fever, i think 1916, ended up in hospital in Scotland, guessing he died from same, due to his wife and one child receiving a pension.

I think the Parish is Rock Savage, Clifton, Runcorn, which is interesting in its self.
http://www.runcornhistsoc.org.uk/rocksavage_house.html

Beat me to it Chris.

Any reason to suppose he might be a non com?

As a matter of interest, my father in law was a non com in the 1914-18 war. He served with the Second London Field Ambulance.
He survived & live to age 92.

No sorry i meant a non commemerarative,no war grave/memorial.

Indeed they should be rightly recognised and added to memorials.
The list of non combatants is endless, Chaplin's, Doctors, Ambulance men, nurses, miners, etc. Even if they never dished it out, they certainly took it.

The object of the line to Birkenhead was probably to get access to the docks. If one company had sole access it would have been extremely lucrative,but in the end a joint running agreement was made. Around this time there was a lot of wheeler dealing where one railway agreed not to encroach on the other in return for running powers somewhere else.
At the railwayana auction in Derby on saturday last were 2 smokebox numberplates from locos based at mollington St. at the end of steam. I was going to bid £450 for 42613 - It went for £720. The smokebox plate from 9F 92106 went for £920
The one I really want is 42616 - I'll pay a good sum for that if it ever comes up for sale.
I've got rid of most of my small railway stuff, all I have now is a small collection of photos & leaflets,a Beyer Peacock worksplate from 1885 off a Mersey Railway tank loco, An invitation pack from the opening ceremony of the Mersey Railway in 1886 (minus the actual invitation which was obviously handed in)but which has a menu card & embossed cards in colour showing the gifts presented to the royal couple.I also have a book of specifications for rolling stock ,locomotives (hand written), fans, Hamilton Square station architect's specification etc.
There is also a carbon copy of the letter from the Board of Trade giving permission for the railway to open subject to certain works being completed.
The only other piece of railwayana I have is a 25 ton Southern Railway 'Queen Mary' brake van, which i'm restoring at Llangollen.

Bob.

I suddenly realised that I had a map of 'Docks and Warehouses proposed to be made at Birkenhead' and dated 1844. Looking at it shows the line as 'Extension of Railway' and drawn from Grange Lane Station to the docks - I suppose that backs up the theory. I've attached some photos fo the map here.

Also, whilst on the Shrewbury - Birkenhead connection, I found another map I've got showing a proposed station of the 'Shrewsbury and Chester' railway dated 1850. Anyone know why the scheme foundered and how they proposed to get to Birkenhead (running powers over the Birkenhead - Chester?). I've put a photo of that map here too.

Excellent stuff, Billy !!
It looks as if the proposed site was near the Steam Packet Warf.
I think that the Shrewsbury & Chester was 'absorbed' by the GWR running powers then would not be a problem. Of course they ended up at Woodside. They could have proposed this site as it was already solid ground by the looks of it.
I like the bit on the title page "FRS, ETC", must have had a string of letters after his name !!

JM RENDEL James Meadows Rendel was quite an eminent civil engineer of his time.
This link gives an idea what was going on in Birekenhead at the time
Birkenhead history

And I think he's commemorated in Rendel Street.

The Birkenhead Extension - was the freight only line to the docks - which in itself possessed most of the engineering challenges faced on the Chester to Birkenhead section which had been open between Monks Ferry Station and Chester since 1840.

Engineering challenges included on this section - large tunnel under Waterloo Place - substantial road overbridges required at Marion Street, Bridge Street and Brook Street and a deep cutting from Argyle Street near Dacre Street all the way to Brook Street - all on a downward gradient of 1 in 100 from Green Lane - which doesn't sound much these days - but presented a stern challenge to early locos especially in the damp slippy tunnel section.

The line had been delayed by the failure of the initial Rendel 'Low Water Basin' scheme....

I've always understood the Birkenhead Extension lines to be the LNWR/GWR Joint goods lines operated from Blackpool Street Signal box (by the gas works) to the junctions with the MDHB lines (but not the Goods stations eg, Cathcart St, Edgerton Dock, Morpeth Dock.
Page 21 of the "Section Appendix to the Working Timetables for the Chester and Birkenhead and Shrewsbury & Hereford Sections" Jan 1st 1933 (reprinted by Avon AngliA about 20 years ago) starts:-
BIRKENHEAD EXTENSION
Brake Power. Trips between Extension and Float and High Level, Grange Lane,-
Except during bad weather the Joint shunting trucks supplied by the L.M.S Co. may be used as brake vans between the Extension, Float and High Level with a maximum load of 50 empty wagons or 35 loaded.
Incidentally, the Chester and Birkenhead and the Shrewsbury and Hereford Joint lines of the LMSR and GWR were administered from Shrewsbury station which is most probably why the memorial is there.

Thanks for the extra info. Keith.

8H Bob

did you know Harry Bibby? he was my Uncle, and worked at Mollington Street for years!