Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History The Mersey Tunnel Railway 1883

The picture of the damaged station tower is among the other pictures of devastation that took place in and around Church Street that 1941 blitz.

On Friday, 12th January 1940, the Liverpool Daily Post reported an accident at Hamilton Square station. On the previous Wednesday, at about 5pm, a hydraulic passenger lift at Hamilton Square Station, while loading with passengers, plunged 80 feet to the bottom of the shaft, with about seventy people on-board. 55 to 60 people were rushed to Birkenhead General Hospital, where a number were found to have one or both legs broken.

In a side column on the same page, the 'Post also commented that "The James St Station lifts which were recently erected, are the largest electric lifts in the country, but the fastest lifts are those in Exchange Buildings, of which Derby House has just been completed."

In a later article, it is stated that in March 1940, a decision was made to install two electric lifts at Hamilton Square Station, similar to those in James St., with the work expected to be completed by October.

Therefore, it would seem that the lifts were already electric before the 1941 blitz. While the tanks may have been redundant to the operation of the hydraulic lifts (if that was what they were for) then why were two of them so important as to be re-instated on the roof of the truncated tower by the time of the later photograph? Could it have been an emergency water supply perhaps? And, what happened to the third lift at Hamilton Square?

More questions than answers again...

The tanks on the roof of James St. station look remarkably like compressed air storage cylinders.

That is why I do not think they are water tanks
But what are they and what are they for?
Why didn't Hamilton Square have them?

Agreed

My thoughts exactly, but again, for what?

There was probably some equipment in the stations which was operated by compressed air; maybe the lift doors.