If it was to link into the Wrexham line, as shown on some maps, it wouldn't have been electrified. I guess a cutting & embankment would have dealt with Swan Hill, or maybe they'd have continued the tunnel to the bottom of Swan Hill. Remember, there was a lot of tunneling expertise around at the time, just after the Mersey Railway tunnel.
I remember DC (?voltage) being used in the old tech college in Tranmere about 1953 and I don't think it was internally generated. I'd like to know something of the history of elec supply and changeover in Birkenhead. Presumably ALL the streets had to be recabled! Bri
Dont know about the other area's of the town but in Lower Tranmere we had gas street lighting well into 1950s and no electric only gas supplies to the houses till arround 1950 and then electric AC cable was ran along the streets and slowly the houses got electric put in them, provided you or the landlord if the house was rented where prepared to pay for it to be ran into house {which most of them where those days}
Ships that pass in the night, seldom seen and soon forgoten
It is interesting to note that the railway companies bought up much land on the Wirral. I presume with the intention of building lines across Wirral. I used to live off Palm Grove. There was a Methodist Church on the corner of Lorne Road and Palm Grove. About 25 years ago it was being pulled down and planning permission was being applied for to build houses. I was surprised to recieve a letter from The then British Railways Board informing me of their plans for the site. The church was built on land that they must have leased from the then railway company.
One of the books that Wirral Council reprinted in the late 80's,90's,I think called the Hundred of Wirral from about 1880,has a pullout map of Birkenhead with railway line markings showing what was built and what was going to be built.
There's supposed to be a trian underground in London on some long abandoned experimental line which was powered by compressed air. One story was that children discovered the train complete with skeletons of the passenegers who were trapped when it was inconsiderately sealed up. The other is that it is just the train that was sealed up. Let's hope so. Heard the story but have no idea where it is.
At the bottom of Elmswood road, Borough road widens to double its usual width and then narrows again after Sing ave. Maybe the planners were expecting to build something there?
Interesting. I also see that the corridor of land between Borough Rd. and Derby Rd. which was left vacant, presumably for the railway, is now Victoria Fields.
May I offer a few memories regarding this topic. The building now a vacant plot at the bottom of Singleton Ave had a sign saying Arrowbrook motors but I often waited for a bus opposite but never recall seeing any activity there. Round the corner the land where the Tech was built was allotments with a notice saying that it was owned by the Railway company I recall my father telling me that it was to be a station on the proposed line between Central Station and the Wrexham Line. Hope this is of some interest.
Here's a Bartholomew 1898 Atlas map showing the line and intersections as if existing! It's not very detailed as it's a big 'blow up' from a large map.
Thanks for posting that map; most interesting that it shows the triangle which was never built. As far as railways are concerned, the map is a total fiction. Study the area around town. Unless I'm mistaken, that terminus is Monks Ferry which closed in 1878 when Woodside opened. Also, it shows a solid line between the Chester line & the Mersey Railway/Wirral Railway line to Bidston, & doesn't show the Mersey Railway line from Park Station (not shown) to Hamilton Square, which opened in 1888.
What was Town Station in Little Grange Road, it looks to be on the woodside rail running under Lower Ivy Street. 1911 map. Was it part of the scheme of things.
