Hello wiki people can you help?....is it correct that overhead trains operated in liverpool around 1950ish ...would appreciate any info on this subject.
There's an Overhead car at the Museum of Liverpool at the pier head. I well remember riding it; it was a great way to see all the ships in the docks. If I remember correctly, a round trip from the Pier Head to Seaforth, Dingle and back, 13 miles, was one shilling and a penny (5 1/2p). I'm sure that was the same price as a day return by train from Woodside to Chester.
There's a book called "Seventeen Stations to Dingle" by John Gahan, available on Amazon. By the same author, a book about the Mersey Railway, "The Line Beneath the Liners" is good.
Here are some Overhead tickets. As you can see, you could buy tickets to nearby stations not on the Overhead. There were even three part tickets for use on the ferries. The red numbers on the tickets are the station numbers; from 1, Seaforth Sands to 17, Dingle. This enabled the ticket collector to see at a glance that your ticket was valid to that station.
A good way to spend a Saturday was to take the bus and ferry rides, then buy a round-trip ticket at Pier Head or James St. L.O.R. stations snd see the whole of the fascinating Liverpool Docks, end to end. You could get off at some stations and have a really close view of the ships over the platform fence. I never did get to sea, though!
My dad even took me and my brother on the overhead just before it was closed. He thought we should experience it because it would be something we would never experience again. We were only little lads at the time but I can still remember some of it. Nobody could aford a camera in those days, well he was a docker and was always skint. Just wish he had though, I'd love to see pics of the occasion.
I went on the Overhead as often as I could - schoolboy pocket money allowing. Always used to head for a motor car so I could listen to the howl of the motors under the floor. Some sets were still more or less in original form from the opening of the line in 1893 !! Wooden slatted seats etc. Oh for one more ride ? Always thought it strange that a trip on the Overhead started in an underground station ! (Dingle) It smelled of bad drains and disinfectant. Funny the things you remember.
A short clip from a film taken from the Motorman's cab. Not brilliant quality, but it gives you a flavour....
I would travel from James Street to Brunswick stations daily, the cost was 4½d third class and 6d first class return the trains consisted of 3 cars, the front and rear third class and the centre car first class and usually you would score a seat in first. The older cars with manual or opening outward doors were locked during travel in third class by the driver and guard respectively pushing or pulling a bar that had catches above the doors.. The reason obviously was to prevent an open door striking the railings each side of the cars---not much room either side of the train.--A sad day when they pulled down the DOCKERS UMBRELLA
