Most of you who went to the tunnel walk on fathers day 2 weeks ago there was a video given out Titled "History of Mersey tunnels" well here it is.. (Its in 2 parts cause of yout00bs limit) Enjoy...

Part one:
[youtube]0byufn7PR94[/youtube]

Part two:
[youtube]j1Mgh4ryAR0[/youtube]

Thanks Soundlad. That's really good. It's helps a bit knowing what your money goes towards!

excellent videos lee and yes its very interestin to find out wot our money is actually spent on excellent videos lee

interestin. nice one bud excellent video

Great Stuff.

Excellent Vids

Thanks for posting that, Lee. Now, here's a puzzle which has been troubling me & Pinzgauer. Have a look at part 1 of the video, at
1m 45s in, where it shows the Birkenhead junction chamber. Now compare it with the attached picture from a book published by the Mersey Tunnel Joint Committee in the 1950's. See the difference?

Yer it looks posh on that photo.. What happened to it lol..

In the photo the left tunnel wall has a jagged appearance.In the video it's smooth

Great pictures Chris.

All I see is the same as Colgo does. Why the difference?

thought it was gonna be boring but watched it all! at 00:33 lol

good post Lee

Not the difference Chris refers to, but note how clean and well maintained the tunnel walls and "ceilings" are. When I lived on the Wirral, the tunnel was regularly pressure washed & scrubbed with a purpose made semi-circular rig. Used to be done in the wee small hours. Any peeling paint was rapidly attended to.

I'm back on the Wirral for a few days and will be going through the tunnel again later today. I'm sure it will be smoke blackened, filthy, peeling paint throughout. Standards have plummeted whilst tolls continue to rise! A look at the photos of the recent walk through the tunnel will highlight the state of the place.

Mersey Travel - you inherited a well maintained masterpiece of civil engineering. What have you done to it ?? No doubt you will be "modernising" the magnificent Georges Dock Building next ? A light industrial type "tin shed" would do surely.MMmmmm.

Rant over. Time for my soggy Weetabix.

Surprised no one's spotted the difference yet.

Ah, but they have, Mike; Colgo was first. The top of the black glass dado originally was parallel with the roadway. In the later picture, it is stepped. I'm trying to find reasons/dates for this change, also, the date when this fine original feature of the tunnel was replaced with crummy cream plastic, which the tunnel staff admit is much harder to keep clean.

Just thought i would give this a little bump just incase some people havnt seen it

Nice bit of video ..
I seem to remmber there was lit up arrows in the roadway and traffic lights to turn right into the birkenhead dock exit when comming from l.pool. Was this the case ?

Was discussing this with Chris recently. Yes, you are quite right. The (flourescent) light fittings were inset into the road surface. Thick glass fittings in a heavy metal frame. Set every few feet on the approach to the junction. A set leading off into the "fast" lane if you wanted B'head docks.

The "slow" lane was a fixed green light, but the branch was normal traffic light aspects.

With today's peak traffic levels, I think there would be a right snarl-up waiting for the lights to change. Not that there would be much branch traffic anyway!

Glad someone else remembers this too.

I wasnt dreaming then? thanks Pinzgauer

A work of art! .. fascinated me when I first saw them ..never seen anything the like since .

wow, so the birkenhead dock branch used to be active? how did the tolls work with that entrance/exit as i don't remember seeing any evidence of toll booths when passing the approach road!?!
Does anyone know when they stopped it from being used?

The dock entrance was closed in 1965, if my memory is correct, money was taken on entering the tunnel, if you were exiting from the dock exit, fee already paid on Liverpool side.
http://www.cbrd.co.uk/indepth/queenswaytunnel/birkenhead/29.shtml

Disused toll booth

yes you paid at the booth prior to entering the tunnel. you handed the cash to the man in the booth who then gave you a ticket, there where no barriers of any sort. As you left the tunnel on the other side {be it Birkenhead or Liverpool} a tunnel policeman would flag cars at random for the driver to show his ticket as he slowely passed by the policeman. At some time after at least the early 50s {could have been even in the 60s} some ofthe toll booth collectors where found to have there hands in the till so to speak. It had been going on for quite some time and large sums of money was involved. Dont know the details or how many got jail for stealing the cash.

Are you sure it was 65 when the Dock rd line was closed? I was born in 65 and have memories of going down this link! Even the traffic lights in the tunnel!!!!

Likewise Hoseman, i thought i used it on my motorbike but i got that in 1969, i can blame it on the fumes, perhaps you should investigate your baby milk.

The Birkenhead Dock branch closed when the Wallasey tunnel opened in 1971. In the last few years, during rush hour, it was used as an entrance only, and the Liverpool branch was used as an exit only.

While you are now not allowed to change lanes anywhere in the tunnel, when the branch was in operation illuminated arrows in the road surface of the main tunnel directed traffic to change lanes at the junctions.

Small snippet of video where the Birkenhead and Liverpool headings meet 1928.
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAKS9SUG5BSHG3M0TB113W2TCC-ENB2024/query/birkenhead

Here is another one with the dignitaries meeting in the middle.
You can see the rock is cut or possibly filled back in to make it easier for them to break through for the cameras.
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/1-700-feet-below-the-mersey/query/birkenhead