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Being a fairly big geek when it comes to matters of these sorts of things I found it surprising that there wasn't a single topic on something like this so I felt as though I had to correct this! What can people reveal about the history of our railways? Through whole lines closing such as the line formerly incorporating the current Wirral Way to the current Kingsway tunnel approach, formerly home to two stations. What about our grand former terminus at Woodside and its older brother at Monks Ferry? Perhaps you can help enlighten us about the Mollington Street sheds or provide us witn an insight to the former docks railway?

My own memories are pretty short, given I'm only 26 and most of the changes had already occurred, but I do still remember the trains travelling along the docks in the late 80s and the three-platform layout of Birkenhead Park, a remnant of the days when you had to change here if you wanted to travel to Liverpool or, in the opposite direction, to West Kirby or New Brighton, you can still see the big heap of spoil taken from the rationalisation of it if you look left as you're pulling into Park station going towards Liverpool.

Anyway, I'm sure people will have their own memories of using the trains or of pulling into a station that no longer exists, or can you point out remnants of one that others may not notice?

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Some tickets I bought a while back from eBay, I do ask though that they aren't watermarked, they're for use by anyone.
Theres a topic called parkgate station which has some good photos on.I've added one of mine which is of neston south in 1956.Its part of the wirral way now which runs from the top of station road towards willaston.My grandad worked there as a porter before it shut down

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Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 6th May 2009 10:30am
As part of my Story of Wallasey website I do intend to tackle the history of it's railway. At the moment I am working on the Electric Tramways of Wallasey. Then it's Theatres. Then it's Churches...so much to do, not enough hours in the day!
Posted By: _Ste_ Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 6th May 2009 11:40am
Paul do you know out about St Peters and Paulls in New Brighton by any chance?

Thanks for sharing stuey smile
Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 6th May 2009 4:30pm
Originally Posted by _Ste_
Paul do you know out about St Peters and Paulls in New Brighton by any chance?



Are you referring to the demolished church that stood on the corner of Hope Street / Rowson Street (St Peter and St. Paul's) that was built in 1881 but was bombed in the Second World War and demolished or the "Dome of Home" (Ss Peter and Paul) that still stands on the heights on Atherton Street and was opened in 1935?
Posted By: _Ste_ Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 6th May 2009 6:20pm
Originally Posted by PaulWirral
Originally Posted by _Ste_
Paul do you know out about St Peters and Paulls in New Brighton by any chance?



Are you referring to the demolished church that stood on the corner of Hope Street / Rowson Street (St Peter and St. Paul's) that was built in 1881 but was bombed in the Second World War and demolished or the "Dome of Home" (Ss Peter and Paul) that still stands on the heights on Atherton Street and was opened in 1935?


The dome mate, thats the one still standing smile
Stuey

Im just doing a page on Wirral railways now mate. Got lots of old photos of rail tickets and baggage tickets. I'll see if i can get some over to you mate if your interested in that sort of stuff.
Posted By: purfek Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 7th May 2009 12:02am
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/
Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 7th May 2009 12:06am
Originally Posted by _Ste_
Originally Posted by PaulWirral
Originally Posted by _Ste_
Paul do you know out about St Peters and Paulls in New Brighton by any chance?



Are you referring to the demolished church that stood on the corner of Hope Street / Rowson Street (St Peter and St. Paul's) that was built in 1881 but was bombed in the Second World War and demolished or the "Dome of Home" (Ss Peter and Paul) that still stands on the heights on Atherton Street and was opened in 1935?


The dome mate, thats the one still standing smile


Without trying to make two topics in one thread.. if you go to my site you can read up Pre-church history - "Sand Rock"

http://...co.uk/wallasey/mansions_around_albion_street/index.html
Posted By: _Ste_ Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 7th May 2009 1:15am
thankyou, sorry about interupting smile
Stuey,
I'm new here but I am just completing an article on the early history of Mollington Street loco sheds and the nearby railway lines - until the early '60's that is - will post shortly - probably over the weekend.
Posted By: 8HBob Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 7th May 2009 7:55pm
I have got a lot of photos of Mollington St. sheds in steam days. I even have a photo of myself looking out of a carriage window at Woodside behind a tank loco on the Paddington train.
The only surviving piece of Mollington St. shed is the loco rostering board which we retrieved when the shed closed & took to Southport Railway Museum. It is now at the Ribble Steam Railway in Preston, but is damaged as they accidentally put it into a container with a leaking roof. They also have the large 'Birkenhead Woodside'enamel sign from the front of the signal box.

Bob.
That's cool about the Woodside sign, I know there's very little left of the station itself so any preservation of it is always welcome in my eyes smile I've got a fair few books on the railways themselves, not so much the locos as they've never really grabbed me, my books are:
Liverpool and Manchester Railway by David Singleton.
British Railways Atlas 1947 - ISBN 0-7110-2438-3
A Portrait of Wirral's Railways by Roger Jermy - ISBN 0 907768 17 2
Railways Around Lancashire by A.C. Gilbert & N.R. Knight
Paddington to the Mersey by Dr. R. Preston Hendry & R. Powell Hendry - ISBN 0-86093-442-X
Railway Stations of Wirral - ISBN 1-899241-02-7
The Hooton to West Kirby Branch Line - ISBN 0 904582 04 3

I've got another couple somewhere, one green one with Mersey in the title but it eludes me and one on railway junction diagrams from 100 years ago or so.

disused stations was my main foray into the whole business, it's a wonderful site that will hopefully keep memories fresh. I did manage to find a couple of pictures of Birkenhead Park station during the war if anyone's interested? I can't find the site I took them from but once I do I'll gladly remove them at the owner's behest.

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You can make out the war damage to its station building.
I had a brief visit to Wirral yesterday & took some pics of a few disused stations, mostly on the B'head-Chester line. I'll post them here soon.
A couple of books I like, which aren't on your list both by John Gahan:
The Line Beneath the Liners; Story of the Mersey Railway.
ISBN 0 907768 40 7 or ISBN 0 905446 57 8
Seventeen Stations to Dingle; Liverpool Overhead Railway.
ISBN 0 907768 20 2 or ISBN 0 905446 54 3

Cheers, Chris.
Always wondered why the got rid of the classy old station building at Birkenhead Park, it makes sense now....bomb damage, good pictures.
With this topic in mind, when I visited Wirral last Thursday, I took some pictures of station sites now long closed. In most cases, virtually no evidence remains. I’ve made much use of one of the definitive books on the subject: “Railway Stations of Wirral”, details in Stuey’s last post

Working from Chester, the first is Upton-by-Chester, where the A5116 crosses the line, between the Dale camp & the hospital. As I remember, the name boards used to say “for Chester Zoo”. With the housing developments nearer to Chester, the station closed in 1984 & was replaced by Bache, nearly ½ mile nearer Chester. In the pic, you can just see Bache station in the distance. As you can see, the platforms remain.

The next station was Mollington, just after the viaduct crossing the valley with the Shropshire Union Canal in it. It can be reached from the A41 by turning off at the top of Backford Hill, down Station Rd. (naturally)! It closed in 1960. Its isolated location meant it was never busy. The station house, now privately owned, is very fine. The shield over the door carries the motto “Virtutis Praemium Honor” which translates as “Honour is the Reward of Virtue”. Among other attributions, this is the motto of the Millington family; Millington / Mollington; wonder if there’s a connection.

Between Capenhurst, still open, & Hooton there was Ledsham, at the junction of the A550 (the Welsh Road) and the B5463 from Little Sutton. Of this, only the Station Master’s house remains. You can see it in the picture on Page 18 of “Railway Stations of Wirral”. As at Mollington, expected development of the area didn’t happen & the station was never busy. It closed in 1959.

It was between Capenhurst & Ledsham that the line was made 4 track. There was a signal box there called Ledsham Junction. It is assumed that the 4 track ended here to save the expense of a second viaduct across the valley. As you travel in from Ledsham to Birkenhead the evidence of the 4 tracks is still there in the bridges with disused arches.
“Railway Stations of Wirral” contains some fine pictures of the stations, in particular, one of Birkenhead Town.

I suppose mention must be made of the upstart stations, Bromborough Rake, opened 1985 at the time of electrification and Eastham Rake, 1995. These are obviously useful commuter stations, but have no place in the history of a line which dates back to 1840, just 10 years after the Liverpool & Manchester, the first intercity passenger line.

A station which has totally disappeared was between Rock Ferry & Birkenhead Town. It was called, first, Lime Kiln Lane (later St.Paul’s Rd.) & in about 1855 the name changed to Tranmere. It closed a few years later; it was probably too close to Rock Ferry. Incidentally, it’s worth noting that there was never a main line station at Green Lane.





The last site I visited was Storeton, on the Bidston - Wrexham line. It’s on Station Rd, between Storeton & Barnston & it was originally called Storeton for Barnston. A school friend of mine worked there in the ticket office. It had a booking office at road level, the same as Upton; picture on page 59, Railway Stations of Wirral. It was built out over the tracks & didn’t project into the road at all. You can see the change in the brick wall where it used to be. I was able to get down to where the Wrexham bound platform used to be to take another pic.

An interesting thing to see from the bridge is an expansion joint in the continuous welded rail. It’s called a Brogden Joint (thanks, Pinzgauer). I’ve never seen one before.


A station worth a mention, although not in Wirral, is Waverton, the first station out of Chester, on the line to Crewe. The original station was ½ mile to the East of the later one. It opened in 1840 & closed in 1898 when the new station opened. What happened was this: the Duke of Westminster, (family name Grosvenor), who was the richest man in England, (he owned most of Mayfair & Belgravia; the current Duke still does), had his family estate at Eaton Hall, a few miles away on the river Dee. Because it would be more convenient to him & was close to one of his private drives, he had the station moved, at his own expense & re-built in the grand style. He probably kept his own private train there for his frequent visits to London. The building on the Crewe line is well preserved; there was an identical one on the Chester side which burned down. The goods depot is well preserved too, but could do with a lick of paint.

Cheers, Chris.



Description: Upton-by-Chester
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Description: Mollington 1
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Description: Mollington 2
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Description: Ledsham 1
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Description: Ledsham 2
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Description: Storeton 1
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Description: Storeton 2
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Description: Storeton 3
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Description: Waverton 1
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Description: Waverton 2
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Description: Waverton 3
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Description: Brogden joint. (no, not that sort of joint)!!
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The Lime Kiln Lane station on St Pauls Rd was between Rock Ferry and Green Lane stations not Green Lane and Town Station. A friend of mine who has an interest in Wirral railway history pointed this station out to me last year, i knew nothing of it. Evidently, there is still visable brickwork that shows that there was a station there, noticable only if you know what yu're looking for. I haven't been down there but intend to have a mooch some time.
Originally Posted by stegga
The Lime Kiln Lane station on St Pauls Rd was between Rock Ferry and Green Lane stations not Green Lane and Town Station.


Please re-read my post. There was never a main line station at Green Lane. Lime Kiln/Tranmere was between Rock Ferry & town.
Posted By: purfek Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 8th May 2009 10:26pm
Nice photos thanku for sharing them
Trying to get an order in which the stations all closed (to passengers, completely in brackets), so here's what I've got so far that are Wirral-based:

1844 - Grange Lane (Birkenhead)
1857 - Lime Kiln Lane/Tranmere
1862 - Rock Lane
1872 - Leasowe Crossing
1878 - Monks' Ferry (1967)
1915 - Warren
1945 - Birkenhead Town (1961)
1951 - Storeton (1964)
1954 - Caldy, Kirby Park & Thurstaston (all 1962)
1955 - Burton Point
1956 - West Kirby (Joint), Heswall, Parkgate, Neston South & Hadlow Road (all 1962)
1959 - Ledsham
1960 - Liscard and Poulton & Seacombe
1967 - Woodside
Posted By: chriskay Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 16th May 2009 11:42am
Hi, Stuey; this raises an interesting question: where does the Wirral end? I don't really know & although I wouldn't consider Upton-by-Chester to be Wirral, I've always thought of Mollington as still Wirral. What do you think?

Cheers, Chris.
Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 16th May 2009 3:46pm
excellent information guys smile thanks for sharing thumbsup
Well I was wondering whether to include Mollington (and Rifle Range Halt) myself, I guess I've always personally considered the boundary of Wirral to be somewhere around Neston/Hooton area but then I'm 26 and never knew of a Cheshire-administered Wirral, I think it's a topic in itself. For those curious though Rifle Range Halt closed in 1954 and Mollington on 1960. At the same sort of latitude as Mollington you have a small branch with Birkenhead Junction/Chester Golf Club Platform (Halt)/Connah's Quay Shotton (approximately a 1923 closure), Sealand (1968), Saughall (1954) and Liverpool Road (Chester) (1951).
Where is Wirral? First, you must define what you mean by 'Wirral':

If you mean The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, an administrative area created on April 1st 1974 (I always thought a very apt date), then Wirral only extends as far the Borough of Neston and Ellesmere Port.

If you mean The Wirral Peninsula, then it is the area of land bounded by the Mersey and Dee estuaries, the Irish Sea and the Deva Spillway.

If you mean The Hundred of Wirral, an administrative area created in 1086, it originally extended as far east as the River Gowy. Picton, Wervin, Upton by Chester, Mickle Trafford and Guilden Sutton were transferred to Broxton Hundred.

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Wirral Hundred at the time of Domesday

1. Wallasey
2. Meols
3. Greasby
4. Upton
5. Noctorun
6. Great Caldy
7. Little Caldy
8. Landican
9. Prenton
10. Thurstaston
11. Thingwall
12. Storeton
13. Barnston
14. Heswall
15. Poulton Lancelyn
16. Gayton
17. Thornton Hough
18. Leighton
19. Raby
20. Hargrave
21. Eastham
22. Hooton
23. Great Neston
24. Little Neston
25. Hadlow
26. Netherpool and Overpool
27. Ness
28. Great and Little Sutton
29. Ledsham
30. Stanney
31. Puddington
32. Capenhurst
33. Shotwick
34. Lea nr Backford
35. Croughton
36. Picton*
37. Saughall
38. Wervin*
39. Mollington
40. Upton by Chester*
41. Mickle Trafford*
42. Blacon
43. Guilden Sutton*

*latter transferred to Broxton Hundred
Originally Posted by uptoncx
Where is Wirral? First, you must define what you mean by 'Wirral':



If you mean The Wirral Peninsula, then it is the area of land bounded by the Mersey and Dee estuaries, the Irish Sea and the Deva Spillway.





Thanks for that, Upton. I was thinking of the Wirral peninsula; where is this Deva Spillway of which you speak? With that name, it must be pretty close to Chester.

Cheers, Chris.
The Dava Spillway is a glacial valley which runs from Ellesmere Port to Chester. The Shropshire Union Canal was built along the spillway:

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Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 17th May 2009 9:49am
Interesting stuff uptoncx ! I hadn't heard of the Deva Spillway either. I must have been soundly asleep at the back of the Geography class that day !!
Posted By: bert1 Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 17th May 2009 10:09am
I think i'm right in saying the Spillway is also known as the Backford gap.
Posted By: chriskay Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 17th May 2009 12:48pm
Thanks, That's clear & makes sense as the boundary.

Cheers, Chris.
Hi everyone! I'm new here, but I thought I'd better get active and join in!! hi So I hope the following is of some interest. thumbsup

Some years ago, while I was browsing round an antique centre in Lincolnshire, I spotted an old map. Looking closer, it was titled 'Map and section of the proposed Chester and Birkenhead Railway' and dated 1836. Other details state that the Engineer was non other than Goerge Stephenson. Obviously, being a Wirral lad and very interested in the railways of the area, I had to buy it.

The map is about 40" long and about 18" wide, but unfortunately the top left hand corner has been torn off and lost which has removed about half of Liverpool. It is lightly hand tinted with colour, but has faded a bit with time. Interestingly, the line in this map goes right to Woodside - I believe that when the line was actually built it terminated at Grange Lane.

My questions are 1) Who would have been the intended users of this map been for? 2) How many would have been printed? 3) Does anyone know of any others that survive? (In a Museum or records office?) I've certainly never seen any books or anything that show it.

If anyone is interested, perhaps I might post some photos of it here? (if I can work out how to do it!) confused doh

Anyway, I hope someone can help with the answers to the above.

Cheers,
Billy. thumbsup
The line temporarily went to Grange Lane in 1840 and was extended to Monks Ferry in 1844, it wasn't until 1878 that it went on to Woodside Ferry.

Your map sounds interesting, I don't think you will find it is unique, railways affect such large areas that many copies of maps are usually made. I guess your map was largely adopted because of the short timescale until the route was authorised which was in 1837. The national Archives show extensive records for this railway which are held at Kew.

Photograph the map with a camera and put it up, I am sure many members will appreciate it, not only for the rail content.
OK - I took the map outside to photograph it, and at the time didn't notice the reflections - sorry about that. If anyone was really really interested I could try again on a less sunny day.

Anyway, I've taken lots of shots across the map as this shows the detail better; If you save them, you can zoom into them quite a bit - I just hope that they upload OK as I've not done this before!! eek

If they're OK, they'll show as follows:
1. Overall view of the map (plus tree reflections!! blush)
2. The Map Title: 'Plan and Section of the Proposed Chester & Birkenhead Railway 1836'
3. Birkenhead (Plus the torn section - I've just created a crude 'replacement' (which is a guess) just so that it displays better.)
4. Tranmere and the Bebbington (sic) Parish
5. Spittle (sic) and Bromborow (sic) Townships
6. Eastham and Childer Thornton Townships
7. Little Sutton and Ledsham Townships
8. Shotwick and Capenhurst Townships
9. Great and Little Mollington Townships
10. Chester
11. Section at Birkenhead Chapelry (I'm not sure what the 'Archway' is depicting - I guess it's a tunnel?)
12. Section at Bromborow

So here goes - I hope they are of interest.

Cheers,
Billy. thumbsup

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And I'll resize them in future!! blush blush blush

Oops...
Thanks for posting that; very interesting. Looking at the Birkenhead end, it would seem that the line was not intended to go to the Woodside station we know, but from a point about where Town station was, it was to follow the line of Albion St., on the Hamilton St. side & ending about where Woodside Business Park (the old lairage) is. It is drawn as being on the surface, except for a short section of tunnel, or probably a cutting, between, roughly, Brandon St. & Bridge St.
Thanks for posting that Billy, looks good, don't worry about the reflections - everything can be seen and it is very difficult to stop that happening.

What actually happened with the railway is quite a bit different from that map, even though it was finalised only a year after this.
I seem to remember reading, almost certainly on here, that the original plan to take the line to Woodside was contested by the Monks' & Tranmere ferries because it would favour the Woodside ferry over the others. However, it was only four years before the line went to Monks' Ferry. Can anyone enlighten me?
Was this something to do with Liverpool buying the Birkenhead docklands and all the associated shannanigans, it is somewhere on here.
Posted By: Worzel Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 18th Jun 2009 6:36pm
At the start of this thread are several examples of tickets ...

Have you seen this site, which has both rail and bus tickets, mostly from the merseyside area?

http://ticketmachines.photosnaps.org.uk/

Okay, how come the pictures I've put up have been watermarked? I did ask that they weren't.
Originally Posted by BigBadStuey
Okay, how come the pictures I've put up have been watermarked? I did ask that they weren't.

If you did not attach your pictures to a post, but instead used an alternative image hosting site such as photobucket, then your unstamped images will remain there.

The images you posted have been uploaded to our server to keep the integrity of the topic.

In order for these images to reside on our server, using our bandwidth, we simply place a small watermark on images we upload.

These watermarks also allow anyone who finds the images elsewhere to find the site where they originated from and join the community.

Any further questions or comments, please PM myself, Mark or any of the other Wirral History Moderators.

smile
As promised - an extract from some research I am doing - hopefully ot develop into a book.

Relates to the various engine sheds that used to exist in Birkenhead in the steam age......
Please let me know if I have used too much jargon or the like !

____________________________________________________

BIDSTON
MANCHESTER SHEFFIELD AND LINCLONSHIRE RAILWAY
1897 – 11th Feb 1963

Located to the north of Birkenhead North station on the west side of the line was a brick built 2 track straight dead-ended shed with a north-light pattern roof. Facilities included a water tank and a coal stage. It was accompanied by a 2 road carriage shed and a large marshalling yard, on the same site. At some point prior to nationalisation, the shed was re-roofed and a brick screen installed. It was demolished following closure. The shed provided servicing facilities for the dock shunters and visiting locos.

BIRKENHEAD MOLLINGTON STREET
1878 – 06th November 1967 (Steam) – 24th November 1985 (Diesel)

Birkenhead Mollington Street was a large single-ended shed opened in 1879 and backed onto the end of the street of the same name.
In terms of its’ location in relation to the Birkenhead Woodside – Chester main line, it lay to the west of the line at a lower level, due to the mainline running on a raised level over the pre-existing roads and developments.
When first built much attention needed to be paid to the levelling and engineering of the site, which effectively stood about a third of the way up a rising sandstone ridge.

This shed was located south of Birkenhead Town station to the west of the line. It was originally 2 identical brick built 8 track straight dead-ended sheds with a north-light pattern roof. The site was shared jointly with the GWR but the shed was built in standard L&NWR style. The LNWR was assigned the task of being responsible for buildings on the Birkenhead Joint, which is why can view this shed was a classic large LNWR straight shed.
The L&NWR shed was built along the southern wall of the GWR shed and was also a brick built 8 track straight dead-ended shed with a north-light pattern roof.
Effectively A large 16 road shed – it was one of the first examples on a large scale of co-operation between the GWR and LNWR who jointly ran the former Birkenhead Joint Railway. The LNWR occupied roads 1-8, whilst the GWR occupied the remaining 9-16 bays. The building itself when first built was made up of 16 single-ended roads, to the standard LNWR (Webb) north-light design, with a brick wall between roads 8 and 9 forming a boundary wall. This was replaced later by a flimsy wooden screen fence which was demolished by Luftwaffe bombing and never replaced, when an unexploded bomb, put out of action roads 7 and 8 (it fell directly onto road 8) trapping several Jinties and G2 locos on the shed side of the hole !.

In 1936, the former L&NWR shed was reduced in length and the roof replaced with one of a multi-pitched design. The roof was refurbished in 1961, at the same time as the roof of the former GWR shed was replaced by one of a multi-pitched design. The 2 sets of servicing facilities provided on site (one set for each company), were replaced by one set of mechanical ash plant and one coaling plant in 1954-5. Following closure, the shed was used a diesel depot until 24th November 1985 and finally demolished in July 1987. The site remains unused (2009), although the adjacent coal yard has been redeveloped to form the Appin Way industrial estate.

Originally, the 2 sides of the shed were run as separate entities, each with their own coaling, turntables and ash disposal areas, being duplicated and run as completely separate sets of facilities. The LNWR operated a standard LNWR ‘coal hole’ whilst the far more substantial GWR coaling facility rivalled those of other large sheds on the GWR system. The GWR turntable was xxft. Whilst the LMS was xxft., with a 70ft turntable being installed in 1940 to relieve servicing delays at the very busy wartime shed.

BIRKENHEAD SHORE ROAD
CHESHIRE LINES COMMITTEE (CLC)
1888 – 05th June 1961

Located to the west of Shore Road Goods station on the south side of the line was a timber built 1 track straight dead-ended shed with a gable style roof. After closure, it was used to service and store the private shunting engines of Joseph Perrin. (see below)

Once a sub-shed of Trafford Park, (Manchester), this unusual state of affairs was due to the fact that Trafford Park was the premier CLC shed – with at the time all other sheds being classed as subsidiary sheds. This changed after nationalisation, when geographical shed codes were allocated, placing Shore Road, as a sub-shed under the ex-LNER/GCR/MSLR shed at Bidston.

Located at the end of a large marshalling yard, outside the Cheshire Lines warehouse, it featured its’ own small single-road engine shed, which was long enough to house a number of shunting engines and had rudimentary servicing facilities (a coal ramp and water crane) for resident shunting engines and visiting tender engines that then did not need to travel to the main Eastern Region shed at Bidston, over the MDHB main line, for which a charge was incurred, levied for any train movement over these private lines.

Running powers for the CLC trains were available over the LMS/GWR Birkenhead Joint line and goods trains travelled over the Helsby and Mickle Trafford lines to gain the Birkenhead line. This brought ex-LNER locos to Birkenhead.
Believed to have survived until 1971 – although it had been unused for some period before that..

BIRKENHEAD CENTRAL
MERSEY RAILWAY
03rd Jan.1886 – 03rd May 1903 – (Steam)

Located at the south end of Birkenhead Central station on the east side of the line was a 3 track straight dead-ended shed, opposite the Electric Carriage sheds, which were alongside the Rock Ferry platform, 3 roads of which still survive today (2009).
Facilities included a turntable, located on the far side of the running lines and through the overbridge which carried Mollington Street over the Mersey Railway lines. Following closure the old steam shed continued to be used as a carriage shed and survived until at least 1967 but has now been demolished..

BIRKENHEAD NORTH
WIRRAL RAILWAY
02nd Jan 1888 – 13th March 1938

This shed was located in the Goods station to the north of Birkenhead North station and on the east side of the line. It was a rudimentary, corrugated iron 2 track straight shed with one through road and with a pitched corrugated iron roof. Facilities included a water tank and a coaling shed. In 1934, the roof was replaced with one in a Dutch barn style again of corrugated iron. The building was demolished following closure, which occurred after the electrification of the line through to West Kirby.

BIRKENHEAD TOWN
BIRKENHEAD & CHESTER RAILWAY
23rd Sept 1840 – 1878

Located to the west side of Birkenhead Town station, this was an LNWR brick built 2 track dead-ended shed with a hipped roof. Sharing its eastern wall was the GWR 3 road straight shed, which unusually for a GWR straight shed had a north-light pattern slate roof. At some date prior to 1878, (some evidence points to 1856-8) both depots were extended, to address the shortage of accommodation for locos.
A curiosity of this shed was that the LNWR building had gable-ended roofing, familiar on GWR sheds, whilst the GWR had the familiar north-light roofing extensively used on the LNWR for straight sheds !.

On the opening of the large joint GWR/LNWR depot at Mollington Street, Birkenhead Town depot (LNWR) became a large goods warehouse for non-docks related traffic for the local area, being handily situated near to the rear of the main Post Office building for Birkenhead, on Argyle Street.

The adjacent GWR shed became a wagon and carriage repair depot.

The former LNWR building survived until at least 1971.

PRIVATE SHUNTING COMPANIES
Joseph Perrin & Sons Ltd. Started 1891 shunting with the Birkenhead, a 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive. The engine shed was close to the Egerton Bridge and was in fact the former CLC Shore Road establishment, which was taken over in July 1961.

William J. Lee. Around 1885 began shunting with the Wallasey, a 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive. Other locomotives used include Homepride, formerly of Paul Bros. Homepride flour mills (Seacombe).
Lee’s engine shed lay parallel to Birkenhead Road, Seacombe, on the river-side of the road, just north of the Alfred Dock, and was of stout brick construction, though as traffic expanded, with further accommodation being required, it was extended rearwards, by means of a rather less-solid timber extension. The shed was demolished in the mid 1980’s, after having stood empty and unused for a number of years.


Thanks for that, bigpete. It would help if we could have an illustration of the roof designs, as I don't suppose many of us would understand "north-light.

Cheers, Chris.
p.s you have a PM.
Originally Posted by chriskay
Thanks for that, bigpete. It would help if we could have an illustration of the roof designs, as I don't suppose many of us would understand "north-light.

Cheers, Chris.
p.s you have a PM.


PM taken on board and responded to....

Yes, roofing jargon !.

A Northlight Roof faces north to maximise light and from the side looks not unlike an upturned wood saw blade - I will try and post a picture - if I can find an un-copyrighted image !.

Cheers
Pete
Some more from a mates collection of photos from 1967 - down at the docks this time.

See Woodside Station and Mollington Street Sheds for the others.

There will be one more set to come - Rock Ferry Station.

Anyway, hope they're of interest...

Billy.


Description: Standard 9F No 92167 on 7th Aug 1967
Attached picture 92167-070867[1].jpg

Description: 9F 92167 turning off the docks system at Canning St onto the main line looking towards Cleveland St
Attached picture 92167-070867[2].jpg

Description: 9F 92167 - 7th Aug 1967
Attached picture 92167-070867[3].jpg

Description: 9F 92167 - 7th Aug 1967
Attached picture 92167-070867[4].jpg

Description: Stanier 8F No 48170 on one of the docks' lifting bridges (not sure which one)
Attached picture Docks-48170[1].jpg

Description: Unknown 8F - 1967
Attached picture 8F-Docks1967[2].jpg
This is Duke Street crossing Cathcart Street sheds the ship just in veiw a Blue Funnel ship dead end dock with clan birth in background.
Cheers PB - thanks for the info.
Posted By: 8HBob Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 22nd Feb 2010 11:12pm
Great set of photos ! I can't wait to see the Rock Ferry ones.
There is a low stone wall on the 'river' side of the station on which we used to carve the numbers of any rare locos which went past. I always wanted to go back & see if they're still there. I got told off numerous times for not paying attention from our upstairs classroom at Rock Ferry Primary School in 1963/4 - it had a fantastic view of the railway.

Bob.
There's only three of Rock Ferry I'm afraid Bob, but one of them might just show that very stone wall you're talking about... think

There are another two as well - one at Port Sunlight and the other at Bebington+New Ferry. I'll try to put them up today - if not, it'll be tomorrow...

Billy.
These are the last batch of photo's from my mates collection - Port Sunlight, Bebington and Rock Ferry. Hope they're of interest.

Billy.

Bob - is that your wall on the left - photo 2 of Rock Ferry?


Description: Stanier 8F on the up slow at Port Sunlight looking towards Bebington. 1967
Attached picture 8F-Port_Sunlight.jpg

Description: Standard 9F 92046 passes Bebington & new Ferry signal box at speed (05/08/67)
Attached picture 92046-050867Beb.jpg

Description: Rock Ferry Station looking towards Green Lane. The electric lines are on the left
Attached picture Rock_Ferry[1].jpg

Description: Rock Ferry again looking towards Chester. Note the towers of the goods lifts on the footbridge
Attached picture Rock_Ferry[2].jpg

Description: Finally, the station building at Rock Ferry from the bridge on Bedford Road
Attached picture Rock_Ferry[3].jpg
Posted By: 8HBob Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 23rd Feb 2010 11:30pm
That's the wall on the middle Rock Ferry photo. The carvings should start somewhere beyond where the bike is propped against the wall. If any amateur archaeologists want to look for our carvings it would be interesting to know if they still survive.

Bob.
Had a wander round yesterday and walked up the entryway in your picture 4 (Chester-bound, behind the Pub on Bedford Road). The little sandstone wall is still there, but any markings/carvings seem to have eroded with time. The high red brick wall further up towards the station, though, has a couple of what seem to be bricked up windows in it - does anyone know if there was another building there?

Attached picture DSC02273.JPG
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Posted By: 8HBob Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 27th Feb 2011 4:29pm
That platform had waiting rooms & toilets on it, so the windows must have belonged to one of these.
Excellent set of photos.
Shame if our historic carvings have eroded away thogh.

Bob.
The Station looked much better like this - why didn't they leave it as it was? frown
Found this pic on "Old Liverpool Railways Photos" last night - hope it's ok to reproduce?



Attached picture map of old wirral railway.jpg
Also snaffled from "Old Liverpool Railway Photos"!!

smile

Sorry, should have said, Photos 1 & 2 Birkenhead Woodside, Photo 3 Port Sunlight, Photos 4 & 5 Rock Ferry.

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those carvings were there in early 90's. remember finding them. if i had done such a thing i would get told off by the vandal himself. not have a pencil then?
Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 16th Mar 2011 12:18am
I really wish I lived in the 'olden days' and I'm lapping up all this info - good work guys, really interesting.
Visited the National Railway Museum in York yesterday and found this pic of the frontage of the old Birkenhead Park Station. Sorry about the flash.

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Originally Posted by Christo
Found this pic on "Old Liverpool Railways Photos" last night - hope it's ok to reproduce?



Just noticed; the position of Tranmere station is wrong. It was on St.Paul's Rd., about half way between Town Station & Rock Ferry.
Birkenhead to Chester timetable for August 1854

Attached picture timetable.JPG
Fascinating timetable in many respects. The journey would have started by ferry to Monks' Ferry, that being the only Birkenhead station at that time. Rock Ferry hadn't been built, but there was a station at Rock Lane. Sutton must have been the earlier name for Ledsham & it was an important station, since all trains stopped there, even those which didn't stop at Hooton. Capenhurst & Upton by Chester not yet opened. Final point of interest is that a day return between Birkenhead & Chester cost more in 1854 than in 1948, when it was 2/3 (two shillings & three pence).
Also got a couple more (snaffled) pictures of Rock Ferry Station (some Birkenhead Woodside to follow, too).

thumbsup

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...and the Birkenhead Woodside ones.

thumbsup

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Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 6th Apr 2011 10:31am
Well snaffled Christo ! Good to see the Mersey Railway cars at Rock Ferry. The first one would taken in the early/mid '50's I would guess, due to the BR Lion & Wheel emblem on the motor car and still using the 4 rail system. The second one shows an open-ended car - real Wild West stuff ! Long before H&S crap was ever dreamt of !

Thanks.
A couple of newspaper clippings of my uncle who worked for BR, not sure what year the larger clipping is from.
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
Posted By: KeithS Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 12th Apr 2011 5:19pm
Colin Bracewell was the Area Manager when I started on the railway on 9/9/1974. He left after being promoted a couple of years later.
I know this is not about Wirral but there seem to be many railway enthusiasts who I am sure would be interested in this video. The Americans are building a high speed rail link between Chicago and St Louis and they are using one of only two machines of this kind in the world to lay the track, one is the one in America the other is in Europe. I think you will agree that it is a far cry from the guys who built the tracks in Wirral!

http://www.wimp.com/traintrack/
Posted By: FredS Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 14th Feb 2013 11:57pm
I seen the bricked up windows in the wall of the station in the entry of lees ave recently, I was told this was part of the entrance to the old football stadium Bedford Athletic I have now found an old ordanance survey map of this area which I can share, I used to train spot in this entry between 1964 1967

Posted By: FredS Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 15th Feb 2013 12:02am
New to the site can anyone tell me how I add pictures
Posted By: bert1 Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 15th Feb 2013 7:12am
Originally Posted by FredS
New to the site can anyone tell me how I add pictures



https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/138621/page/1#Post138850
Posted By: 8HBob Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 15th Feb 2013 12:27pm
Originally Posted by FredS
I seen the bricked up windows in the wall of the station in the entry of lees ave recently, I was told this was part of the entrance to the old football stadium Bedford Athletic I have now found an old ordanance survey map of this area which I can share, I used to train spot in this entry between 1964 1967

These windows were the waiting rooms on platform 1.

Bob.
Interesting piece in this month’s historical railway journal ‘BackTrack’ (August 2013 - Vol 27: No 8) called “The Closed Stations of Wirral’s Passenger Railways” – a 6 page article with some good illustrations (albeit one that is captioned wrongly stating that the tunnel leading from Birkenhead Woodside led to Birkenhead North… :o)

A question arises from the author in it, which I quote here:

Quote
In the vicinity of the old Grange Lane station building a mystery remains. There are several large, rounded and tapered lumps of stone embedded in the ground. Their shape is such that they can’t have been building material and they are embedded in an upright position, I have counted six of these stones; none is of local sandstone for they seem to be of granite. There are no markings on them. What can they be? Are they a relic from the earliest days of this railway at which point they functioned as marker points around the terminus?

So, does anyone here know the answer? Anyone got photos? Any guesses?

I only check these forums quite infrequently and think this may actually be my first post..! That was my article in BackTrack though, I first noticed those squat, rounded pillars of granite embedded in the ground maybe 5 years ago. I assume they're still there, some kind of primitive marker post was my best guess. I have never seen anything written about them and they are quite odd. They do appear to have been quite intentionally inserted in an upright position, evidently a long time ago. The ground level around the site of Town Station seems to have been infilled and raised somewhat. But if you go north towards Grange Lane it doesn't seem quite so disturbed. I have some photos somewhere and will try and dig them out.

That caption on the photo of the tunnel at Woodside is an editorial error grrr, was a little annoyed about that. I did tell them that it leads to Town...

Rowan
Nice article Rowan - right up my street, and thanks for posting your reply. Of all the railways on Wirral, that area around Grange Lane/Town I find is the most mysterious, probably due to the dearth of photos and the fact that both stations closed such a long time ago (although I travelled to and from Woodside many times as a child, I can't remember anything about passing through the derelict station at Town).
If you find the photos, it would be great if you could share them on here. Thanks.
Posted By: Anonymous Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 1st Aug 2013 8:46am
Christo.... Where did you "snaffle" the picture of the 1903 3rd Class Motor Car from? (First of the two Rock Ferry Station pics.) Wouldn't mind trying to get a decent copy of that.

Good to see you back again billy!

Thanks.
Cheers Pinz!
I guess you've seen them, but there are similar pictures to Chisto's one of the Mersey Railway stock at Rock Ferry Here
Not actually the one, but similar.
Originally Posted by billy_anorak59
Interesting piece in this month’s historical railway journal ‘BackTrack’ (August 2013 - Vol 27: No 8) called “The Closed Stations of Wirral’s Passenger Railways” – a 6 page article with some good illustrations (albeit one that is captioned wrongly stating that the tunnel leading from Birkenhead Woodside led to Birkenhead North… :o)

A question arises from the author in it, which I quote here:

Quote
In the vicinity of the old Grange Lane station building a mystery remains. There are several large, rounded and tapered lumps of stone embedded in the ground. Their shape is such that they can’t have been building material and they are embedded in an upright position, I have counted six of these stones; none is of local sandstone for they seem to be of granite. There are no markings on them. What can they be? Are they a relic from the earliest days of this railway at which point they functioned as marker points around the terminus?

So, does anyone here know the answer? Anyone got photos? Any guesses?


The area bounded by Jackson Street - Borough Road East and Tunnel is where i am hoping the question is about.

This area was not only the site of the Grange Lane and later Town stations the left hand portion of it - up to the goods line to the docks was taken up by the first Birkenhead Joint Railway sheds - two separate ones - one for the LNWR and one for the GWR.
These were built in the 1840s and replaced by the much larger depot at Mollington Street in 1878.
Both buildings were still there in @ 1970 with the LNWR one surviving past the flyover scheme building to at least 1971, as a store for out-of-use engines then as a parcels/goods depot.
The GWR shed after replacement was used first as a railway wagon repair depot - then latterly as the Abacus Engineering works.

I suspect what the author saw was either the remants of the engine sheds or part of the flyover works - which has been cut off - where the Conway Street branch used to 'fly - over' this area of town.

Have a look at the Google satellite view for the area - there seems to be concrete pillars strewn about - in the exact area the sheds were...
Hi Billy, I've managed to find those photos. They're not amazing quality, but you get the picture! Here's a link to them -

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x445/rgp500/IMG_0111.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x445/rgp500/IMG_0119.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x445/rgp500/IMG_0097.jpg

There's 5 images in this album of a few of these different stone lumps.

bigpete, the area between Borough Road East and Jackson St. is indeed where I'm talking about. However, I think these blocks are somewhat further west of where the LNWR shed used to be. They're stone and don't seem to have formed part of any building, certainly not concrete...

Rowan
Posted By: 8HBob Re: The railways of Wirral, 1830s to present day. - 7th Aug 2013 6:35pm
Could they have been used to protect gateposts etc. from damage by wagon wheels?
The pillars on the Overhead Railway had similar protection at their bases when near a roadway.

Bob.
Interesting - will have a look later at home as Works PC gone funky over displaying pictures .. :-(
Interesting - will have a look later at home as Works PC gone funky over displaying pictures .. :-(
Originally Posted by 8HBob
Could they have been used to protect gateposts etc. from damage by wagon wheels?
The pillars on the Overhead Railway had similar protection at their bases when near a roadway.
Bob.


I know what these are !
On the right lines Bob - they are actually to protect the horse-drawn wagon from damage - accomplished by the wheels rubbing against them - which pushed the whole wagon sideways, rather than let it rub against the harder item - a wall or railway wagon probably.
These will have been put in after it ceased to be an engine shed.

You can see these around the older parts of Oxton Village for the same purpose, e.g. the alley opposite the Oxton Society bookshop near the top of Christchurch Road
Originally Posted by Rowan_P
bigpete, the area between Borough Road East and Jackson St. is indeed where I'm talking about. However, I think these blocks are somewhat further west of where the LNWR shed used to be. They're stone and don't seem to have formed part of any building, certainly not concrete...
Rowan


Thanks for the photos Rowan - Superb cool
Think we have this solved - they are from the LNWR sheds later life as a goods transhipment shed.
BTW the LNWR shed west wall formed part of the cutting wall for the docks goods line - so immediately west of this wall was a signifcant drop down to the goods lines or Sough as it is known. wink
Hi, my sincere apologies for not responding sooner (due to having a baby and not getting much time on-line now!). I obtained my 'snaffled' pic from the in-house library at the NRM in York whilst on holiday. Unfortunately, I had selected a few books relating to Wirral's railways and failed to note down which books I was actually 'snaffling' from. So sorry!
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