Birkenhead Dock Railway. A forgotten mothballed railway walk
A fantastic walk along a mothballed freight line between Rock Ferry and Bidston, the line has been closed since 1993 with a lot of the original infrastructure still in situ.
The Birkenhead Dock Branch is a disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The branch is approximately 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) in length. Although called a branch, the line was accessible from both ends, from Bidston East junction and from Rock Ferry railway station. The former Mollington Street Rail Depot was branched into the line. A section of the line runs through Haymarket Tunnel and a low-level cutting through the centre of Birkenhead; visible from the road flyovers. The former Canning Street North signal box still stands and the non-standard gates remain on the east side, but a fence has been erected on the other side despite the railway being officially out of use, rather than closed. Level crossings are also located at Duke Street and Wallasey Bridge Road. The railway lines are still partially intact.
As part of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway, the railway from Rock Ferry to Birkenhead Town is one of the oldest stretches of track in the world. The line was completed and opened on 23 September 1838, less than nine years after the Rainhill Trials, across the River Mersey, on the outskirts of Liverpool. Before Monks Ferry was opened in 1844, the line was originally to a temporary terminus known as Birkenhead Grange Lane station. Grange Lane engine shed was opened on 23 September 1840. The 1.125 mi (1.811 km) section, from Grange Lane to Bridge End near Cathcart Street, was built into a cutting known as the Sough (pronounced "Suff"), opening the same day as Birkenhead Park, on 5 April 1847. The connection with the Great Western Railway at Green Lane Junction was made in 1847.
In 1856-7, the Birkenhead Railway acquired a pair of 0-4-0T saddle tank locomotives, for use around the docks, from Sharp, Stewart These were renumbered as 95 and 96 by the GWR, after the joint takeover of the railway, with the LNWR, in 1860.
During the BR era, the line was used by various classes of diesel locomotive, primarily for hauling offloaded iron ore from Bidston Dock, to the John Summers Steelworks in Shotton. The John Summers wagons came under the TOPS code of PHO. Fully loaded, a train was limited to eleven of these wagons. This work was carried out by engines with a high traction capacity, usually either a Class 40 locomotive, or pairs of Class 24 or Class 25 locomotives. However, pairs of Class 20 diesels were also occasionally used, although very infrequently. This work was ceased in March 1980, when the steelworks at Shotton was closed.
Between 1983 and 1985, Class 503 electric multiple units were stored at Cavendish Sidings, before scrapping.
Amongst the few and final passenger workings on the line was the Birkenhead Bandit railtour, hauled by Class 40 locomotive 40122 D200, on 16 February 1985. Others included the Mersey Meanderer railtour on 19 April 1986, Hertfordshire Rail Tours' Wirral Withershins charter on 18 January 1986 and their Cheshire Cat charter, on 24 June 1989.
Goods workings continued on the line, for traffic to the Spillers Mill on East Float until the late 1980s with grain wagon traffic from Whitemoor Yard. Afterwards, a thrice-weekly coal train operated on the line until 1992.
Some of the last locomotives to have served within the dock complex were Birkenhead North TMD's allocation of Class 03 shunters, 03073, 03162, 03170 and 03189 all of which have been preserved. Indeed, the railways around the docks saw the last mainland use of the class by British Rail, before their withdrawal in March 1989. The last traffic along the line, from Birkenhead North to Rock Ferry, was a Class 08 shunter on 10 May 1993. Subsequently, the line was mothballed by Railtrack. However, the trackwork remains in place and various other railway artefacts are still in existence.
At Bidston, the line was connected to the Great Central Railway in 1896.
Produced by Allan Roach.
Пікірлер: 64
As a Railwayman of 33 years I found that very enjoyable. There was a lot of Railway around Birkenhead. I remember the coal sidings where the HEA Hoppers were stabled. The Pub that was shown at 32.03 with the class 03 shunt engine was where it was stabled overnight and the shot at 36.20 is The Loco Painted in its original colours with the historical shed dates painted on the side, just prior to withdrawal, I have photos of it outside the Pub. You mentioned Edge Hill? I was based there for a number of years and the history and things that you can still see are unbelievable. Thanks mate 👍
I can’t believe how overgrown this all is now. I used to watch the trains going past that signal box and over the level crossing many times a day back in in 1982. My workplace window looked out onto the old signal box. When the trains came the gates were once closed by what looked liked a large ships wheel in the signal box. Towards the end of my time there around Sep 83 I think the mechanism broke and the signalman used to have to close and open the gates by hand. All the roads around were still cobbled and nearby where the old tracks used to go off towards Woodside, the street called Shore Road still had working gaslights, that was in 1983, can you believe it? I remember the trains, mostly they were pulled by class 47 diesels. Where the roundabout is behind the signal box is where my workplace used to be. It was the old Mersey Docks Police station on the 4 Bridges. It was a blue and white building and we had the top floor, a company called Liverpool Electronics.
There's a video on KZread of a journey from Ellesmere port to Birkenhead docks made just before the line closed. It's on the Wirral Channel and the title is Cab ride from ellesmere port to Birkenhead docks in a class47
Absolutely crap that they’re getting rid of all the railway infrastructure. Absolutely grinds my gears to get rid of something that old and brilliant. Why don’t they just build the park around the railway instead. I think people personally should go out to the railway and salvage old railway parts and keep / sell them. That way at least it won’t be destroyed, but saved for future generations. Or they could make a museum out of it instead? Hopefully it doesn’t end up like most forgotten railways in the UK.
Fascinating! A mine of information - many thanks!
Amazing video mate and awesome finds there with the signal box and the semaphore signal
one of your best mate , go and preserve that signal , all the best from wigan
Great video, brings back memories of when I was a kid and used to go down the tracks to the docks to go fishing and walk the old derelict buildings. We also used to walk the monks tunnels, the left tunnel went to woodside. The right tunnel was blocked halfway through. We used to go in the old used mollington depot when it closed down. So overgrown now, it was open and you could see the old depot and the monks tunnels to the right.
hope u go back and get that signal sign great great walk
Truly a fantastic experience Thank you, great with the inlays of past traction.
I travelled that route behind class 40 on a railtour in 1983, on grass verges next to the road in some places, no fences. The area is so run down a tram or light rail scheme would have been better for regeneration than a cycle lane.
What a disgraceful scene of dereliction, it's a basket case. Many thanks for giving us a good history lesson, best wishes.
Great video, Wirral Council have plans to make a lot of that old line as a walkpath into Birkenhead town centre.. On a personal note, I use that cycle path on my daily commute, but I agree it's sad when history is destroyed. If you'd have walked towards the bridge over the estuary, there is another railway line heading to Bidston/Wallasey, which has long since forgotten.
I love watching your amazing videos, keep up the good work
Fascinating. Many thanks for all your determined exploration. I was able to follow your walk on old Ordnance survey maps. There are also some valuable photos of the Docks in the Hendrys book 'Paddington to the Mersey' (Oxford Publishing Company), and the VHS tape 'Steam on the Wirral' if you can still fid a copy of that.
Buddleia grows very quickly on many an abandoned or partially abandoned railway lines these days or evenly sparsely used tracks
I was the signalman at Green Lane box in 1984-1986. Great job, but night shift was busy. I also worked at Birkenhead North number 2 box when I was relief signalman.. Two tmain racks turning into Four tracks from Rock Ferry to Green Lane (for marshalling into Mollington Street Loco-shed, Turn arounds etc).I ocassionly did canning Street box and crossing.
A great video with superb flashback photos , keep up the good work
July 2023. Hi dude, at the start to look at where it looks as though there are extra lines….. monks ferry and cammel lairds. Then a bit further is the line branching to wood sides old station. I’ll send the drone up as soon as I get good weather and do you an ariel shot. The northern end cycleway has now been completed and is slowly getting used. In its earliest times the teams used to turn at the far end too up where the council recycling centre is.
@nathan83699
4 ай бұрын
In 2023 they ripped up the old lines in and around the docks
thanks for this. we came through on pathfinder trip before it closed and then again 3 weeks ago and i saw the junction with the present line and the footpath too.
Absolutely incredible footage, and to think this has been mothballed for 30 years I presume the burnt out signal box is Canning Street Junction, where a short branch led to a steel terminal, and the nearby level crossing would have been around the boundary between British Rail and Mersey Docks & Harbour Company infrastructure I also seem to remember that Cavendish sidings weren't even fenced off from the public and easily viewable from Corporation Road
Fantastic video steeped in history many thanks 👍
The photoes ,videos ,and maps were awsome😊😊
Well done pal. Those brambles were horrific. Appreciate the editing of the old/new shots. Kind regards - Mike.
@daffyduk77
8 ай бұрын
yeah, brambles are nature's razorwire
Marvellous mate
A fine video. Thank you! 😊
Fascinating video. There was no signal box at Duke Street. The next box up which controlled access to the docks branch was Birkenhead North No.2. Wirral Borough Council has a grand plan to rip up all the remaining trackbed on the entire route and turn it into an urban cycleway, the start of which you saw as you heading towards Poulton Bridge Road. I was very pleased and surprised to see the lattice post gantry still intact at the Rock Ferry side of Canning Street SB, which was the burned-out ruin you had a look inside. No doubt they will get a few quid for it as scrap value, when it should be conserved as part of the history of the local railways. Nice one.
Great video. I spent many an hour at Birkenhead Mollington Depot and photographing the line at the docks in the late 70s and 80s. I can’t believe how overgrown it has become. I wondered if that semaphore signal was still intact, as you could still see it from Canning Street crossing, but it had disappeared in the last 10 years behind the trees. It’s a real shame they appear to be lifting the line instead of repurposing it. Surely it would be more useful as say a tram line, as they are building a lot of accommodation around there, to either Birkenhead North Station or one of the other stations? But no, cycling seems to be the government’s priority these days! 🤪 Thanks again for trawling through all those brambles and trees so I can sit in bed in comfort and experience it. CHEERS! 👍
unsure if this comment will ever get any attention. You mentioned the trees being cut down along that old railway around the green lane - birkenehad area. They're turning it into a green walkway at some point i believe. I think FUTUREYARD, the music venue just above the old tunnels is planning to have a stage down there somewhere, which may be the trees being cut down. But the walkway i believe is set for 2040.. a long way away, but birkenhead could be a different place in another 20 years
A strip of the old line between two lots of bridges is supposed to be being turned in to a green way with a park and a pathway and places to sit. That's what the the council announced plans for to be happening but no idea when the work will be started properly on it. My dad used to take freights down to the docks at Birkenhead and Bidston when he worked on just the freights. He moved to Chester in the mid 80s after Northwich depot was closed. He was on the railway for 42 years.
Very interesting indeed. Looks like someone left their suitcase in the signal box 24:30 I've also seen an older video filmed in the cab of a class 47 on that railway filmed about 1990-91.
Love this, thanks for putting this together.
all that history left to ruin....what a shame, liverpool is a fantastic city with great people, speaking as a leeds lad i loved working in liverpool
How did you get permission to walk that stretch of track I would love to do it
If you next get chance to walk on the Mersey tunnel road side you’ll see an old facade which is the train stations front! It’s all that is left and it’s listed! Also the reason n for the work is Wirral council are planning on making a walkway down there like a urban park
I used to love going on an Awayday trip to Eastleigh to see the class 07. Some I believe were sold to industry and are still viewable off the ECML at the cement works near Dunbar
My dad and his brothers used to work out of Mollington St & on Merseyrail
The dock line is being converted to an urban park, there's no traffic to justify reopening
Dear sir ,this was absolutely outstanding,i live on the wirral.this was ,without doubt,the mist cimprehensive video,i actually recognised lots of those places,well done sir😊😊
Great video. Hopefully the new park will preserve as much as the original architecture and railway relics as possible. The original plan was to fill it in completely. This railway was featured as Creek Glycerin in Jules Verne's 1874 novel 'The Mysterious Island'.
Quality 👌
Cracking vids these mate . Ever thought of doing any walks around the Liverpool area ??
@onemanc
Жыл бұрын
Southport clc line is on my list
@ste2442
Жыл бұрын
@@onemanc great stuff , I live at the Halewood end of it but know it really well right along . Let me know when you’re doing it and I’ll get you a cuppa/ bevy . Until then keep up this great content mate 👍
@edwardjmccarthy1556
8 ай бұрын
@@onemanc😊
The treatment of our railway infrastructure has been truly terrible. Time to reverse this.
@MickCampin-jp9kb
11 ай бұрын
The Stockton on Tees station is a disgrace. The former glazed roof had gone by 1988 and the station is down to just 2 tracks all the bypass lines have been ripped up and it looks like a shadow of its former self.
@caramelldansen2204
5 ай бұрын
Not as long as the rich control society. Only a worker's society will bring workers justice.
hope the docks and the rail system gain traffic once again, we had a a line through dudley mothballed around the same time, was supposed to be reactivated as a freight bypass for the birmingham area, instead its been handed over for the Midland Metro system thats a waste of time and money!
Mothballed = left to decay untill economically beyond reopening , closed in all but name .
Best video to date, and Im not even that interested in railways! Love it. How many days are you out doing these? I presume you walk then retrace to go in car to next part. Would be good to know.
Check out even. You arrived as they have started the southern end, the north end is done. A shame as it was perfect for a new team network but hey ho. We will now have a direct walkway through from Bidston to rock ferry.
Sadly the line has been ripped up for a footpath/walk way
Is it long before the next video is published? Desperate!!
@onemanc
6 ай бұрын
Not before Christmas but two to edit in the new year
35:44 Industrial history isn't sacred anymore. 🤬😢
@ 19mins 8 secs, a rat runs across just below the gates?
Check it the Birkenhead dock regeneration plan
TBF it does need cleaning up
All disused railway is the property of Network Rail and by doing this you are trespassing on railway property which unlike other trespassing being a civil offense (not MOD Property) is a criminal offense for which you could be prosecuted.
They only just recently did that cycle path last few months 😲 not a lot left there now