If there is one structure that people reminisce fondly about it is 'The Dockers' Umbrella', Liverpool's Overhead Railway, not so much a building but a unique and exhilirating experience. The views from the train carriages were truly breathtaking across the River Mersey, its busy packed docks, or the city itself. What's more it was cheap too. A 13-mile round trip cost as little as 1s. 8d. first class and 1s. 4d. third class.
As Liverpool Docks expanded during the 19th century, the growing vehicular and foot traffic on the long dock estate road led to congestion and delays for businesses moving commercial goods. Carriages, omnibuses, lorries, carts and drays all plied the route and many railway crossings connecting goods stations and dockside lines also added to the problem. For several years operators ran modified road omnibuses on the goods railway that was there, but they were not the most satisfactory solution.
An elevated railway had been proposed as early as 1852 by John Grantham but that came to nothing. It emerged again in 1877 when the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board sought permission for a single line, with passing loops at stations but this was rejected by the Board of Trade and there was no further progress.
Finally, in 1888, a prominent group of businessmen formed the Liverpool Overhead Railway Company and obtained the Dock Board's powers by an Act of Transfer to build a double-track railway in the same year. Two leading engineers, Sir Douglas Fox and James Henry Greathead, were commissioned to design the railway and the land required for the original undertaking was leased to this company for 999 years from the 1st of January with work commencing in October 1889. They took note of the construction and operating methods of American overhead railways but developed a model of their own with greater regard for aesthetic qualities. Amongst the many problems that had been encountered was the decision as to motive power. Steam traction was considered and they considered fitting floors to the structure to prevent ash falling to the street below, however this was seen as a fire risk with the many flammable cargoes within the range of locomotive sparks. Thus electric traction was chosen in 1891, with the other advantages of it being economy, speed, cleanliness and quiet running. The decision to go electric was a brave one because the technology was still very much in its infancy. Sections were brought from Hamilton Ironworks in Garston where they were manufactured, and an ingenious jig involving cranes mounted on a moveable gantry, was developed by Edward Ives to avoid disrupting dock traffic.
Work was completed in January 1893 and the first official journey took place on the 7th of January with the railway Chairman taking engineers and other people of importance on a tour of the length of the railway. The line was formally opened on the 4th of February that year by the Marquis of Salisbury during a ceremony at the generating station at the Bramley-Moore Dock with public transport commencing on the 6th of March. The railway had cost £510,000 and used a total of 25,000 tons of iron and steel. In the early days of the railway there were a number of injuries and at least one fatality as a result of passengers and conductors overestimating the height of the railway while standing up on the top deck of open top buses.
The Overhead Railway was the world's first electric elevated railway structure and the first to be protected by electric automatic signals. It was also the first to have electric colour light signals and was home to one of the first passenger escalators at a railway station installed at Seaford Sands in 1901.
The line ran from Seaforth Carriage Shed to Herculaneum Dock, with public services beginning and terminating at Alexandra Dock in the north. a distance of six miles. It used standard gauge track and there were 14 stations, initially eleven intermediate stations at Brocklebank, Canada, Sandon, Clarence, Princes, Pier Head, James Street, Canning, Wapping, Brunswick and Toxteth. However, it was soon found that receipts outside working hours were poor and a decision was taken to extend the line in order to tap residential areas. Therefore a short extension to Seaforth sands was opened on the 30th of April 1894, followed by another to Dingle on the 21st of December 1896. Dingle (Park Road) was reached by spanning the Cheshire Lines goods yard with a 200 foot lattice girder bridge and by boring a half-mile tunnel through the sandstone high ground further inland. Thus the Overhead belied its name at the southern terminus with passengers new to Dingle perhaps wondering why they had to descend steps and a subway to access the platforms of an elevated railway! At its peak in 1919 almost 20 million people used the railway every year.
Extensive bomb damage was inflicted during the Blitz with James Street Station totally destroyed, and at Canada Dock two complete spans were blasted off their columns and the line covered in rubble but it was quickly repaired to maintain the smooth running of the docks. Modernisation of some of the nineteen 3-car sets had begun as the War drew to a close and eight were in operation by 1955. Parts of the decking by then had become rusty on the surface, caused by steam and soot from the dock locomotives that passed underneath, mixing with rainwater to form an acid that began to corrode the metalwork. It was reported that the curved deck plates which supported the track were in need of replacement at an approximate cost of two million pounds. This was beyond the financial resources of the company, who looked to the City Council and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board for assistance. No adequate solution could be found and, despite rigorous public protests, the railway closed on the 30th of December 1956 after more than 60 years of operation. On the last day, at 10pm, the final two trains ran from each end of the line and heralded the end of an era. Rescue attempts continued until September, 1957, when the dismantlers moved in. One of the original wooden carriages, on a recreated section of elevated track, remains on display with other artefacts at the Museum of Liverpool.
see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/09/remembering-liverpool-structures.html
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