Dingle Tunnel - Overhead Railway Terminus (revisit) - Liverpool - July - 2012 -

The Liverpool Overhead Railway opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units in the Liverpool Docks, England. An elevated railway, it was also known as the Docker's Railway. In the early 1900s electric trains ran on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway routes to Southport and Aintree; special trains to Aintree ran twice a year after these regular services were withdrawn. A local railway, it was not nationalised in 1948. However in 1955 a report into the structure of the viaduct showed major repairs were needed that the company could not afford. The railway closed at the end of 1956 and the structure dismantled the following year.

The Liverpool Overhead Railway was officially opened on 4 February 1893 by the Leader of the Opposition the Marquis of Salisbury and public services started running on 6 March.The railway gained the affectionate nickname of Dockers' Umbrella, as a great proportion of the railway was elevated and dockers could walk beneath it as they travelled around the docks.

The line was extended northwards to Seaforth Sands on 30 April 1894. A further extension southwards from Herculaneum Dock to Dingle was opened on 21 December 1896. Dingle was the line's only underground station and located on Park Road, the extension from Herculaneum Dock being achieved with a 200 ft (61 m) lattice girder bridge and then boring a half mile (800 m) tunnel through the sandstone cliff to Park Road.

In 1902 competition from trams meant service were reduced by fitting new powerful electric motors to the trains. In the early 20th century Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway L&YR was electrifying its routes out of Liverpool Exchange. A connection was built from the L&YR Seaforth & Litherland station to a new station beside Seaforth Sands. From 2 July 1905 LOR trains began to run through to Seaforth & Litherland. To allow the though running of LY&R trains the conductor rail was moved to outside the running rails, the centre rail becoming the earth return until the 1920s. The L&YR built some special lightweight electric stock and from 1906 began running services from Dingle to Southport and Aintree. However regular services to Aintree were withdrawn in 1908, and after this special trains ran only twice a year on Jump Sunday and the following Friday for the Grand National, both held at Aintree Racecourse. Through services from Dingle to Southport were withdrawn in 1914.

During World War II, the railway suffered extensively from bomb damage. As a purely local undertaking, it was not nationalised in 1948 with the rest of the British railway system. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Company started to modernise some of the carriages, incorporating sliding doors. The line continued to carry large numbers of passengers, especially dock workers.

The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking, onto which the tracks were laid. As such, it was vulnerable to corrosion – especially as the steam-operated Docks Railway operated beneath some sections of the line. In 1955 a survey discovered that repairs would be necessary in five years at a cost of £2 million. The Liverpool Overhead Railway Company could not afford such costs and looked for financial support, including from the Liverpool City Council and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. None was forthcoming.The Liverpool Overhead Railway Company went into voluntary liquidation and despite considerable protest, the line was closed on the evening of 30 December 1956. The service was replaced by a bus service operated by Liverpool Corporation.

Demolition of the structure commenced in September 1957, with the whole structure being dismantled by the following year.

first explored this place back in 2009 and later on the year after with kevsy21, ive always wanted to get back for another look so decided to get off my arse and have a look.

explored with black betty and a couple of led lensers.

also thanks to the guys from roscoe engineering for allowing me in here.

the old walkway down to the station is now where you would drive you car down into the workshops (this is looking up towards park road)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...bfdca283_z.jpg

this section of the tunnel lies under parkroad
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7...ff012758_z.jpg

and this section into the darkness is the 3/4 mile long overhead railway tunnel
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8292/7...5e7fcd34_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7...3a5d02e0_z.jpg

some of the old cars in the tunnel (far too many to post all of em)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7...dcd57306_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7...85828a86_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/7...a7ee72dc_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7...cfcf58be_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8166/7...1767aab3_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7254/7...535d9e66_z.jpg

as this tunnel was bored through sandstone ,it is still visable throught the various refuge shelters along the tunnel
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7...9c500301_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7...9a615ce6_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7278/7...182d8b20_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7116/7...b31c1810_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8027/7...80bc1320_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7...245a0411_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7133/7...3554f823_z.jpg

this is where it came out of the tunnel and over Herculaneum Dock ,and the start of the overhead railway (an old picture of this can be seen in my old report)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7110/7...330ccaf2_z.jpg

the old petroleum stores still lie underneath the tunnel
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8013/7...60bdb458_z.jpg

it once looked like this

"Commencement of Petroleum stores, Herculaneum Dock. Liverpool.1882.
Each Store is a Short Tunnel 60ft long in the Sandstone Rock"
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7122/7...a45b71defb.jpg

one other thing i noticed while standing by the petroleum stores was the sandstone arch had names etched into it ,id never seen this before so it was a nice surprise.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8430/7...89319f1e_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7...2d9a8c8d_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8433/7...e996f5f9_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8166/7...b5201599_z.jpg


a more detailed account of the overhead railway can be found here

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/s...y/index1.shtml

just 2 days after id been under here this happened...

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...0252-31462767/

quite lucky tbh ...where it collapsed is where my car was parked at the time i was exploring the tunnel


today the garage remains closed and 8 houses are up for being demolished....................

That's fantastic love how the cars get older as you go further, you do a massive fart or something that might of weaken the tunnel warl you were down there?

oooh a Mark1 Golf.... Love them!
Great pics..

great report thanks for sharing

Great report mate :thumb

this may be the last report on this tunnel now as i suspect it will be either back filled or foamed to prevent further colapses leaving just the working garage section