Birkenhead Railway

Birkenhead Railway
Overview
Locale Cheshire
Merseyside
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map

Cathcart Street Goods
Morpeth Dock Goods
Birkenhead Monks Ferry
Birkenhead Woodside
Mersey Railway
Birkenhead Town
Wirral Railway
West Kirby
Kirby Park
Rock Ferry
Caldy
Bebington
Thurstaston
Port Sunlight
Heswall
Spital
Parkgate
Bromborough
Neston South
Hooton
Hadlow Road
Ledsham
Little Sutton
Capenhurst
Mollington
Overpool
Upton-by-Chester
North Wales Coast Line
Ellesmere Port
Chester General
Crewe and Chester Line
Stanlow and Thornton
Mid-Cheshire Line
Mickle Trafford
Ince and Elton
Dunham Hill
West Cheshire Railway
Helsby
Frodsham
Halton Curve
Halton
Sutton Tunnel
Norton
Runcorn East
Daresbury
Warrington Bank Quay

The Birkenhead Railway was formed on 1 August 1859 as a result of the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Railway merging with the Chester and Birkenhead Railway. The new company was originally called the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway, but in 1859 shortened its name to The Birkenhead Railway.[1] It was taken over, on 1 January 1860, by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Great Western Railway (GWR), becoming a joint railway.[2] It remained a Joint Railway until Nationalisation of the railways in 1948.[1]

Part of the railway is now the Chester branch of the Wirral Line, one of the two urban electric commuter lines operated by Merseyrail on Merseyside.[3]

Routes

The original main routes were those created by the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Railway's Chester Loop and the main line from Chester to a junction with the London and North Western Railway at Walton Junction, near Warrington; and the Chester and Birkenhead Railway's main line from Chester to Birkenhead.[1][4][5] Further branches were created:

Sutton Tunnel

The Sutton Tunnel was the scene of a train crash in 1851 on the day of the Chester Cup. An overcrowded train was unable to make progress through the tunnel and had to be pushed by a following train. As both trains were in the tunnel making very slow progress, a third train entered the tunnel at full speed, unaware of the slow progress of the two trains already in the tunnel. More than fifty people were injured, with nine deaths. An inquest was held in the Red Lion pub in Preston Brook, with a verdict of "Accidental Death", though "great blame" was placed on the Executive Committee of the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway Company, while officers and servants of the company were criticised for "want of prudence and discretion".[7]

Currently working

The lines between Birkenhead and Chester, and from Hooton to Ellesmere Port (on the Helsby branch) now form part of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. The section of line from Ellesmere Port to Warrington is now run as a parliamentary train operated by Northern. The Chester to Helsby section is operated by Arriva Trains Wales as part of its Llandudno to Manchester Piccadilly service.

Closed section

The branch from Hooton to West Kirby was closed to passengers in 1956 and to freight traffic in 1962; the track bed of this route is now the Wirral Way, a footpath forming part of the Wirral Country Park.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Casserley 1968, pp. 140–142
  2. ↑ Hendry & Hendry 1992, p. 8
  3. ↑ "Merseyrail: A Brief History" (PDF). Merseytravel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  4. ↑ Awdry 1990, pp. 206, 209–210
  5. ↑ Dewick 2005
  6. 1 2 Butt 1995
  7. ↑ "Cheshire Magazine". www.cc-publishing.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2008.

Sources

  • Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Casserley, H. C. (1968). Britain's Joint Lines. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0024-7.
  • Dewick, Tony (2005). Britain's Railways: Rail Atlas 1890 (1st ed.). Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-3031-6. OCLC 58554883.
  • Hendry, R. Preston; Hendry, R. Powell (1992). Paddington to the Mersey. Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 9780860934424. OCLC 877729237.

Further reading

  • Maund, T.B. (2001). The Birkenhead Railway: LMS & GW Joint. Railway Correspondence & Travel Society. ISBN 0-901115-87-8.
  • Merseyside Railway History Group (1982). The Hooton to West Kirby Branch Line and the Wirral Way. Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. ISBN 0-904582-04-3.
  • Vinter, Jeff (1990). Railway Walks: LMS. Stroud: Alan Sutton. ISBN 0-86299-734-8.
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