Bidston Dock

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Bidston Dock, was a dock at Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. Opened in 1933, the dock was built on most of what remained of the tidal inlet of Wallasey Pool, to the west of the Great Float. The dock had a trio of large moveable cranes to unload iron ore, which were dismantled in the late 1990s. Bidston Dock was subsequently closed and was landfilled in 2003.^[1]

The dock was served by the Birkenhead Dock Branch railway line and an iron ore train ran regularly to the John Summers Steelworks in Shotton, Flintshire. Due to the nature of the train, a high degree of motive power was required. Class 40s and pairs of Class 25 locomotives are known to have operated on this track, during its latter days. In the steam era, the iron ore train was known to have been hauled by 9F locomotives. Though the dock itself was filled, the northern quayside, on which the cranes were situated, and the railway sidings are still intact, although disused.

[edit] Future

Peel Holdings have expressed an interest to develop the site of the former dock, as part of the Wirral Waters regeneration project. This part of the project would encompass 571,000 square feet (53,000 m²) of leisure facilities and a retail park.^[2]