Wapping Tunnel
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Wapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The tunnel is 2030 m long, and runs downhill from Edge Hill cutting, near the Crown Street Station goods yard, to Park Lane Goods Station near Wapping Dock.
The original proposal for the railway out of Liverpool ran north along the docks, but this route proved very unpopular with local landowners; the new route required considerable engineering works in addition to this tunnel. At 1 in 48 gradient, it was much too steep for the steam locomotives of the day, and so a stationary steam engine was installed at Edge Hill in part of the Moorish Arch to haul goods wagons by rope up from the dock, where they were then connected to locomotives for the continuing journey to Manchester. The tunnel opened in 1830 and closed on May 15, 1972.
The dockside entrance to the tunnel is clearly visible on Kings Dock Road Liverpool. This was the middle one out of three short exit tunnels at the western end, which junctioned in a short open cutting between Park Lane and Upper Frederick Street. (The quoted length of 2030m includes both the main tunnel and the short exit tunnel.)
The Edge Hill entrance is still open to the air, but not accessible to the public. It is the central of three arches at the western end of the cutting, with the right hand arch giving on to the original 1829 tunnel into Crown Street Station and the left hand being a later (1840s) tunnel into the Crown Street site; this latter currently has tracks and overhead electric wires in place, for use as a headshunt and locomotive run-round for goods trains. However, artwork from before the third tunnel was constructed shows that a portal was already present from the outset - this was purely for architectural symmetry.
Other visible evidence of the tunnel still exists, in the form of three imposing red brick towers, which acted as ventilation shafts for the tunnel. One is on the landscaped park between Crown Street and Smithdown Lane; one on Blackburne Place (illustration); and one close to Grenville Street South. There were at least two others that were later demolished, one adjacent to Great George Street, and one by Myrtle Street.
In the 1970s, during planning work for the Merseyrail underground in Liverpool city centre, it was proposed to use part of the Wapping Tunnel to connect Liverpool Central and Edge Hill stations. This would have permitted Merseyrail electric services to operate to Huyton and St Helens. This plan was later revised to use the Waterloo Tunnel, before being dropped altogether. However, on 17 July 2006, local media reports suggested that Merseytravel was once again considering the scheme, using the Wapping Tunnel. [1] In May 2007 it was reported that Merseytravel Chief Executive Neil Scales had prepared a report outlining the possibilities for reuse of the tunnel. [2]
