Birkenhead Dock Branch

Birkenhead Dock Branch
Footbridge at Canning Street North (Rendel Street) level crossing.
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Status	Disused
Locale	Wirral, Merseyside
Termini	Rock Ferry Bidston Dock
Stations	Rock Ferry Birkenhead Town
Operation
Opening	Circa. 1848[1]
Closed	1993[2]
Owner	Network Rail Peel Holdings
Operator(s)	Network Rail
Depot(s)	Mollington Street
Rolling stock	Freight
Technical
Line length	4.5 mi (7.2 km)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Legend Bidston Dock sidings Bidston Moss Nature Reserve footbridge To Wallasey Village Bidston North Junction To Birkenhead North To Bidston Bidston East Junction To Birkenhead North Wallasey Bridge Road sidings Boundary of Network Rail Wallasey Bridge Road level crossing Boundary of Peel Holdings Cavendish sidings Duke Street level crossing Rendel Street footbridge Boundary of Peel Holdings Rendel Street level crossing Boundary of Network Rail Canning Street North signal box To the Wirral Tramway Cleveland Street Brook Street Price Street Adelphi Street Argyle Street Haymarket Tunnel To Birkenhead Woodside Birkenhead Town Queensway Road Tunnel flyover Waterloo Place bridge Mollington Street Depot Mollington Link bridge Green Lane bridge Chamberlain Street bridge Union Street bridge St. Pauls Road bridge To Green Lane Rock Ferry To Bebington

Map of the railways around the Great Float.

Canning Street North signal box, in its present state.

Birkenhead Dock Branch is a disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The branch is approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) in length. Although called a branch, the line was accessible from both ends, from Bidston East junction and from Rock Ferry railway station. The former Mollington Street Rail Depot was branched into the line. A section of the line runs through Haymarket Tunnel and a low-level cutting through the centre of Birkenhead; visible from the road flyovers. The disused Canning Street North signal box and level crossing are also situated on the branch. Level crossings are also located at Duke Street and Wallasey Bridge Road. The steel railway lines are still intact never being raised.

Goods yards

At the northern end of the branch, disused goods yards are situated parallel to Birkenhead North TMD, Wallasey Bridge Road sidings, & adjacent to the Kingsway Tunnel approach road, Bidston Dock sidings. These two sets of sidings are also accessible by rail, through a series of points between Birkenhead North TMD and Bidston station.

Ownership

The northern part of the track to the west of Canning Street North signal box and to the east of Wallasey Bridge Road level crossing, was owned by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company. It is presently understood to be in the ownership of Peel Holdings. The main part of this section runs parallel, on the northern side, to Corporation Road, across Duke Street, parallel Beaufort Road. The sections of the branch between and inclusive of Rock Ferry railway station, Canning Street North signal box, and the section west of Wallasey Bridge Road level crossing are understood to have been in the ownership of Railtrack and, subsequently, Network Rail.

Present Condition

Most of the trackwork is still in place, along the line. However, most of the sidings at Bidston Dock, and all of the sidings at Wallasey Bridge Road and Mollington Street Depot have been removed, though the track foundation remains serviceable in all of these places. The track from Bidston East Junction to Bidston station has been removed, however, here, the track foundation also remains serviceable. Further up the line, the tunnel from Birkenhead Town to Birkenhead Woodside has been partly infilled. Two of the four tracks in the Haymarket Tunnel have been removed. Mollington Link bridge has been replaced and narrowed to a twin-track width. As yet, no track has been relaid onto the Mollington Link bridge. The line is heavily overgrown with flora, along its entire duration. There has been a degree of flytipping on the line in the centre of Birkenhead.^[1]

History

As part of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway, the railway from Rock Ferry to Birkenhead Town is one of the oldest stretches of track, in the world. The line was completed and opened on 23 September 1838, less than nine years after the Rainhill Trials, across the River Mersey, on the outskirts of Liverpool. Before Monks Ferry was opened in 1844, the line was originally to a temporary terminus known as Birkenhead Grange Lane station. Grange Lane engine shed was opened on 23 September 1840.^[3]

Pre-World War I

Ownership of the railway circa. 1913-1914 was as follows:

• Rock Ferry to Canning Street North was controlled by Birkenhead Joint Railway, whose ownership was shared between the GWR and LNWR.
• The track from Canning Street North to Wallasey Bridge Road was operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.
• The route from Wallasey Bridge Road, around the remnant of Wallasey Pool, to the site of the as-yet unbuilt Bidston Dock, was operated by the Wirral Railway.

BR Diesel Era

During the BR era, the line was used by various classes of diesel locomotive, primarily for hauling offloaded iron ore from Bidston Dock, to the John Summers Steelworks in Shotton. The John Summers wagons came under the TOPS code of PHO. Fully loaded, a train was limited to eleven of these wagons.^[4] This work was carried out by engines with a high traction capacity, usually either a Class 40 locomotive, or pairs of Class 24 or Class 25 locomotives. However, pairs of Class 20 diesels were also occasionally used, although very infrequently. This work was ceased in March 1980,^[5] when the steelworks at Shotton was closed.

Between 1983 and 1985, Class 503 electric multiple units were stored at Cavendish Sidings, before scrapping.^[6]

The final passenger working on the line was the Birkenhead Bandit Railtour, hauled by Class 40 locomotive 40122 D200, on 16 February 1985.^[7]

Goods workings continued on the line until at least 1987, for traffic to the Spillers Mill on East Float.^[8]

The last known locomotives to have served within the dock complex were Birkenhead North TMD's allocation of Class 03 shunters,^[9] all of which have been preserved. The line was mothballed by Railtrack during the 1990s, however, the trackwork remains in place and various other railway artefacts are still in existence.

The line has been used on only two occasions since 1993, both a day apart. In January 2008, an EWS Class 66 diesel entered the line at Rock Ferry station.^[10]

Rea Bulk Handling Locomotives

The Rea Bulk Handling Company had a small fleet of nine Drewry 0-4-0DM and 0-6-0DM diesel shunters, which operated on the dock lines. The names of these locomotives included; Theseus, Wabana,^[11] Kathleen Nichols, Pegasus, WH Salthouse,^[12] Dorothy Lightfoot,^[13] Narvik,^[14] Teucer and Pepel.^[15] A further 0-4-0DE locomotive built by the Yorkshire Engine Company, named Labrador, and of similar design to a Class 02, also worked around the Bidston Dock area.^[15]

Future

The former Railtrack has, in the past, indicated an interest in seeing the line reopened for goods services.^[2] However, Network Rail as of 2012 has not followed through with any action in this regard.

Peel Holdings who are behind the multi million pound Wirral waters redevelopment of the docks, in February 2013 announced they intend on using the abandoned rail lines in Birkenhead docklands to run a streetcar or light tram system to connect Wirral waters to the Merseyrail network. It could possibly loop around the edge of the docks via the Wallasey bridge or Duke St bridge and run to Birkenhead central via the disused cuttings & tunnels. However detailed plans have not yet been published.

See also

• Birkenhead Railway

Further reading

• S. K. Baker (2013). Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland. Oxford Publishing. ISBN 978-0-86093-651-0. 
• T.B. Maund (2009). The Wirral Railway and its Predecessors. Lightmoor Press. ISBN 978-1-899889-38-9. 
• Paul Shannon and John Hillmer (2002). British Railways Past and Present: Liverpool and Wirral. Past & Present Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85895-199-7. 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Birkenhead Dock Branch.

• 53°24′46″N 3°03′24″W / 53.412857°N 3.056538°W / 53.412857; -3.056538 Overhead view of Bidston Dock, the quayside and sidings. The sidings and quayside are still present, the dock has since been filled in.
• 53°24′26″N 3°03′29″W / 53.407207°N 3.057976°W / 53.407207; -3.057976 Overhead view of Wallasey Bridge Road level crossing and sidings. Birkenhead North TMD is to the bottom of this photo.
• Photograph of diesel shunter no. 03 162 'D2162 Birkenhead South 1879-1985' at Duke Street level crossing in Birkenhead in the early 1990s before the line fell into disuse.
• Photograph of the 'Birkenhead Bandit' railtour on the level crossing at Duke Street.
• The Rail Regulator