Archive: Dingle Tunnel + Station, Liverpool REPORT 04/08
This one had been on the "to do" list for far to long for me, Dingle Station and 809yds tunnel, the last stop on Liverpools Overhead Railway which closed in 1956. The station itself is today a private owned car work shop so i went to see one of the guys who owns the place and took some photos from other tunnels, figured if he see's i have a genuine interest (and I'm not just trying to steal some alloys :) ) he might let me have a look around the place.
Starting on the old external side of things, this western portal is wonderful http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...40IMG_5811.jpg There use to be a fantastic lattice girder bridge taking the Liverpool overhead railway into this tunnel towards the last stop at Dingle. This addition to the line was opened on December 21, 1896. The railway closed on December 30th, 1956 and was dismantled in the September the following year. The ground in front was once the Herculaneum dock but these days serves as a car park for a health club built on the filled in dock. I'm sure this was the car park for the Garden festival in 1984. The Herculaneum Pottery Company had been based on the site. They specialized in commissioned and maritime pieces. Many of these were exported. On to the station on Park Road, the location of the Park Road station isn't that garage shown on the SubBrit site but further along the road. Nothing apart from this ramp remains, the booking office has long gone. http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5348a.jpg In 1901, 6 people were killed when a train inside this tunnel caught fire and engulfed the station inside which was then closed for over 12 months. This foot ramp is over the top of what would have been the platform in the center of the tunnel, the section on the left with cars on top is a later addition post 1956. The tunnel runs a short way beyond the station area to a blind end http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5346a.jpg West view from the same spot, looking down towards the 3/4 mile tunnel in the darkness http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5339a.jpg On either side are some small sidings, i found one buffer still in situ http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5328a.jpg From here i headed right to the end of the tunnel, this is the inside of the portal in the first report picture, was hard to get a shot looking right at it due to the light coming into the darkness http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5278a.jpg What was good about the portal being so high was i could get tunnel shots using natural light to start with http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5276a.jpg http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5289a.jpg The refuges i noted as all being very low in height with no evidence of back filling either http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5290a.jpg Was very wet down here i noticed http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5294a.jpg http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5295a.jpg I noticed there was lots of old rope around, stacks of it in some places of all sizes. These for example seem to be from ships, ill have to find out why there is so much but i forgot to ask the mechanics if they knew http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5296a.jpg This is where it gets interesting for none railway reasons, theres plenty of old cars down here http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5307a.jpg A grabbed a few shots of a few of them Humber Hawk http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...HumberHawk.jpg Morris Minor i guess http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5323a.jpg Ford Prefect http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...ordPrefect.jpg No idea what this is http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...0IMG_5326a.jpg In all a decent trip for which i was glad to get permission to go and do |
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Check this link out to see what it was like back in the day to actually ride on the old overhead railway. The first shot is actually of the train leaving the Dingle tunnel that we've walked along before heading out over the bridge at the old Herculaneum Dock... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ocSv4y9uCU You can still see some of the legs of the old overhead built into the walls that run along the left hand side of the dock road heading into town opposite the Baltic Fleet pub. Again, soz for not introducing myself properly before. I joined up on 28dl just as it shut down, so I've kinda just been mooching about ever since with Tristan and my beautiful lady friend who is on here called ElNino. We are all hooked and we have our own lil Scooby Doo adventure team on the go, so hopefully we'll post some pix when we have something new to show you guys. Til then, all the best and thanks for having us and for being out there. Keep up the good work : ) |
A Few of mine -
Looking out through the bars over the Brunswick Business Park. http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...nel/theend.jpg Explorer dog Ella took a liking to the Citroen Van http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...unnel/sm11.jpg There were 2 of these Lotus something or others (too lazy to look it up). http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...0tunnel/s7.jpg This rover has the legendary Rover 3.5 V8. It was left by an Australian guy who moved to Peru, he said to give it a full service and MOT it and never came back for it. http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...tunnel/sm5.jpg The keys are still in it. I did try to start it but alas. :-( http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...tunnel/sm6.jpg There were two or three Land rover Defenders down there too, 2 AMC pacers, 2 boats, an old ford tractor, a fiat 124 sport, the manual you got with the ford popular was in the glove box even, a BMW, EVO Lancer VII. I was more gobsmacked at the cars than the tunnel TBH. |
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