Absolutely fascinating what a railway, it's a shame it did not survive. I am so grateful to those who filmed this railway in every detail for us to see 65 years later. Thanks for uploading this fantastic video.
Thanks for sharing. A brilliant film. There is some lovely pro-shot footage of the Overhead Railway, docks and various Liverpool streets at the end (last 15 minutes), of the Jean Simmons film, called The Clouded Yellow xD
What a wonderful time document of a remarkable public transport system. Too bad it was not kept in place, it would serve Liverpool and Merseyside well in this day and age. At least the region now has Merseyrail.
Just shows the short sightedness from all councils that is still here to this day , what a tourist attraction this would be , and perfect for Everton's new ground
I don't think it was shortsightedness. The amount of money necessary to renew the structure, in danger of collapse, was out of the question. There wasn't a lot of cash lying round spare in 1956.
@@GJChurchward u have to be kidding no shortsighted ,if they didn't leave it to get in that state and thought of the future , plus there was a lot of new building work still goin on from the end of the war they had more money then then they do now for re build and up grades the railways were swimming in it typical local council just like now not giving a crap
@@colinmumford267 the overhead was a private company barely able to cover its working expenses. It had nothing to do with the council or British railways. The share holders seeing the cost of repairs decided to cut their losses & close it
@@Merseywail the council and city funding could of easy took it over at that time they took the far easier option like most do and say just rip it down ,am quite aware it was not funded by the council as it ran from Dingle though Liverpool waterfront vauxhall Bootle to seaforth , it was the first electric overhead railway 2nd oldest first to use signaling and first escalators , it's was absolutely the wrong thing to do it's as simple as that , would of easy payed for its self would of been a fantastic tourist attraction and perfect for computing today
The war must have started the lack of maintenance and post war the money was very hard to get. It's more that it didn't get nationalised as with the main railway companies that also had been run into the ground 1939-45.
I remember going on Sunday outings on this line. I seem to recall seeing a liner that had capsized after a fire onboard. That would have been in the last few years before it closed.. We moved to London in mid 1956, but return trips to Liverpool always seemed to be missing something. What a lack of foresight.
@@jimdaniels7472 Thanks for that. Nice to know it wasn’t something i confused from somewhere else, especially as i was about 3 1/2 at the time. Do you know what happened to the ship?
The elevated structures needed massive repairs that the company couldn't afford, so it had to close and be removed. Perhaps it should have been nationalised in 1948, the tram network in Grimsbg became part of BR.
Fantastic video of a unique part of British railway history! :D I was just wondering, would it be possible for me to use this footage as part of an upcoming documentary I'm creating about the history of the Liverpool Overhead Railway?
I remember traveling on that when I was a kid , my Dad took me on it he was going to pick his wages up , Great video.i later worked on the Railway as a Signalman at James Street P S B , and before that I covered every Signalbox on the Wirral and Merseyrail . I finished up at Sandhills P S B but was made redundant in 1995 .
Excellent stuff. I remember going down into the garage that was shown in the old Dingle terminus in the 90s, I think it was called Rosco engineering if I recall. I grew up in Caryl gardens, which was opposite the old Royal Southern Hospital on Hill st. The old hand point levers that used to turn the M.D& H.C Trains, into the various docks were still in place up until the 1980s when they did a lot of work for the up and coming international garden festival. The least said about that the better, a total waste of the tax payers money.
Brilliant video, thanks for posting. I visited the Liverpool Museum in the Albert Dock complex earlier this year and was able to see and enter the restored coach No 3. There is a nice feature, with photographs of the line, but this video really puts it into perspective.
excellent film Thanks for sharing. I lived in the Wavertree area of Liverpool when I was a youngster and my Grandfather often took me and my sister and brothers on the Overhead railway to Seaforth for the day. We used to picnic on the sand and watch the ships coming and going. We loved the old railway it was a great experience looking down on the old docks. I note that the film also shows, in the background, the ever present smog. Terrible stuff in the winter through the 50's. It was a combination of fog and smoke from all the coal fired chimney pots from houses and factories alike. It caused many deaths with it's poisonous fumes. They eventually banned coal for fires and introduced so called smokeless fuel known as coke. That word has a very different meaning today.
One of the few things that have survived are only one car, and some other artefacts..but good info at the Liverpool Museum..a good film, and a lot of footage of it in operation...
The bit at Aintree was very interesting if the Austerty was on a Race Day Special it was indeed one of the few recorded instances of these on Passenger Service. However 40681 was a Simple not a Compound as stated, no outside cylinders being the best visible clue.
What a near sided waste of a valuable asset. Many in Liverpool eventually no doubt regretted its lost. It's too bad that no audio film of the line exists. No doubt that the later Beatles rode the LOR at least once.
No one could raise the money to save it although many tried. But the docks railway locomotives were causing the iron structures to corrode and the rolling stock was in need of replacing. £2milliin was needed for the structures alone.
Brilliant informative entertaining.. Now they are downgrading Liverpool Heritage status. !!! Complete idiots in charge. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to upload. I didnt know it even existed. Thanks again. 👍😎
Where was Bramley moor dock? And the railway which served it? Not much sign of it now. And I think a lot of Liverpool's dock trade must've been killed off by the arrival of bulk containers and the big purpose built ports which handle them, now all heavily automated, like Rotterdam, and I've been there a few times. And I can remember the old 16 ton coal wagons in use, and the old brake vans.
Nice to see that now the Museum of Liverpool new building near the pier head has the restored car on a piece of simulated overhead line inside the museum and you can look up to it from the ground floor or look into it from the first floor.
@@majorpygge-phartt2643 True. But unlike a number of cities in decades past, New York and Chicago retained their elevated lines. And these lines, although being viewed as "antiquated" by some, nevertheless remain an intricate part of the transit systems of the cities they serve.
These New York Elevated lines (The Ninth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Third Avenue and Second Avenue in Manhattan and Fulton Street and Sections of the Myrtle Street Elevated were taken down in 1940
I've been fascinated by the Docker's Umbrella for some years now. What a shame it could be saved and new rolling stock put on. My mum used to take me to Liverpool in the 1950s, the last time I went was in 1958, but by then it was all over. I cannot for the life of me remember it although I probably did see it on the many visit we paid there beforehand.
I suppose this video epitomises the passage of time and the conundrums it will increasingly present. Are the Online Videos still copyright? I've got some on VHS from the eighties and nineties. And what happens to monumental archival content such as this going forward? When these scenes were filmed I was still in primary school in south London...one of my VHs Online titles follows a year on the Bluebell Railway n the 1980s, when I was passing through 40. How do we keep this stuff as a record, and how do we make it freely available without incurring the wrath of those who created it and possibly still have a proprietorial interest in it?
If this had been retained, it would probably have become a 'light railway' - similar to London's DLR. Shame about such a lack of foresight. It would be a very useful asset to Liverpool today. As would the surface level Central station, if it hadn't been demolished.
A great video, with excellent commentary. What a pity that in the 'fifties and 'sixties the British authorities enthusiastically carried on Hitler's work, wilfully destroying so many of Britain's classic buildings and railways.
Absolutely fascinating what a railway, it's a shame it did not survive. I am so grateful to those who filmed this railway in every detail for us to see 65 years later. Thanks for uploading this fantastic video.
A great little pice of archive, thanks! So Liverpool had its "Docklands Light Railway" decades before London!
Thanks for sharing. A brilliant film. There is some lovely pro-shot footage of the Overhead Railway, docks and various Liverpool streets at the end (last 15 minutes), of the Jean Simmons film, called The Clouded Yellow xD
What a wonderful time document of a remarkable public transport system. Too bad it was not kept in place, it would serve Liverpool and Merseyside well in this day and age. At least the region now has Merseyrail.
Thats my grandad getting of the train at 12:01 😊 Edward Middleton
Just shows the short sightedness from all councils that is still here to this day , what a tourist attraction this would be , and perfect for Everton's new ground
I don't think it was shortsightedness. The amount of money necessary to renew the structure, in danger of collapse, was out of the question. There wasn't a lot of cash lying round spare in 1956.
@@GJChurchward u have to be kidding no shortsighted ,if they didn't leave it to get in that state and thought of the future , plus there was a lot of new building work still goin on from the end of the war they had more money then then they do now for re build and up grades the railways were swimming in it typical local council just like now not giving a crap
@@colinmumford267 the overhead was a private company barely able to cover its working expenses. It had nothing to do with the council or British railways. The share holders seeing the cost of repairs decided to cut their losses & close it
@@Merseywail the council and city funding could of easy took it over at that time they took the far easier option like most do and say just rip it down ,am quite aware it was not funded by the council as it ran from Dingle though Liverpool waterfront vauxhall Bootle to seaforth , it was the first electric overhead railway 2nd oldest first to use signaling and first escalators , it's was absolutely the wrong thing to do it's as simple as that , would of easy payed for its self would of been a fantastic tourist attraction and perfect for computing today
The war must have started the lack of maintenance and post war the money was very hard to get. It's more that it didn't get nationalised as with the main railway companies that also had been run into the ground 1939-45.
Thanks for this - I had no idea this system ever existed and I thought my UK railway history knowledge was pretty good up until now.
I remember going on Sunday outings on this line. I seem to recall seeing a liner that had capsized after a fire onboard. That would have been in the last few years before it closed.. We moved to London in mid 1956, but return trips to Liverpool always seemed to be missing something.
What a lack of foresight.
The liner was EMPRESS OF CANADA which caught fire 25 January 1953 and capsized due to water overload on the topsides.
@@jimdaniels7472 Thanks for that. Nice to know it wasn’t something i confused from somewhere else, especially as i was about 3 1/2 at the time.
Do you know what happened to the ship?
The elevated structures needed massive repairs that the company couldn't afford, so it had to close and be removed. Perhaps it should have been nationalised in 1948, the tram network in Grimsbg became part of BR.
Fantastic video of a unique part of British railway history! :D
I was just wondering, would it be possible for me to use this footage as part of an upcoming documentary I'm creating about the history of the Liverpool Overhead Railway?
I love watching this video with Martin Jenkins from various Online Videos. We can learn so much history from him
Fascinating stuff, I didn't know any of this.
News to me that Liverpool had ever even had an overhead railway.
Thanks for posting.
I remember traveling on that when I was a kid , my Dad took me on it he was going to pick his wages up , Great video.i later worked on the Railway as a Signalman at James Street P S B , and before that I covered every Signalbox on the Wirral and Merseyrail . I finished up at Sandhills P S B but was made redundant in 1995 .
Amazing history. I
can just about remember these trains.
Excellent stuff. I remember going down into the garage that was shown in the old Dingle terminus in the 90s, I think it was called Rosco engineering if I recall. I grew up in Caryl gardens, which was opposite the old Royal Southern Hospital on Hill st. The old hand point levers that used to turn the M.D& H.C Trains, into the various docks were still in place up until the 1980s when they did a lot of work for the up and coming international garden festival. The least said about that the better, a total waste of the tax payers money.
Brilliant video, thanks for posting. I visited the Liverpool Museum in the Albert Dock complex earlier this year and was able to see and enter the restored coach No 3. There is a nice feature, with photographs of the line, but this video really puts it into perspective.
excellent film Thanks for sharing. I lived in the Wavertree area of Liverpool when I was a youngster and my Grandfather often took me and my sister and brothers on the Overhead railway to Seaforth for the day. We used to picnic on the sand and watch the ships coming and going. We loved the old railway it was a great experience looking down on the old docks.
I note that the film also shows, in the background, the ever present smog. Terrible stuff in the winter through the 50's. It was a combination of fog and smoke from all the coal fired chimney pots from houses and factories alike. It caused many deaths with it's poisonous fumes. They eventually banned coal for fires and introduced so called smokeless fuel known as coke. That word has a very different meaning today.
One of the few things that have survived are only one car, and some other artefacts..but good info at the Liverpool Museum..a good film, and a lot of footage of it in operation...
The bit at Aintree was very interesting if the Austerty was on a Race Day Special it was indeed one of the few recorded instances of these on Passenger Service. However 40681 was a Simple not a Compound as stated, no outside cylinders being the best visible clue.
What a near sided waste of a valuable asset. Many in Liverpool eventually no doubt regretted its lost. It's too bad that no audio film of the line exists.
No doubt that the later Beatles rode the LOR at least once.
No one could raise the money to save it although many tried. But the docks railway locomotives were causing the iron structures to corrode and the rolling stock was in need of replacing. £2milliin was needed for the structures alone.
Brilliant informative entertaining..
Now they are downgrading Liverpool Heritage status. !!!
Complete idiots in charge.
Thanks for sharing and taking the time to upload.
I didnt know it even existed. Thanks again. 👍😎
Fabulous journey back in time and very informative
Where was Bramley moor dock? And the railway which served it? Not much sign of it now. And I think a lot of Liverpool's dock trade must've been killed off by the arrival of bulk containers and the big purpose built ports which handle them, now all heavily automated, like Rotterdam, and I've been there a few times. And I can remember the old 16 ton coal wagons in use, and the old brake vans.
Nice to see that now the Museum of Liverpool new building near the pier head has the restored car on a piece of simulated overhead line inside the museum and you can look up to it from the ground floor or look into it from the first floor.
Its like the elevated in New York and the "L" in Chicago.
Yeah, but just like so many great engineering innovations, we did it first!
@@majorpygge-phartt2643
True. But unlike a number of cities in decades past, New York and Chicago retained their elevated lines. And these lines, although being viewed as "antiquated" by some, nevertheless remain an intricate part of the transit systems of the cities they serve.
@@chicago-l9125 unlike the UK the USA has never been bombed of virtually bankrupted trying to defend itself.
Actually New York’s pioneering Ninth Avenue Elevated Railway or “EL”started operations with Railcars pulled by small steam locomotives in 1868
These New York Elevated lines (The Ninth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Third Avenue and Second Avenue in Manhattan and Fulton Street and Sections of the Myrtle Street Elevated were taken down in 1940
I've been fascinated by the Docker's Umbrella for some years now. What a shame it could be saved and new rolling stock put on. My mum used to take me to Liverpool in the 1950s, the last time I went was in 1958, but by then it was all over. I cannot for the life of me remember it although I probably did see it on the many visit we paid there beforehand.
Terrific video.
The only fire that the overhead railway suffered was in the same year it was closed.
I suppose this video epitomises the passage of time and the conundrums it will increasingly present. Are the Online Videos still copyright? I've got some on VHS from the eighties and nineties. And what happens to monumental archival content such as this going forward? When these scenes were filmed I was still in primary school in south London...one of my VHs Online titles follows a year on the Bluebell Railway n the 1980s, when I was passing through 40. How do we keep this stuff as a record, and how do we make it freely available without incurring the wrath of those who created it and possibly still have a proprietorial interest in it?
Bellissimo video. Very nice video.
Amazing. Thanks.
If this had been retained, it would probably have become a 'light railway' - similar to London's DLR. Shame about such a lack of foresight. It would be a very useful asset to Liverpool today. As would the surface level Central station, if it hadn't been demolished.
I'd swear it was David Thewlis doing the commentary.
Cool.
such a shame, overhead was demolished
A great video, with excellent commentary. What a pity that in the 'fifties and 'sixties the British authorities enthusiastically carried on Hitler's work, wilfully destroying so many of Britain's classic buildings and railways.
The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 and the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 prevented most of what you are talking about.
Rare? It's on TH-cam - anyone can see it.