Electrics under the Mersey. The Mersey railway. The first Mersey Tunnel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Now part of Merseyrail, this part of the Mersey railway story tells how the bankrupt line was brought back from the brink. Electrification of the choking underground steam line was to be the saviour of the railway
In 1974 I found myself working in the Royal LiverBuilding and living in Hoylake, commuting by train.
I had no idea the heritage of the 1936 rolling stock I used every day! I subsequently witnessed the introduction of the new stock and was a passenger on the first day the Liverpool loop opened to traffic. I also remember that steep walkway going up from James St!
Thank you for the video and the education!!!
Thanks Steve. The "wirral & mersey" 503 stock was so well suited for its role its not surprising that BR ordered more of the same design in 1956. Your lucky to have commuted on them & seen the loop line opened. I well remember the roar as they ran round the loop & the squeal when they pulled into stations. I hope that the preserved one will come back to Merseyside one day, even if its only on static display
Thank you for an excellent video. A delight in so many ways. As a youngster, I well remember the Westinghouse and Cravens stock. I always made a beeline to sit in a Motor car and listen to all the electro-pneumatic contactors clattering away as the Motorman notched up. Vivid blue flashes from the collector shoes bouncing back off the tunnel walls. Such a shame No.1 was destroyed in the Derby fire. You've unearthed some hitherto unseen pictures (by me anyway) of the old stock - beautiful. Well done ! One appears to show the duplicate negative rails that were laid on the under river section only. Most informative.
Thanks for the very kind comments. It's always good to know that not only do people enjoy my content, but it brings back memories. It's a real shame that no1 was destroyed it no doubt would have had pride of place in the Liverpool museum. Doing the research for the videos is part of the enjoyment, although picture research is often difficult
Have you ever tried using the light from the arcing collector shoes to take a photo inside a tunnel? I managed it once on the Bury to Manchester Victoria line. And I've also used sheet lightning to take a picture outside at night and it looks just like day time.
Thank you. Fair enjoyed this series.
Thanks, the third part will be out soon. Still gathering information & photos for it. There will probably be an additional one after that, detailing the "lost" Merseyrail lines
It's great to see such a bright colour picture of the first generation mersey electric units, I didn't know such a picture existed. I think most people on merseyside who are old enough will know about the LMS stock from 1938 but there never seems to be any mention never mind pictures of the original stock. And they look a bit similar in some ways to the original Lancashire & Yorkshire units on the Manchester Victoria to Bury line.
There are a few colour pictures of the mersey stock around & even some cine film too. Sadly having lost the one coach set aside for preservation, they have largely been forgotten
Westinghouse is a well known name on the whole railway system with its signalling systems in signalboxs across the country but famously installed into lime Street signal box in 1947 which was open until the late 2010s with the original frame by them in use until the end
It is. The company played a big role in railway history
Definitely did
Interesting. No wonder having electrified railway lines underneath makes it lot more cleaner, greener and more efficient than having Steam or Diesel trains running underneath. Very good video. :)
Am sure that had electric traction been more widespread when they were building the line they would have gone with that. But they went with steam & ended up bankrupt
@@Merseywail That’s so true.
I am not sure how I feel about the new voice over, which I think is a text to speech thing. It really does take away that personal touch from a local historian, which is what made these videos hit really close to home. Great content though.
I understand what you mean about the personal touch. But I had received many complaints that people couldn't understand what was being said. Indeed some comments were downright nasty & had to be deleted.
@@Merseywail That is such a shame. Personally, I wouldn't have pandered to the minority, and those being nasty, then changed your format in response, but I understand for others that clarity maybe a little important. Though id like to think most people watching are from Liverpool and its surrounding areas and can understand you perfectly. Myself included. Take care and wishing you all the best for 2022!
@@Kurisu87 I might try again on the separate station history videos & see how they go
Absolutely brilliant video. 😊
Thanks, one more part the mersey railway story to come
Super video. More please
Thanks Dave. I don't know if you're interested in the Merseyrail underground line's. But video am working on at the moment is all about the building of the loop & link underground in Liverpool in the 70s. I've been lucky enough to get permission to use many previously unpublished photos & plans of the lines, so hopefully I can do it justice
Great video of some remarkable engineering and historic railway history, I travel on the crossriver trains quite regularly always thinking of whats has gone into the making of this network , the narrator of the video was was very professional, job well done all round.
Thanks, am working on the follow up to this, the building of the Merseyrail underground (loop & link). Though I will be doing the narration this time. Hope I don't sound to scouse lol
@@Merseywail sounds clear and very informative, no accent hardly , look forward to seeing new project.
Very interesting video, thanks
Thanks Andy it's largely taken for granted now it's part of Merseyrail. Buy the Mersey railway was yet another pioneering railway company
wow ... *s o* much info crammed into such a short output ... wow
Thanks, never sure if it's better to keep things short or longer with far more details
well, you're a natural, pal...whereas objecting to some stateside channeler over here to his dreadfully corporateered passion was just pointless of me...!
excellent very interesting - thank you!
Thank you
The system should have kept the fourth rail as it's a far better system for underground railways as it reduces current leakage into the ground and reduces corrosion of stuff like gas mains for instance, a dangerous situation. And I bet they sometimes forgot to unhook those air hoses before setting off and ripped them out sending dangerous high pressure air blasting out!
They plugged the air pipes in only at terminal stations, so one would hope they would remember to disconnect it. But I suppose it could have happened a few times
@@Merseywail It's still much the same today at some terminal stations, like Blackpool north, where they lay out lots of hoses to refill the water tanks for the wash rooms and most likely also empty the filthy crap from the toilets, so during that time no-one but the necessary staff are allowed onto the platforms until the operations are finished. And surely if they had any sense back then they would've kept the passengers clear of the airlines just in case they burst, as well as the trip hazard.
@@majorpygge-phartt2643 we would hope so, though there wasn't a health n safety thing back then. Just rules and regulations
Couldn't agree more, Major. I wonder if, in an alternate history, Liverpool were to be gifted hand-me-down London Underground stock (which also uses 4th rail), as opposed to our own 507/8 stock... Perhaps we can look to the isle of Wight's history of passenger stock for inspiration in what this prospective Liverpool would look like.
35 seconds musical introduction? Behave, you dont get that on Sky or ITV!
Am still learning. Intros have now been dropped from future videos. Am unfortunately from a earlier generation that actually has an attention span.(am an old fart) I've since realised I have to cater for a potential audience that has little or non. Some future videos will cover subjects in detail. Those with no attention will just have to miss out on them. My demographics age group are from 50 years plus which is the age demographic I was aiming for