Overview | |
---|---|
Other name(s) | Dingle Extension Tunnel |
Line | Liverpool Overhead Railway |
Location | Merseyside |
Coordinates | 53°22′48″N2°58′14″W / 53.3801°N 2.9705°W |
Status | Disused |
Start | Herculaneum Dock |
No. of stations | Dingle railway station |
Operation | |
Opened | 31 December 1896(passenger service) |
Closed | 30 December 1956(passenger service) |
Operator | Liverpool Overhead Railway Company |
Traffic | Single ended passenger rail with terminus station |
Technical | |
Design engineer | Charles Douglas Fox |
Length | 0.5 mi (800 m) |
No. of tracks | Double |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Tunnel clearance | 19 feet (5.8 m) |
Width | 25 feet (7.6 m) |
The Liverpool Overhead Railway Southern Extension Tunnel, also known as the Dingle Extension Tunnel [lower-alpha 1] or variations thereof, [1] stretches for half a mile from Herculaneum Dock to Dingle underground railway station, which was the southern terminus of the Liverpool Overhead Railway.[ citation needed ]
The tunnel was opened for operations on 31 December 1896. [2] Per the inscription on the tunnel entrance it was constructed under the chairmanship of William Bower Forwood by the engineer Charles Douglas Fox. Additional engineers attributed on the portal are J. H. Greathead and S. B. Cottrell. Contractors were H. M. Nowell and C. Braddock.
The tunnel was approximately 0.5 mi (800 m) long, 25 feet (7.6 m) wide and 19 feet (5.8 m) high. In the station, reached after 186 feet (57 m) the width and height increased to 52 feet (16 m) and 25 feet (7.6 m) to accommodate the island platform with tracks each side. [3]
The tunnel portal at Herculaneum Dock is halfway up a cliff so that the track seamlessly run onto the elevated section of Overhead Railway. The track was electrified using the third rail.[ citation needed ] The inscription “LOR Southern Extension” lies above the portal. [1] [lower-alpha 2] Soon after the entrance the tunnel passes over the Garston and Liverpool Railway railway tunnel which links Brunswick and St Michaels. The tunnel was twin track and ended 123 yards (112 m) beyond the end of Dingle station with twin sets of buffers embedded in the end wall of the tunnel. [2]
The last trains ran on 30 December 1956. [1] The former station was used as motor repair garage until the collapse of the station entrance in 2012, [4] leaving the tunnel and station disused. [1] In April 2020 the private owner of the tunnel was looking to sell it with suggestions it could be used as a wine cellar. [4]
Merseyrail is a metro railway system serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and the Wirral Line, which are dedicated 750 V DC third rail electrified lines converging into underground sections in the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead. Merseyrail branding is also applied to stations and ticketing on the City Line, which are within the Liverpool City Region but operated by other train operating companies, predominantly Northern Trains. The City Line services operate on the Liverpool to Manchester Lines and the Liverpool to Wigan Line using a mix of AC electric and diesel trains.
Dingle is an inner city area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is located to the south of the city, bordered by the adjoining districts of Toxteth and Aigburth. At the 2001 Census, the population was recorded at 13,246.
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Herculaneum Dock was part of the Port of Liverpool in Liverpool, England. It was at the south end of the Liverpool dock system, on the River Mersey. To the north it was connected to Harrington Dock. The dock was named after the Herculaneum Pottery Company that had previously occupied the site.
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The Liverpool Overhead Railway was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number of world firsts: it was the first electric elevated railway, the first to use automatic signalling, electric colour light signals and electric multiple units, and was home to one of the first passenger escalators at a railway station. It was the second oldest electric metro in the world, being preceded by the 1890 City and South London Railway.
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Dingle railway station is a disused underground railway station located on the Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR), at the south end of Park Road, Dingle, Liverpool. It was the only below ground station on the line. Trains accessed the station via a half-mile tunnel, bored from the cliff face at Herculaneum Dock to Park Road. It is the last remaining part of the Overhead railway, with the surface entrance still standing. The former platform and track area were in use as a garage called Roscoe Engineering until 2015.
Sir Francis Fox was an English civil engineer, who was responsible for the bridges over the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi and Sydney Harbour, the Mersey Railway Tunnel and the Liverpool Overhead Railway, and extending the London Underground. He was awarded a Knighthood by the King on 25 July 1912.
Brunswick Dock railway station was on the Liverpool Overhead Railway, adjacent to Brunswick Dock and in close proximity to the Cheshire Lines Committee's extensive goods yard of the same name.
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Herculaneum Dock railway station was the original southern terminus for the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Actually adjacent to Harrington Dock it was named after Herculaneum Dock, a somewhat larger dock beyond the end of the line. It was opened on 6 March 1893 by the Marquis of Salisbury.
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Media related to Dingle extension tunnel at Wikimedia Commons