Originally Posted by
HollyBlack
I know there is mention somewhere of the Waterloo tunnel being rope hauled until 1895 or so.
But it seems that there has always been confusion between the Waterloo tunnel and the Victoria tunnel. Perhaps VR was none too popular with the scouse lads who preferred to avoid using the word and referred to the tunnels as one.
Anyway, is it not a possibility that rope haulage was used for the run to Edge Hill but from the bottom of the cutting to Waterloo docks was loco hauled even from earlier times given the gentler gradient. In that case a shunter would be stationed at the bottom of the incline which seems to fit the track layout fairly well. And perhaps the side tunnel was merely a fuel (coke) bunker - it seems vaguely the right size to hold three "waggons" of coke as were to be delivered there according to the newspaper report.