half miley tunnel, bootle pics and help

[mike delamar]

this tunnel under marsh lane and strand road/bootle new strand station, used to be a railway line, running from langton dock to fazakerley north junction, when it closed in the late 1960s it has been filled up to street level, it used to be much deeper





this pic of how it is today is from this site
http://www.bootlehistory.com/bootle_gallery.html

and how it used to be




looking under stanley road to the tunnel mouths of the half miley which you can still see the top of next to the tyre garage on marsh lane, this tunnel runs under the marsh lane and under the canal before emerging under hawthorne road



both pics looking west, taken from " an illustrated history of liverpools railways" and "backtrack" railway magazine




im looking for pics of this line around the western end of the half miley tunnel, around the hawthorne road, southport road, walton prison area, and the branch that went into linacre lane gasworks over the canal and over hawthorne road near the old peoples ford garage, if anyone can help please, i have seen one or two pics from the air of the area

cheers

mike

[mike delamar]

the tunnel in the last picture, can be seen in the left middle of this pic (arrowed green)


taken from bootle history website, marsh lane runs across the pic, above the canal, the other tunnel entrance can be seen to the right at the junction with hawthorne road (arrowed blue), also can be seen the line over the canal and hawthorne road into the gasworks, (arrowed red)

mike

[Kev]

Fantastic pics once again

[mike delamar]

thanks kev, my dad was brought up on fernhill road in the 60s and used to watch the steam trains struggle up from the docks, blasting loud out of the tunnel, which is why we are searching for pics of that particular area,

cheers

mike

[Shapers]

Excellent pics. I never new it was a old railway line or it been filled.

Learn something new.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Mike

Very interesting pics and information. Thanks!

Chris

[lindylou]

Amazing pics

[lindylou]

Have a look into that Bootle web-site folks - there are some fantastic archive pictures in there. I love the old family photographs. Brilliant.



thanks Mike for posting that link.

[Ged]

Yes, you're right Lindy, thanks Mike.

[snappel]

About a year ago when I found out about the Marsh Lane tunnel, I was more than surprised. It seemed hard to believe that a railway had run right through there. Thanks for the pictures - I had no idea the tunnel under the main line was that deep!

Also, I never realised that the gas works branch went over the canal, rather than through a tunnel. Somewhere I have an old map of the area that shows the route of the line. I doubt there's much trace left, although I think the trackbed and Marsh Lane tunnel still exist. Not sure what state they're in though.

[Ged]

I used to run along the canal from the Eldonian Village through to Litherland, having to cross over the footbridge at Bootle Strand and then come back via the roads. At the Stanley Road/Commercial road junction in Kirkdale there is a great feat in engineering with a myriad of cross-overs whereby the railway goes over the canal and then the roadway goes over both.

[mike delamar]

if it tells you anything,

the course of the line in bootle is completley filled up,

wheras as soon as you get to the border with liverpool, the trackbed is still at the original depth,


you can see this past the prison, under broomfield road, over the liverpool to ormskirk railway, over rice lane, and then over the kirkby to liverpool line (the only bridge to be taken away as it was the first from the junction so as to sever the line,basically an attitude of take it away before someone says leave it and open it up again)


where it used to meet up at hartleys hill with the cheshire lines to halewood.


mike

[ChrisGeorge]

this tunnel under marsh lane and strand road/bootle new strand station, used to be a railway line, running from langton dock to fazakerley north junction, when it closed in the late 1960s it has been filled up to street level, it used to be much deeper





this pic of how it is today is from this site
http://www.bootlehistory.com/bootle_gallery.html

Hi Mike

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed looking at the photographs of the murals in the Marsh Lane Time Tunnel on the Bootle website you cited. A wonderful project to get the community involved in "owning" a piece of their neighbourhood, and so instill in everyone pride in ownership, and to help educate about the history of the area at the same time. Excellent.

All my best

Chris

[stan]

if it tells you anything,

the course of the line in bootle is completley filled up,

wheras as soon as you get to the border with liverpool, the trackbed is still at the original depth,


you can see this past the prison, under broomfield road, over the liverpool to ormskirk railway, over rice lane, and then over the kirkby to liverpool line (the only bridge to be taken away as it was the first from the junction so as to sever the line,basically an attitude of take it away before someone says leave it and open it up again)


where it used to meet up at hartleys hill with the cheshire lines to halewood.


mike

I always wondered where the Rice lane bridge led to.They should open it up like they did with the loop.

Does anyone know where the bridge over Ormskirk road goes to?The one just past the racecourse entrance.

[Scouseinmanc]

Hi Stan

I think (if my memory serves me correctly) that this bridge is on is the old Cheshire Lines Extension to Southport, which is now the Cheshire Lines Cycleway.
This bridge, I think is located between what was Aintree Central (Closed 1960) & Sefton & Maghull stations (Closed to passengers in 1952, along with all other stations, up to Southport Lord Street, however the line did linger on for a while for goods).
After the bridge across the A59, the line then ran along an embankment to Sefton & Maghull.
Hope this helps, rgds, SiM.