FAREWELL TO THE WIRRAL

First stop today is Green Lane station, still in Birkenhead, where 42970 is seen in the carriage sidings in 1958.

 To the south is Rock Ferry station, where the Mersey Railway EMUs terminated.

A Mersey Railway omnibus stands outside the station.

47439 has charge of the Royal Train at Rock Ferry in 1982.

No pint here! The Great Eastern at New Ferry has closed.

Time to scoot across the Mersey and leave the Wirral behind. You can see the route here. On the other side of the river was Brunswick loco shed, where this Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway 2-4-0, no. 152 is seen.

Into early LNER days at Brunswick.

Not far away is the Liverpool suburb of Dingle. Still no beer though. The Poets Corner has been converted into flats.

Onwards to Toxteth, once the scene of serious rioting. Here, one could find Higson's Brewery.

Higson's Brewery later became Cain's with its Brewery Tap (the Grapes) below.

On to Smithdown Road now, once served by Liverpool's trams.

The Willow Bank pub on Smithdown Road is still open. It's a Greene King house now.

The nearby Royal Hotel has been closed and converted into student flats. The suberb exterior has been restored.

The Edinburgh at nearby Wavertree is, these days, a fine community pub.

My friend Richard Huggins went to Wavertree in 1993 and photographed a few passing buses.

Heading towards Liverpool city centre, we pass Edge Hill loco sheds, where LMS 6931 is seen. 

Preserved SR 850 Lord Nelson visited Edge Hill depot in 1981.

To the city's great shame, it allowed the nearby Mount Vernon pub to be demolished.

To conclude today's tour, we'll finish at Liverpool's two cathedrals. Furthest out of the city is the C of E version, seen under construction and, in 1989, more or less complete.

Within sight is the RC cathedral.

Next time, an in depth look at Liverpool city centre.

BIRKENHEAD

We now follow the Mersey estuary upstream, soon arriving at Seacombe station, on the Wirral Railway. 

At Seacombe Ferry, one could take a trip across the Mersey to Liverpool (Creative Commons License).

Seacombe Ferry once acted as a terminal for Wallasey buses and, later, those of Merseyside PTE.

Into Birkenhead's docks now. There are views across to Liverpool from Egerton Dock.

Nine steam locos, bound for India, are loaded up in the docks in 1930.

Birkenhead Docks had an extensive rail network. 03189 shunts here in 1981.

08078 with redundant stock for scrap in 1981.

Canning Street North signal box controlled some of the docks system. All traffic had ceased by 1994.

At the west end of the docks complex is Birkenhead North station, photographed in 1961 by Ben Brooksbank (Creative Commons License).

In nearby Birkenhead Park, there's a "Roman Boathouse". (Photo by Swee Oon - Creative Commons).

This is Birkenhead Park station in 1961 (Ben Brooksbank CC).

A Merseyrail EMU arrives here in 1977.

Birkenhead Central station and depot, again it's 1961 (Ben Brooksbank CC).

Close by was Birkenhead loco shed, with ex GWR and LMS locos in the late 1950s.

Let's now look at some of the sights of Birkenhead. Here's St James' Church (Creative Commons License).

The Claughton is a well known boozer in the town.

I think the Old Colonial has since bitten the dust.

The Stork Hotel is a historic pub renowned for its beers.

Birkenhead was once served by its own trams. Car no. 53 is seen in Conway Street.

Birkenhead later had its own buses. The town was also served by Wallasey Corporation.

Other operators in the town centre included Merseybus (the PTE operations) and Crosville.

Down by the Mersey in Birkenhead is Woodside. The railway station here closed in the 1960s (Ben Brooksbank CC).

Woodside is still a transport interchange. Merseyside PTE was once the major operator. 

First PMT also had a share of duties. This Dennis saloon has just passed Hamilton Square station entrance and is approaching Woodside.

First was operating this "thing" in 2000.

Arriva now seems to have a good presence in Woodside.

Several independents have been and gone. These have included Happy Al's, Eazybus and Gold Star.

GM South had a short lived foray into Merseyside.

There's also tramway serving Woodside, operated as a short heritage line.

Of course, Birkenhead's earlier trams once served Woodside.

The Pier Hotel, just over the road, has long closed, but its fantastic exterior survives.

From Woodside ferry terminal there are fine views over to Liverpool. We'll head there in the next post.

See you soon!