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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella) in Liverpool, England opened on February 14^th 1839. It had first been proposed in 1852, and construction began in 1889. It ran from Seaforth Carriage Shed to Herculaneum Dock, a distance of six miles. It used standard gauge track and there were 14 stations. It was an electric railway from the start, and was the first electrically powered overhead railway in the world.

In 1896 the line was extended southwards from Herculaneum in a tunnel to Dingle Station - the line's only underground station, in Park Road. It is now used as a garage. The tunnel portal is one of the few surviving signs of the railway's existence.

A northward extension connected to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's North Mersey Branch. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway ran some of its own specially-built vehicles on the line, and these were especially heavily used during race meetings at Aintree Racecourse.

During World War II the railway suffered extensively from bomb damage. As a purely local undertaking, it was not nationalised in 1948 with the rest of the British railway system. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Company started to modernise some of the carriages (incorporating sliding doors). The line continued to carry large numbers of passengers, especially dock workers.

The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking on which the tracks were laid. As such, it was vulnerable to corrosion - especially as the steam-operated Docks Railway operated beneath some sections of the line. During surveys it was discovered that expensive repairs would be necessary to ensure the line's long term survival. Accordingly, and despite considerable protest, the line closed on December 30, 1956 and the Liverpool Overhead Railway Company went into voluntary liquidation. The service was replaced by a bus service operated by Liverpool Corporation. The iron bridges were soon removed for scrap, leaving little trace of the railway.

The railway is featured in final scenes of the film "The Clouded Yellow" (1951), as the character played by Jean Simmons uses the railway to travel to one of the docks.

All pictures can be found in the photo section, and can be viewed in the right hand album viewer.

 

Bootle - History

Bootle was originally a small hamlet built near the 'sand hills' or dunes of the river estuary. The settlement began to grow as a bathing resort for wealthy residents of Liverpool in the early 19th century. Some remaining large villas which housed well-to-do commuters to Liverpool are located in the area known locally as 'Bootle Village'.

The Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway arrived in the 1840s and Bootle experienced rapid growth. By the end of the 19th century the docks had been constructed along the whole of the river front as far as Seaforth Sands to the north. The town became heavily industrialised. It became a county borough of Lacashire in the mid 19th century on attaining a population of 75,000.

There are still large areas of Victorian terraced houses in Bootle, formerly occupied by dock workers. These are built in distinctive pressed red brick.

The docks made Bootle a target for German bombers in World War II and approximately 90% of the houses in the town were damaged.

After World War II large social housing estates were built inland from the town centre, including the area of Netherton which was built on New Town principles. The Liverpool Overhead Railway and Liverpool Tramways Company closure in the 50s reduced Bootle's connection to Liverpool.

The docks declined in importance in the 1960s and 1970s, and Bootle suffered high unemployment and a declining population. The establishment of large office blocks housing government departments and the National Girobank provided employment, but this was filled largely by middle class people from outside the town.

In 1974, when county boroughs were abolished, Bootle combined with towns further up the coast to form the metropolitan borough of Sefton, rather than be annexed by Liverpool, as was also suggested.

 

Below is a picture of Bootle Town Hall taken in 1910