This panorama from the Liverpool Overhead Railway 'Map and Guide of the Railway and Docks' shows the extensive docks. Click on the image for a larger view.
Liverpool has always had a fascination for me for a host of reasons. I was quite young when my Father, Mother and I went to New Brighton for a holiday. We certainly went on the Mersey Ferry service to Liverpool and I think that was my first visit to the city.
After the death of my father, my mother took me back to Liverpool in the early 1950s and I was overwhelmed by the place. I was impressed by the municipal buildings, Lime Street Station, the tram system, the river and the docks. The Liverpool Overhead Railway was still running and I was staggered by the size of the docks and the ships which almost seemed to touch the overhead railway.
The area around Pierhead seemed very exciting. There was an Overhead Railway station there, in the shadow of the famous Liver Building. Four sets of stairs led down to ground level from the Overhead station. Directly beneath the Overhead ran two tracks used by Mersey Docks and Harbour Board to move freight around the docks. Six coupled saddle tanks fussed around in an area criss-crossed by tram tracks and roads. A few yards away was the Pierhead tram terminus which always bustled with passengers. At the river's edge lay the massive floating pontoon of the Pierhead Landing Stage with Mersey ferries coming and going to various destinations on the other side of the river. Morning and evening, the Landing Stage would be crammed with passengers, many with bicycles. When each ferry arrived, as soon as the gangway had been lowered, there would be a crush of people and bicycles disembarking and then the waiting passengers would refill the ferry. With a roar from the engines, the powerful ferry would head off into the murky waters of the Mersey and, at busy times, another ferry would immediately berth. I found it all a unique experience.
Pierhead is still worth a visit today but it all seems very quiet compared with how I remember the area from those early visits - the Mersey Ferries still operate but largely as a tourist attraction (so be prepared for the 1964 hit 'Ferry Cross the Mersey' on the public address).
The Liverpool Overhead Railway was the first overhead railway in the world to use electric traction and it operated from 1893 to 1956. See the Wikipedia Article.
Liverpool Museums are preparing the preserved Liverpool Overhead Railway Driving/Motor car for display in the new museum. My pictures of this car are here.
The picture above (from the 'Map and Guide') shows a Liverpool Overhead train entering Seaforth Sands station, with a host of dockside cranes and a warship on the right.
The preserved coach is now on public display in the Museum of Liverpool (see article on the Royal opening of the Museum).
There is a high-resolution copy of the 'Map & Guide'.
Amended January 2011
Museum of Liverpool reference added April 2012
