Cities where they do things first

This post, along with the others under the sign of "Dock Roads", is a shared research resource, principally for Philip and Hangfeng who are working on an idea that explores the situation of the Bund in Shanghai and the situation of the Pier Head in Liverpool.

In the 19th century people from all over the world would make visits to cities like Liverpool and Manchester, to see for themselves what the future might hold. Liverpool and Manchester were linked by the very first passenger railway.

• The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North West England in the United Kingdom.[1] The L&MR was primarily built to provide faster transport of raw materials and finished goods between the Port of Liverpool and mills in Manchester and surrounding towns. Wikipedia

The Liverpool Overhead Railway was the world's first electric overhead railway.

• The Liverpool Overhead Railway was the world's first electrically-operated overhead railway. It was located close to the River Mersey in Liverpool, England. It opened in 1893 and closed in 1956.
• As early as 1852 the railway had been suggested. Although it wasn't until much later that the railway came into existence. Engineers Sir Douglas Fox & James Henry Greathead were comissioned to design the railway. They chose electric traction, due to the possibility of sparks igniting the cargoes in close proximity of the railway. The works commenced in 1889 & were completed in January 1893.
• Known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella, the Liverpool Overhead Railway was opened on February 4, 1893 by the Marquis of Salisbury. The railway ran from Alexandra Dock (LOR) to Herculaneum Dock, a distance of six miles. It used standard gauge track and there were 11 intermediate stations along the line. It was an electric railway from the start, and was the first electrically powered overhead railway in the world.
• The line was later extended northwards to Seaforth Sands on 30 April 1894. A further extension southwards from Herculaneum Dock to Dingle was opened on 21 December 1896. Dingle was the line's only underground station and was located on Park Road; the station is now used as a garage. The extension was achieved by spanning the Cheshire Lines Committee's extensive goods yard at Brunswick with a 200 ft lattice, girder bridge & then boring a half mile tunnel through the sandstone dock, under what are known locally as the 'Bread Streets'. The tunnel portal is one of the few surviving signs of the railway's existence.
• Finally, a northward extension was connected to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's North Mersey Branch on 2 July 1905. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway ran some of its own specially-built vehicles on the line, and these were especially used during race meetings at Aintree Racecourse.
• 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, at a cost of £2 million. The Liverpool Overhead Railway Company could not afford such costs and looked to both Liverpool City Council & the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board for financial assistance. This was to no avail.
• The Liverpool Overhead Railway Company had no option but to go into voluntary liquidation. Accordingly, and despite considerable protest, the line was closed on the evening of 30 December 1956. The final trains each left either end of the line, marking the closure with a loud bang as they passed each other. Both trains were full to capacity with wellwishers and employees of the company.
• The service was replaced by a bus service (route number 1) operated by Liverpool Corporation, which could not compete with its predecessor's much faster service, due to congestion along the Dock Road. The public continued to campaign for the railway to reopen, albeit in vain.
• Demolition of the structure commenced in September 1957, with the whole structure being dismantled by the following year. The bridges were removed for scrap, leaving very little trace of the railway, save for a small number of upright columns found in the walls at Wapping and the tunnel portal at Dingle.
  

These days people travel to Shanghai to get a taste of the future! Shanghai has a brand new Maglev, but how long will it last? These videos were taken by e-space lab member Jonathan Kearney in July 2007 while taking the Maglev from Pu Dong airport to the Shanghai city centre area where the Expo 2010 is taking shape:





Posted by Philip Courtenay