In fact Vyner had bought back his own land, and generously did not force closure of the railway for some time. However he must have lost patience eventually, for on 30 June 1870 a writ of ejectment was secured for him, and the Hoylake Railway was required to remove all its movable assets from the affected land. The section of line westward from Leasowe to Hoylake, outside Vyner's area of interest, was kept in operation for the time being, from 8 July 1870. Road coaches provided connections from Leasowe level crossing, where there was no proper station, and Birkenhead and Seacombe. The railway part of its operation was started on 1 August 1872, Vyner's part of the line evidently having been retained intact. In 1873 the company opened a street tramway between Wallasey Bridge Road and the Woodside ferry terminal in Birkenhead. This was of course horse-operated; it was sold on to the Birkenhead Tramways Company on 11 October 1879 under the Birkenhead Tramways Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. clxxxvi). stock, are now used.</blockquote>

Electrification

The Wirral Railway had been predominantly a passenger line, with a locomotive fleet consisting of tank engines. Electrification had been considered as early as 1900; Mercer reported in 1914 that the powers had been acquired; Electrical equipment was supplied by British Thomson-Houston, and the vehicles were manufactured by Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Company and the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company. The units later became British Rail Class 503. When the trains were running in the Mersey Tunnel where there is a gradient of 1 in 27, provision was made to increase the notching point of the acceleration relay. This could be actuated by a sealed push-button in the driver's cab, for use in exceptional circumstances, such as a six-car train operating with one motor coach out of action.</blockquote>

The Wirral line was operated on the third rail system but the Mersey Railway system was on fourth rail, so the new trains were fitted with negative contact shoes and a contactor which was automatically operated according to the system. with trains running through to Liverpool through the former Mersey Railway route, now also, of course part of the LMS. Trains ran every 15 minutes, enhanced to 10 minutes at the busiest times. The Seacombe branch passenger service was now exclusively operated by steam trains of the London and North Eastern Railway (as successor since 1923 to the Great Central Railway).

Through coaches from New Brighton to London had been inaugurated in 1923, one journey in each direction being made. When the New Brighton line was electrified, the London service continued at first, and was the only steam hauled passenger service on the New Brighton line. The coaches ran via West Kirby to Hooton, where they were attached to a main line train. The engine power was customarily a class 3F 0-6-0.

Bidston West to North curve closed officially on 28 November 1983, but the dominant traffic had been iron ore trains which ceased in 1980.

  • Bidston Dee Junction;
  • Leasowe Crossing; opened 8 July 1870; closed 1 August 1872; reopened as Leasowe 5 May 1894; still open;
  • Moreton; opened 2 July 1866; still open;
  • Meols; opened 2 July 1866; still open;
  • Manor Road; opened 26 May 1941; still open;
  • Hoylake; opened 2 July 1866; still open;
  • West Kirby; opened 1 April 1878; still open.
  • Bidston East Junction;
  • Bidston North Junction;
  • Seacombe Junction No. 1;
  • Seacombe Junction No. 3;
  • Wallasey Village; opened March 1907; still open;
  • Wallasey; opened 2 January 1888; renamed Wallasey Grove Road 31 May 1948; still open;
  • Warren Halt; opened November 1888; closed 1 October 1915;
  • New Brighton; opened 30 March 1888; still open.
  • Seacombe Junction;
  • Slopes Branch Junction;
  • Liscard & Poulton; opened October 1895; closed 4 January 1960;
  • Seacombe; opened 1 June 1895; renamed Seacombe & Egremont July 1901; renamed Seacombe January 1953; closed 4 January 1960.

Notes

References

  • Wirral Railway Video on YouTube