Hello again,
As forum member ChiefPlanner enquired in this thread about trip reports from the Wirral, I decided it was a great idea and very easy for me to do (being based here), so here goes:-
Earlier this week, I worked out that to cover as much as possible, I would split my coverage of the Wirral Peninsula in to three conveniently separated daytrips.
Daytrip 1:- Merseytravel zone "B1" - This is the trip I have done today. The entire trip was done at effectively no cost, using my aforementioned annual Merseytravel Zones B1/C1 Trio ticket.
Daytrip 2:- Merseytravel zone "B2" - This will require an "Area B" Merseytravel "Saveaway" ticket.
Daytrip 3:- That southern part of the geographical Wirral Peninsula which is in Cheshire and therefore outside the usual Merseytravel area. This can in fact still be done using a Merseytravel "All Zones" Saveaway ticket (which allows rail-only travel onto the "Cheshire part" of the Wirral Line), in conjunction with either a walk or a relatively cheap return ticket from Neston to Heswall.
I plan to do the remaining two trips sometime later this year, and if I do them then I'll post them in this very same thread.
To my surprise, perhaps due to my familiarity with the area, I covered so much in Daytrip 1, that I'll have to split this first trip report into to multiple parts, writing the first part now and the other parts sometime later.
Daytrip 1, Part 1 - Birkenhead
The bit covered on this daytrip is marked on this Merseytravel map as zone B1:-
http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/Site%...-zones-map.jpg
(may need to click on that map to enlarge it)
In short it's the north-eastern portion of the Wirral peninsula, that includes (most of) the town of Birkenhead, all of Wallasey and some immediately adjacent areas.
Having a very hectic Friday, when I arose at 06:50am on Saturday morning eager to do the trip, I still had no concrete plan.
So I fired up the laptop and mapped out my itinerary. It was soon pretty clear that I would be out until approximately the early evening. I found it quite amusing that I happened to be preparing a packed lunch for a journey in which I would travel no more than five miles away from home during the entire trip! I guess it would have been just as easy to come back home for a lunch break, but I decided to stick to my usual Saturday routine i.e. I tend to go out for the whole day and this trip would be no exception.
I decided just to use my cheap and cheerful Canon compact camera today, which as can be seen has quite a soft focus, but its main advantage is that it copes really well on dull days, giving reasonably bright pictures.
I eventually made it out the door at 08:30, where my first port of call (two minutes walk away) was a street of terraced houses, namely Maybank Road in Tranmere:-
Maybank Road and the adjacent Aspendale Road are just like many other roads in the area apart from the fact they are both "L-shaped", at first glance with no obvious reason. All other surrounding roads from that era are straight. The image above shows houses right on the corner of the "L".
I recently read that this is because many years ago, there was a curved section of land behind those houses, protected for future use by the railways. This would have been the so-called "Bidston cut-off" railway line. My understanding is it would have diverged to the right of the existing Wirral Line at Birkenhead Central, before going through a tunnel under Higher Tranmere. There would have been a station near the above houses on the main A552 Borough Road. The track would have then continued through the suburb of Prenton before joining what is now the Borderlands Line in the vicinity of the A552 railway bridge near what is now the A552/M53 Woodchurch Interchange.
This would have allowed "Borderlands Line" trains from North Wales to take a far more direct route towards the Mersey rail tunnel. I'd imagine this would shave something like ten minutes off the journey to Liverpool by avoiding the current circuitous route via Bidston and Birkenhead North.
I only learnt about this thanks to the "Local History" section on a local website called "Wiki Wirral". In the event, the line was never built, but it would have also served places nearer the middle of the general Birkenhead conurbation, whereas the situation we have now is that most of the stations skirt around the edges of the town, as can be seen very clearly on Google maps for example.
From the above location, the nearest station is Green Lane (as per my avatar), so I walked there:-
I descended on to the Liverpool-bound platform:-
I'd just missed a train, but at least this was handy for taking more photos! As can be seen, the station is only half covered, which does let daylight in. The Chester/Ellesmere Port platform is sheltered under brick arches, but the Liverpool-bound platform is exposed to the elements. Although there is a perspex shelter on the Liverpool-bound platform (out of shot) to make up for this:-
Green Lane has always seemed an apt name for this station, particularly as the walls are mostly covered in green moss. "Lairdside" refers to the Cammell Laird shipbuilding site and surrounding businesses:-
507011 arrives on a Chester-bound service
My first train of the day, 508122 then took me one stop from Green Lane to Birkenhead Central, where there was a crew change and I alighted:-
View outside Birkenhead Central:-
This door is for rail employees only. Crew changes are routinely done at Birkenhead Central (also at Birkenhead North):-
This is a view looking towards the station from the other side of the A552/Borough Road. The flyover provides quick access to the toll booths of the Queensway tunnel (Birkenhead tunnel). It's one of two originally in the town centre. The second one on the A553 Conway Street was demolished a few years back. They are now generally regarded as eyesores. Also, it appears that the volume of traffic no longer justifies their existence since the opening of the Kingsway Tunnel (Wallasey tunnel) in 1971 profoundly reduced Liverpool-bound traffic in Birkenhead itself.
Next was a quick walk through part of Birkenhead's shopping precinct:-
Whereupon I arrived at the bus station. Birkenhead bus station is quite modest, having ten stands, in a "horseshoe" arrangement. I understand it won a design award:-
I then entered the doors shown in the left of the above photo and bought a couple of "Area B" Saveaway tickets for future trips from the small Merseytravel travel centre within the bus station. At £3.60 each they're quite a good bargain.
Next I would naturally pass Conway Park railway station (although I did not enter the station on this occasion), so I took some photos, like this one:-
From Conway Park, it's a very short walk to Hamilton Square. This is the former Birkenhead Town Hall at Hamilton Square, with the town's cenotaph in front of it. (Looks a bit dark, due to an unfavourable sun angle, I have learnt that this scene looks a lot better when photographed in the late afternoon):-
The centrepiece of Hamilton Square, the town's memorial to Queen Victoria. This one was apparently inspired by the Queen's wedding cake and is itself sometimes known locally as "The wedding cake":-
Close-up of the Victoria memorial "She wrought her people lasting good":-
The Birkenhead Cenotaph:-
Hamilton Square is surrounded by buildings like this (the north side):-
There are 63 Grade I listed buildings in the square itself and the former town hall is Grade II* listed. Other surrounding buildings are Grade II listed. I understand it is second only to Trafalgar Square in having so many Grade I listed buildings in one place.
I then approached Hamilton Square station:-
Although, I did not immediately enter the station. Hamilton Square is in the vicinity of a locality of Birkenhead, known as Woodside. Woodside has got a bit of history and so it's well worth a look around. First here is the Shore Road Pumping Station. This houses the "Giant Grasshopper", a steam pump originally used to pump water out of the Mersey rail tunnel:-
Next up is the Birkenhead Heritage Tramway. Here is the tram-line running along Shore Road. No trams today, but in the distance is a heritage bus in the original "Birkenhead Corporation" blue livery. The big event here is usually the "Wirral Bus & Tram show" in October. (Next one is meant to be 6th October 2013, awaiting confirmation) I always go to it, with buses from all over the country and likewise trams from all over the place (they have one from Portugal). This vestigal tram line itself is not very long, and there are sporadic mentions of it being extended, but it is an enjoyable run from the Woodside ferry terminal to the Taylor Street transport museum.
A replica of the Resurgam, an early submarine built and launched in Birkenhead in 1879:
A visit to Woodside would not be complete without a shot across the Mersey of the Liverpool Waterfront. A little bit hazy today and this photo shows only a small section of the Liverpool skyline, but from left to right we have, the former Royal & Sun Alliance building, locally known as "The Sandcastle Building" (left-hand side slightly cut off), then the "Unity Building" (topped by a rectangular structure). Then we have "Atlantic Tower". To the right of that, St Nicholas Church (The seaman's church) can just about be seen. To the right of that is what has become known as the "Three Graces", namely the Royal Liver Building, with the Liver Birds on top, the Cunard Building (Pier Head ferry terminal in front of it), and the "Port of Liverpool building". To the right of that is the new "Museum of Liverpool" (Right-hand side cut-off in this shot).
Next up is the nearby "Twelve Quays Ferry Terminal" from which ro-ro ferries operate on the Birkenhead-Belfast route. Here HGVs can be seen being driven down the ramp to the landing stage. The landing stage can take up to two ro-ro ferries at the same time (one on each side). Although, there's usually just one there as it was this morning:-
This is the Pacific Road ventilation shaft for the Queensway Road tunnel. It's one of the most prominent buildings on the Birkenhead skyline, when viewed from the Liverpool waterfront. There are quite a few similar structures in Birkenhead including ventilation shafts for the now disused Dock Branch of the Road tunnel:-
This is the landing stage of the Woodside ferry terminal (for the "ferry across the Mersey"). Woodside used to be a bustling transport hub, with the ferry terminal, the bus station and the former mainline railway station all in the same place. It's now a very quiet area and the ferry service has been reduced to a relatively infrequent (one an hour) tourist service, with a "commuter service" remaining in the weekday peaks only.
Inside Woodside Ferry Terminal building:-
Continuing the submarine theme, this is a shot through the outside glass looking towards part of the U-534 U-boat, a local tourist attraction marketed as "The U-boat story" and announced on Merseyrail Wirral Line services. A good shot of this would probably require entrance to the attraction itself.
And this is the nearby Woodside bus station. The decline in services here has been remarkable in recent years. Caused mainly I assume by the opening of the Birkenhead Bus station which is more convenient for the town centre. Woodside bus station used to be the hub for buses in Birkenhead. Pretty much every route used to call here. Now it's fair to say that a single bus stop would probably suffice as a replacement for this structure. I did see one passenger there today though, and a small number of routes still do visit. An Arriva bus depot is next to this bus station, on the site of the former Woodside railway station:-
And that's it for this evening, as my time is up. Coming up next will be "Daytrip 1, part 2" as soon as I have time to type it up. In that part, I will be showing the site of the former Woodside railway station and I hope also to get up to the bit where I travel by train out of Birkenhead. :D
Thanks for reading!