This was a bit of unfinished business from a previous report on the original Edge Hill Engine Station:
www.28dayslater.co.uk
Without going into the history, there are two Edge Hill Stations near the brow of the sandstone outcrop upon which Liverpool is built.
The old station (1830), on the left below, had steam engines for hauling goods up from the docks through the Wapping Tunnel, and the boilers for these were built into the walls of the cutting in which it’s located.
When the railway proved a success, the new (and current) station on the right was built (1836), also with steam-powered winding gear for another tunnel down to Lime Street.
Initially steam for these engines was piped from the old station boilers through a tunnel in the cutting wall, red line in the picture above.
I haven’t found any plans for this tunnel, which is recorded as being 448 yards long, so the route is just a guess.
It’s something of a puzzle why they bothered excavating a tunnel through solid rock in the first place when the pipe could have just run along the side of the cutting (although they weren’t big on insulation in those days).
The steam was held in a reservoir beneath the station buildings - the site of the reservoir was found in a cellar when the buildings were renovated in the 1970s
However this boilers-at-a-distance arrangement soon proved inefficient and the new station acquired its own boilers.
On my visits a few years ago the steam tunnel was blocked with earth at the old station end some distance before it went under Tunnel Road - start of the dotted red line.
It looked like someone had done a bit of excavation but they hadn’t got far, so the mission was simple - carry on digging and see where this thing goes.
But first a look to see if it was possible to get in at the other end, the ‘new’ Edge Hill - all photos are phone.
The station is listed because it still has many of the original buildings, with a recognisable rectangular engine house (centre rear), and a hydraulic accumulator tower to the right (for a marshalling yard).
Most of these are now used by a community arts organisation, and there’s nothing of interest left inside.
Anyone who’s been to Edge Hill knows that there’s a ramp down from Tunnel Road, and if you wander up the end of platforms 1 or 2 there are a series of disused spaces under this ramp.
Here are entrances to some of them at the end of platform 1 - they’re all either empty or used for storage.
The big tunnel on the right is the Victoria & Waterloo which also goes down to the docks.
There are more little tunnels and empty rooms between platforms 3 & 4, under another ramp.
A tunnel with a pipe although it may not what we’re after since it doesn’t look the only picture of the steam tunnel I’ve found.
Anyway, following the route of this tunnel back leads through bricked-up entrances to a short length of tunnel curving round to emerge on the rails beyond platform 4.
On the other side is another bricked up entrance which may be where the steam tunnel emerged from the Tunnel Road embankment (platform 4 wasn’t built until later).
Heading right here leads down to Lime Street (not advised).
Trying to trace the route back along the embankment towards the old station is difficult because it’s now a bit of a jungle - a small structure in this area turned out to contain just an old valve.
So back to the steam tunnel - the initial goal was to get as far as what seemed to be the highest point, where the earth was about 8 inches from the ceiling, and hope that it fell away after that.
Accordingly I rescued a pink plastic gardening trug from a skip and over the course of several evenings got about 20 yards, dragging out trug-loads backwards.
The stuff pulled out looked like something scraped off a building site, mostly earth with bits of tile and brick.
Bad news - looking over the highest point the backfill carried on as far as I could see, still about 8 inches from the ceiling.
So I admitted defeat - it would need more than one person and a long time to get through that lot.
The only good news was that every time a train went by at Edge Hill a breeze came whistling down, so there is some sort of connection.
Where did all the stuff in the tunnel come from?
My guess is that it was backfilled with waste when sheds which used to be next to the embankment were demolished in the 1970s.
In which case there ought to be signs of an opening on the embankment although I never found any.
Since my visit the original Edge Hill Engine Station has finally been granted listed status, much to the delight of the local train-spotting types.
So it’s not going anywhere and some day this tiny mystery will be solved.
Report - - The End of The Line: Edge Hill Engine Station, Crown Street and Wapping Tunnels (Liverpool, Sept, 2020) | Underground Sites
This week marks the 190th anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first steam powered railway in the world built to carry both goods and passengers. Opened on Sept 15th 1830, the first stop in Liverpool was Edge Hill Engine Station, located at the end of a sandstone cutting, as...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
Without going into the history, there are two Edge Hill Stations near the brow of the sandstone outcrop upon which Liverpool is built.
The old station (1830), on the left below, had steam engines for hauling goods up from the docks through the Wapping Tunnel, and the boilers for these were built into the walls of the cutting in which it’s located.
When the railway proved a success, the new (and current) station on the right was built (1836), also with steam-powered winding gear for another tunnel down to Lime Street.
Initially steam for these engines was piped from the old station boilers through a tunnel in the cutting wall, red line in the picture above.
I haven’t found any plans for this tunnel, which is recorded as being 448 yards long, so the route is just a guess.
It’s something of a puzzle why they bothered excavating a tunnel through solid rock in the first place when the pipe could have just run along the side of the cutting (although they weren’t big on insulation in those days).
The steam was held in a reservoir beneath the station buildings - the site of the reservoir was found in a cellar when the buildings were renovated in the 1970s
However this boilers-at-a-distance arrangement soon proved inefficient and the new station acquired its own boilers.
On my visits a few years ago the steam tunnel was blocked with earth at the old station end some distance before it went under Tunnel Road - start of the dotted red line.
It looked like someone had done a bit of excavation but they hadn’t got far, so the mission was simple - carry on digging and see where this thing goes.
But first a look to see if it was possible to get in at the other end, the ‘new’ Edge Hill - all photos are phone.
The station is listed because it still has many of the original buildings, with a recognisable rectangular engine house (centre rear), and a hydraulic accumulator tower to the right (for a marshalling yard).
Most of these are now used by a community arts organisation, and there’s nothing of interest left inside.
Anyone who’s been to Edge Hill knows that there’s a ramp down from Tunnel Road, and if you wander up the end of platforms 1 or 2 there are a series of disused spaces under this ramp.
Here are entrances to some of them at the end of platform 1 - they’re all either empty or used for storage.
The big tunnel on the right is the Victoria & Waterloo which also goes down to the docks.
There are more little tunnels and empty rooms between platforms 3 & 4, under another ramp.
A tunnel with a pipe although it may not what we’re after since it doesn’t look the only picture of the steam tunnel I’ve found.
Anyway, following the route of this tunnel back leads through bricked-up entrances to a short length of tunnel curving round to emerge on the rails beyond platform 4.
On the other side is another bricked up entrance which may be where the steam tunnel emerged from the Tunnel Road embankment (platform 4 wasn’t built until later).
Heading right here leads down to Lime Street (not advised).
Trying to trace the route back along the embankment towards the old station is difficult because it’s now a bit of a jungle - a small structure in this area turned out to contain just an old valve.
So back to the steam tunnel - the initial goal was to get as far as what seemed to be the highest point, where the earth was about 8 inches from the ceiling, and hope that it fell away after that.
Accordingly I rescued a pink plastic gardening trug from a skip and over the course of several evenings got about 20 yards, dragging out trug-loads backwards.
The stuff pulled out looked like something scraped off a building site, mostly earth with bits of tile and brick.
Bad news - looking over the highest point the backfill carried on as far as I could see, still about 8 inches from the ceiling.
So I admitted defeat - it would need more than one person and a long time to get through that lot.
The only good news was that every time a train went by at Edge Hill a breeze came whistling down, so there is some sort of connection.
Where did all the stuff in the tunnel come from?
My guess is that it was backfilled with waste when sheds which used to be next to the embankment were demolished in the 1970s.
In which case there ought to be signs of an opening on the embankment although I never found any.
Since my visit the original Edge Hill Engine Station has finally been granted listed status, much to the delight of the local train-spotting types.
So it’s not going anywhere and some day this tiny mystery will be solved.
