Lever Brothers Railway – proposed Industrial line never built – any help?

[billy_anorak59]

I posted this request on a local history forum a few years ago, but sadly got no replies or comments, so I’m trying here, as I know there are some here with specialist knowledge of the locality, and industrial railways in general. No real reason for the question, other than an inquisitive mind, and a big interest in an industrial railway that I remember well in the 1960s as working concern up as far as Stork Margarine works. I realise that the following is very geographically specific, and may wash over those with no local knowledge, but I’m hoping it may be of interest generally anyway.

I grew up in Eastham, on Wirral, and although it looked odd, I never really thought about the electricity pylons that seemed to have their own ‘track’ through the housing in the area – it was just the way of things. These were large 132kV pylons, and I always thought that they were as they were because they had to be isolated from any housing, due to some safety reason or other. Not so today anyway – houses have been built underneath them all along the route!

This map shows the pylon ‘track’ well (see the double dotted lines):

 

 

Note the ‘Works’ top left where the pylon route starts; This is Bromborough CEGB Power Station (now demolished), and had its own railway which started at the triangle of lines at the left upper edge of this map. It is also where the Lever Brothers internal railway finished. This photograph shows what looks like a signal box or control cabin near the bridge to the scrubland at bottom right – did this control the Lever/CEGB limits?

 

 

So what has this got to do with a proposed railway extension? Well, I stumbled across the likely answer for the pylon ‘tracks’ whilst reading the RCTS book on ‘The Birkenhead Railway’ (T.B.Maund 2001 - ISBN : 090 1115 878):

 

Quote

“The Port Sunlight and Bromborough Port complex had expanded enormously despite depressed trading conditions nationally and very large amounts of traffic were being handled, leading to congestion in the exchange sidings. In 1928-29, the Lever organisation spent £58,000 on 200 acres of land in the Eastham area with a view to extending the Bromborough Port line for over two miles, crossing the A41 trunk road just north of Eastham village and running alongside the main line for about a third of a mile before joining it at Hooton station. The final parcel of land was bought in 1932 and the scheme was under serious consideration throughout the 1930s. It was also agreed that pylons from the proposed Bromborough Power Station should run alongside it and this, in fact, was the only part of the plan which came to pass as the outbreak of war resulted in it being shelved. After the war, the proposed railway was included in the Development Plan for Cheshire and it was not until 1960 the scheme was abandoned and the land sold for housing.

 

 …the completed pylon route being what is shown on the map, which was intended to be the route of a railway line which started at the location of the ‘control cabin’ photograph above! It all fits!

 

 

I’ve taken a Google Earth view and overlaid what I think is the likely route of the extension (I’ve shown it in red; the Lever Bros railway, ‘as built’ is in green, and the Birkenhead-Chester line is shown in blue), but I’m in the dark beyond where my map finishes, so that bit is somewhat of a guess - it is based on the fact that the housing wasn’t there until the late 1960s/early70s, and the ‘kink’ in the route towards Hooton where the dotted lines leave the map – which gave me a bit of a clue. I forgot Eastham Rake station too...

 

 

It certainly would have been an interesting addition to Wirral’s railway scene!

 

Does anyone have the continuation maps at the scale of mine so I can see the rest of the pylon route, or indeed, does anyone have any more detail on the scheme proposal itself? How was the railway was supposed to cross the A41 – bridge - over or under? Hopefully not a level crossing! Even in the 1950s the A41 was extremely busy, and that point of crossing (known locally as ‘Scots Corner’) was a noted accident blackspot. How was the proposed progress to Hooton beyond the limits of my map 'officially' envisaged?  Where was the line specifically planned to join the Birkenhead-Chester line at Hooton? ...And how? (I guess something similar to the exchange sidings at Port Sunlight)

 

Questions, questions, but any pointers would be appreciated.

Edited July 22, 2022 by billy_anorak59

[Hroth]

Have you had a look at the Scottish National Library collection of OS maps?

 

A poke about the 25" series might be helpful.

 

https://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/index.html

[billy_anorak59]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated, but, yes I did.

The map I want is missing at 25" series... (but of course it is  )

[keefer]

Try old-maps.co.uk

There's a 1970-71 1:1250 or 1965-72 1:10560 map

Edited April 26, 2018 by keefer

[doilum]

Try old-maps.co.uk

There's a 1970-71 1:1250 or 1965-72 1:10560 map

Local library??

Be patient, show what you have done so far,and with a little luck, the "public assistance person" or volunteer, may be able to point you in the direction of the person who looks after the local history /map collection.

These may be now held in a larger central library.

The last major prewar survey was around 1933.

I too love nevverwozza lines, especially those that were built by colliery owners but never really used. These were probably an insurance scheme to prevent a pregrouping company from holding them to ransom.

Good luck anyway.

[Marshall5]

Oakwood published a book which, IIRC, was called The Railways of Port Sunlight - it might be worth looking in there. Sorry I can't check in my copy at the moment.

Ray.

[Steamport Southport]

About a year ago I had to go to one of the shops in the retail park for an interview.

 

Got off at Spital and walked down and I was convinced that was a disused railway. I never got around to checking up on it. So thanks for posting.

 

What a strange place though. You come out of the station into a nice area that seems like Wales. All nice detached houses, countryside and birdsong, then walk on and it's suburbia which leads on to a dodgy industrial estate.

 

 

 

Jason

[billy_anorak59]

Thanks all who have replied here.

 

Local library??
Be patient, show what you have done so far,and with a little luck, the "public assistance person" or volunteer, may be able to point you in the direction of the person who looks after the local history /map collection.
These may be now held in a larger central library.

 

I'm afraid the area isn't very 'local' to me any more - I'm now about 200 miles away. Thanks though.

 

 

Oakwood published a book which, IIRC, was called The Railways of Port Sunlight - it might be worth looking in there. Sorry I can't check in my copy at the moment.

Ray.

 

I haven't consulted my copy recently, but I don't recall anything mentioned in it as I'm sure it would have got my attention. Perhaps it has, and I just didn't make the connection. I'll dig the book out and have another read.

 

 

About a year ago I had to go to one of the shops in the retail park for an interview.

 

Got off at Spital and walked down and I was convinced that was a disused railway. I never got around to checking up on it. So thanks for posting.

 

What a strange place though. You come out of the station into a nice area that seems like Wales. All nice detached houses, countryside and birdsong, then walk on and it's suburbia which leads on to a dodgy industrial estate.

 

 

 

Jason

 

Yep - sounds like the area!

When I were a lad, all of that 'Retail Park' was wheat fields. In the 60's the smells that came from the industrial areas beyond (and Lever Brothers itself) were 'interesting', however. Lord only knows what ended up in the Mersey.

 

the good news is that I think I've found something very useful in the archives - they say it will take about 21 days to respond, but by the description given in the online listing, this particular archive seems to hold all the answers. I'll get back here with any findings if it proves to be what I think it is.

[billy_anorak59]

An update:

After posting my original plea for information a (dim) lightbulb came on rather belatedly, and I carried out a search of the online Unilever archives (http://unilever-archives.com/Aboutcatalogue.aspx) – after all it was Lever Brothers proposing the line in the first place! After browsing for quite a while, I came across a record (GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/2/278) called ‘The Bromborough Lands’, and the description fitted:

 

File (largely correspondence) relating to purchase of and building and work on land at Rake Lane, Eastham and in Bromborough.

Includes Conveyance between Hooton Brick Works Limited and Lever Brothers Limited, and Agreement between The Mayor Alderman and Burgesses and Lever Brothers & Unilever Limited. Also includes related maps and drawings and supplementary folder labelled 'Miscellaneous Papers from Docket No. 2027A Bromborough Lands' containing draft Deed of Release between Hooton Brick Works Limited and Francis Joseph Kirby and large scale drawing of Bromborough-Hooton Railway (Eastham and surrounding area).

September 1931-February 1954

 

The very helpful Unilever archive people delved into the record in question, and had good news and bad for me. They sent me a photograph of the map (very good), but because of the fragility of the rest of the documents, could not send them (bad). This correspondence has not been digitised yet either, so I would have to attend the archive in person which unfortunately is 200 miles away from me and only open on weekdays. However, if I can, I intend to make an appointment in the future.

 

With respect to the Unilever copyright, I can’t post the photograph of the map here, but I can post my interpretation - with no objections from Unilever Archives. Therefore, I’ve recreated the route from the information received, and overlaid it on an aerial view of the area (which looks to date from about 1950-52).

I’ve tried to plot the route out with some accuracy, and you can see that although close(-ish), the guesstimate in my original post was a bit off beam – the line would have meandered across the pylon route several times on its way to Hooton to achieve workable curvatures.

 

There are still questions to be answered however:

The map only showed the main/central part of the line, and I have had to assume the connections both at the Bromborough Power Station end, and at Hooton Station itself, and nothing has been found regarding the proposed exchange siding layout there. No detail is shown on the map regarding the crossing of either the A41 or ‘Eastham Rake’ (which incidentally would have been very close to where Eastham Rake station is today - so I’m assuming a skew overbridge here, to bring the line to the same height as the Birkenhead-Chester line). No gradient profiles are shown either, but maybe it is all answered in the yet unseen correspondence files.

I’ll post the full aerial view here, but due to its size and shape, I don’t know how it will turn out once posted, so I’m also uploading split views which may be easier to see: one of the Power Station end, and the other of the Hooton Station end.

 

I do hope it’s of some interest anyway - whether you are a local of the area or not.

 

In Full:

Sheet 1 - Bromborough to Eastham

Sheet 2 - Eastham to Hooton

Edited July 22, 2022 by billy_anorak59

[Peter Crawford]

A pointer: NLS have updated their maps and the whole of Birkenhead is covered.

[Peter Crawford]

I would like to have done a bit of 'scouting' for you, but I can't really figure out the approx. route you mean. Will retry.

[billy_anorak59]

I can understand any difficulty in figuring out the route Peter - so much has changed since the proposal - the power station was demolished in the mid-late 70s and a lot of the land elsewhere is housing estate now. If I can clarify any questions you may have, please let me know. Thanks for the interest.

[Peter Crawford]

That's fine, just georeferenced 25-inch maps don't show you the power station and modern satellite obviously shows a 'too new' layout. The clarification that would help is if you could re-draw the satellite map in your first post so that North is 'up'. I should be able to muddle through it from there. Thanks!

[Gordon Connell]

For what it's worth a new edition of the Oakwood book has just been published.

 

http://stenlake.co.uk/book_publishing/?page_id=131&ref=1133&section=New%20Books

 

Gordon

[billy_anorak59]

On 11/06/2018 at 18:28, Peter Crawford said:

The clarification that would help is if you could re-draw the satellite map in your first post so that North is 'up'.

 

To save me redrawing, I've rotated the originally posted map so that it aligns (roughly) with a view orientated north - North is up and the River Mersey is top right, I hope it clarifies what direction I am looking!

(If not, I'll have to think again...)

 

Thanks too for the update re: the book Gordon! Looks like I'm going to have to replace my 1980s copy then. Cheers.

Edited July 22, 2022 by billy_anorak59

[beast66606]

Thanks too for the update re: the book Gordon! Looks like I'm going to have to replace my 1980s copy then. Cheers.

 

Me too - I've ordered my update.

[Peter Crawford]

Makes perfect sense!