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Birkenhead Woodside


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14 minutes ago, billy_anorak59 said:

Thanks for the very quick reply Dave - most appreciated.

 

I didn't think there were any release crossovers, but I've never seen any photographs of the track at the platform end, so thanks for the confirmation. I remember travelling from the station well, but was too young to take any notice of the details.

Regarding the platform indicator and the signals I'm on about, I've marked them up on a section of your diagram - marked as 2 and 3 respectively.

 

<snip>

 

I couldn't make out the numbers of the signals from the scan, but yes, I think they could be 37 and 45 - I hadn't considered them as dwarf signals, but it makes sense now you've said it. Thanks too for the additional info on the distant.

 

 

 

The down main home signal would (probably) be a ground mounted colour light and the platform indicator would be a stencil type - see the Lime Street thread which has photos of such a signal mounted on a gantry, you wouldn't go far wrong with that. The signal was originally an LNWR underslung gantry across the tunnel mouth but was replaced at some stage by the colour light, don't know the date for that I'm afraid but it was either when the new box opened in the mid 1950s or some time before.

 

The signal box was replaced in the 1950s (the old box was by the distant signal), so that would date your model (but rule 1 applies of course) the connection 42/43/44 was removed at that time. The signals on the platform ends were converted to upper quadrants probably at the same time but not 100% certain of that.

 

Other ground signals at Woodside were miniature arms, so there's a logic that so were the in tunnel ones, but impossible to be 100% about that.

Edited by beast66606
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Excellent! Thank you Dave, understood - that ties everything up nicely, and gives me some good pointers. The model I have in my minds eye will only be 'based on' Woodside (cut down width-wise, shortened and reversed) I haven't got enough room for a copy, I'm afraid, but it's good to have a prototype layout to understand things. Cheers.

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15 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Yes, it'd be interesting to know if there were any release crossovers at the platform ends. Trouble is, large OS maps don't show the trackwork beneath any overall roof.

Some do - particularly earlier ones. Liverpool Central and Lime Street both have some OS maps showing track. I suspect Woodside was built too late, as there is a 1:500 OS map showing the interior of Monks Ferry, just down the road from Woodside in 1879/80 https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/332886/388771/13/100095

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15 hours ago, Armchair Modeller said:

Photo here suggests there was at least one release for locos at the buffer stops

 

https://jammytoast.com/old-wirral-pictures-4/

 

Thanks Armchair, that's useful proof that there was one. Interestingly it's from platform 2 to the end loading dock road (note the loading gauge), I wonder if that has something to do with anything?

 

I've been doing a bit more digging, and it would seem that that release was indeed the only one, as I've found a shot of the 3 roads between platforms 4 & 5 too - and there are no release crossovers there:

Woodside3.jpg.48137b58e68126420c91e9e69f4b0e5f.jpg

 

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Incidentally, while I'm here, I thought it might be of interest to show the death of this (rather fine) station in a few pictures taken from almost the exact same spots on the Church Street bridge over the station throat - a "then, then and then" if you like. Of course, the obliteration of the station is even more complete nowadays, with buildings covering the site.

 

First - in use, but towards the end - 1967:

524853991_Woodside-1967.jpg.b07ec47ca66e06fa7e3dffec34167191.jpg

 

Next, the station is closed, deserted, and awaiting its fate. Signal arms removed.

1960102134_Woodside-closed.jpg.fc9aa0fe581281b5b51dedf5850fbd8e.jpg

 

Finally, by 1986, all had been swept away...

1921469677_Woodside-Cleared1986.jpg.c8c76a0ec57d5243ea771bb153a5fa15.jpg

Edited by billy_anorak59
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/12/2019 at 08:52, Phil Bullock said:

Woodside? looking at that last photo Riverside would have been more appropriate!

Absolutely no help in answering the questions raised in this topic but there's a fine aerial photo of Woodside station (which puts its position right in context right next to the river) in the book "England's railway heritage from the air" by Peter Waller.

Edited by 60021 Pen-y-Ghent
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  • 2 years later...

Dredging up an old topic, but I can't find anything on the ticket office arrangements at Woodside (and I can't remember as I was only 8 when it closed).

 

Does anyone know where the ticket office was, what it looked like, or even better, have a photo or a link they can point me at?

 

My best guess is that it could be the white, almost pre-fab type structure in the photo below, but anything clearer would be fantastic. If it wasn't that,  I was wondering if it was in the intended 'proper' entrance building (that no-one used) on the dry dock side of the station? I certainly can't see anything on the 'common' entrance side.

 

Any help much appreciated!

1748271800_WoodsideAug67DMU-fbCR.jpg.0c0acf5514b0bc212ec48dcd4c58a550.jpg

Edited by billy_anorak59
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Thanks Ian - it was always said that the station was built the wrong way round - hence the 'temporary' entrance and the 'proper' one. There was a lovely 'porte-cochère' at the true entrance that was used for goods, and the people of Birkenhead always said that it had a 'Queen Anne' back, and a 'Mary Anne' front!

 

I do have the RCTS book, and agree it's a good read, but I can't find the info re: ticket office in it, but thanks anyway.

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  • 6 months later...
On 09/02/2022 at 15:32, billy_anorak59 said:

Dredging up an old topic, but I can't find anything on the ticket office arrangements at Woodside (and I can't remember as I was only 8 when it closed).

 

Does anyone know where the ticket office was, what it looked like, or even better, have a photo or a link they can point me at?

 

My best guess is that it could be the white, almost pre-fab type structure in the photo below, but anything clearer would be fantastic. If it wasn't that,  I was wondering if it was in the intended 'proper' entrance building (that no-one used) on the dry dock side of the station? I certainly can't see anything on the 'common' entrance side.

 

Hello Billy. Birkenhead lad myself so always interested in everything Wirral-related. I'm no oracle but I recently bought 'Birkenhead Railways A Photographic History' by the Merseyside Railway History Group published by Lightmoor Press: ISBN: 9 781915 069030 (purchased from Strathwood). Not only is it a smashing run-through the many & various lines / stations / docks etc with stacks of pics (all b/w) I've not seen before, it has a Birkenhead Woodside 'chapter' with 29 photos / captions and in there is a photo of the very ticket office you're asking about. You're bang-on, it is the white structure and the photo is an end-on shot from, I think, the graving dock side. The caption reads 'A close-up of one end of the 'temporary' booking office which was actually used throughout the life of the station unlike the unused booking hall shown earlier'. The 'shown earlier' refers to 2 photos with the accompanying captions:

Ist pic 'The decorative ecclesiastical style roof rafters in the original booking hall, beautifully carved but generally usneen and unadmired at a cost of just under £20,000 in 1878. The station was designed by Robert Johnson'. (pic credit: Stan Roberts collection).

2nd pic 'Another scene showing the intended main entrance and booking hall with stonework detail over the windows and at the base of the roof supports. The wooden dividers and small office reflect the actual use of the area for parcels, not passengers'. (pic credit  Stan Roberts collection).

 

There's also a photo looking into the station from the throat that I've not seen before and there are 3 photos taken in 1957/58 relating to the graving dock extension demolition work.

 

Thanks to that Thatcher Govt I've been in exile for a long time now but if you happen to live in Edinburgh I'd be only too happy to let you borrow it. Well almost. It'd actually cost you a couple of pints of the finest cider available in any pub of your choosing.

 

All the best.

 

Jonesy

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 27/08/2022 at 19:49, Merseycider said:

I'm no oracle but I recently bought 'Birkenhead Railways A Photographic History' by the Merseyside Railway History Group published by Lightmoor Press: ISBN: 9 781915 069030 (purchased from Strathwood). Not only is it a smashing run-through the many & various lines / stations / docks etc with stacks of pics (all b/w) I've not seen before, it has a Birkenhead Woodside 'chapter' with 29 photos / captions and in there is a photo of the very ticket office you're asking about. You're bang-on, it is the white structure and the photo is an end-on shot from, I think, the graving dock side.

 

 

Hello Jonesy - many thanks for your reply, and sorry for my tardy response. I actually have that book, I think it was published 2-3 months after my post, and I found out about it just after publishing - I had to order a copy straight away, and yes, I was delighted to find that my assumptions about the ticket office proved correct!

 

I thank  you for taking the time to alert me to it's existence, plus all the details. It's really very good isn't it? Some rare views contained within.

 

I'm Cambridgeshire way nowadays, but I thank you for the offer of allowing me to buy you a pint or two! 😀 If I'm ever in the Edinburgh area, I'll take you up on it.

Cheers!

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On 28/08/2022 at 00:35, 313201 said:

I never got to see Woodside station in all it's majestic glory

 

It was fascinating - shame you missed it. Woodside was a great travel hub - the grand Woodside station itself (albeit with nothing going on much of the time), ocean-going ships in the dry dock right next to it, the ferries, and buses by dozen (all in the lovely Birkenhead Corpy livery). Add to that the very short walk to the electrics at Hamilton Square, and the area was a dream for this little eight year old.

A backwater today - what a sad shadow of its former self.

 

I've got that VHS Video too - I recall it's a good one, but it's so long since my video was plugged in, I'd forgotten about it.

Thanks! Must play it again someday.

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