Wirral Line in Class 503 days

[prod_pep]

I'm doing some research into the Wirral Line during the Class 503 era, and have a few queries if anyone would be so kind.

There was a siding just south of the platforms at Moreton (visible on this historic OS map), approximately where the station approach road is now. Am I right in thinking this was electrified and used by 503s for overnight stabling? The presence of an 05.34 Moreton - West Kirby service in the June 1961 timetable suggests it was. Does anyone know when it was decommissioned and lifted, please?

Hoylake station had into the 1970s stabling sidings either side of the line, almost stretching to Manor Road, used between the peaks by 503s and possibly overnight. The down line siding survived well into the 1990s as I recall, albeit long since out of use. However, when was the up line siding taken out of use and lifted?

Finally, there were once train crew depots at both Birkenhead North and West Kirby. Mess facilities at Birkenhead North were of course brought back into regular use in 2001 when the Wirral Line's interworked running pattern was abandoned but no crews are based there. When did West Kirby lose its train crew depot and does anyone know approximately how many crews it had, please? My thought was just before the loop tunnel opened or perhaps even earlier?

Many thanks indeed for any help with this.

 

[Dr Hoo]

When I was on Merseyside in the late 1970s I seem to recall that the ‘wayside’ stabling sidings were already considered to be ‘unusable’ in terms of inadequate safety of access, walkways and illumination.

 

[Mollington St]

Just to add from 1938/39 so the start of Class 502/503s , some Wirral Line Timetables

I have scanned and listed them on my site at Transport Past Times

 

[Taunton]

I'm doing some research into the Wirral Line during the Class 503 era, and have a few queries if anyone would be so kind.

There was a siding just south of the platforms at Moreton (visible on this historic OS map), approximately where the station approach road is now. Am I right in thinking this was electrified and used by 503s for overnight stabling? The presence of an 05.34 Moreton - West Kirby service in the June 1961 timetable suggests it was. Does anyone know when it was decommissioned and lifted, please?

Hoylake station had into the 1970s stabling sidings either side of the line, almost stretching to Manor Road, used between the peaks by 503s and possibly overnight. The down line siding survived well into the 1990s as I recall, albeit long since out of use. However, when was the up line siding taken out of use and lifted?

Finally, there were once train crew depots at both Birkenhead North and West Kirby. Mess facilities at Birkenhead North were of course brought back into regular use in 2001 when the Wirral Line's interworked running pattern was abandoned but no crews are based there. When did West Kirby lose its train crew depot and does anyone know approximately how many crews it had, please? My thought was just before the loop tunnel opened or perhaps even earlier?

Many thanks indeed for any help with this.

We moved to by this line in the 1960s and I remember these.

The frequency of trains to West Kirby was every 20 minutes with 3-car sets. In the peaks this was doubled to 10 minutes, and the trains doubled up to 6-car. It follows that 75% of the fleet had to be stabled somewhere outside the peaks, and the whole network only had two small depots, at Birkenhead North and Central, which just held a few sets.

I have no recollection of a siding at Moreton station at all, though there was a small network of sidings (including its own diesel shunter) at the Cadbury factory on the north side.

The two sidings at Hoylake were used for a train each. At the end of the peak a train arriving at West Kirby would be split at the platform and form the next two departures. Trains arriving at the opposite platform would be stabled. Two trains would run ecs to Hoylake, where because the electric sidings both trailed into the down line they needed to stop in the Up platform, shunt back over the level crossing and the trailing crossover, then shunt forward again through the Down platform into the sidings, tying up the level crossing interminably.

Further trains stabled at West Kirby, where there were two sidings alongside the Down side and one along the Up side.

The very last arrival of the night at West Kirby ran ecs back to Birkenhead North, dropping staff off along the way if required.

I don't recall any crews based at West Kirby either, but there was a mess room there from which crews would emerge just a minute or so before departure. Passengers had meanwhile boarded, being trusted to operate the air doors themselves, which would often cause the reciprocating compressor to start up, all completely unattended.

In icy conditions a de-icing train was run all night, which required the level crossings and signalboxes to be manned. This caused spectacular arcing which illuminated the sky and could be seen well away from the line. Being Somerset novices to this far-north wintry outpost we watched fascinated at our first sighting of the Northern Lights we had read about ... .