Corporation Road
It’s the late 1980’s, Kylie is topping the charts, Sony Walkman’s were everyone’s must have accessory, the Cold War continues, Pac Man was being played in every amusement arcade and British Rail was having the biggest shake up since nationalisation. The Birkenhead Docks branch on the banks of the River Mersey was in decline with traffic flows including grain to the rank and spillers mills, coal to the co-operative depot at Birkenhead North, oil to the Pan Atlas terminal, Steel and general goods to the various warehouses. The line was the last bastion of Class 03 operation on the mainland, their lightweight design making them suitable traction for the tight radius curves in the Wallasey area. The 03’s shared road space with the main A41 road in the Duke Street area and could be seen bringing traffic to a standstill running down the middle of the road! A practice that would be frowned upon in today’s health and safety conscious world we live in!
By the late 1980’s the branch began to lose most of its traffic flows, accelerated by the closure of the rail freight Speedlink network. The last 03 finished in 1989. By 1993 the branch was mothballed, the last traffic flow being household coal to the Co-operative depot at Birkenhead North Until last year most of the line remained intact, now some of the track bed is a shared cycle lane, however from Canning Street to Rock Ferry is still extant, however very overgrown.
Locomotives seen on Corporation Road include all four of the last 03’s used on the branch, 03073/162/170 and 189 all allocated to nearby Birkenhead North TMD, with the odd guest appearance of an Allerton or Chester based Class 08 for good measure. Class 25, 31, 37 and 47 are regular traction with the odd appearance of classes 20,45 and 56, as prototypically seen on the line.
The line saw a regular target 68 speed link trip to Ellesmere Port and Warrington in the late 1980’s with a variety of wagons and a regular flow of grain to East Anglia using Grainflow Polybulk’s. Class 03’s being used to shunt the wagons over the dock network, larger locos being unable to be used due to the weight and size. Larger wagons such as Cargowaggons were pushed by the 03 and loose shunted. On the Wallasey side of the docks, a large digger being used to push them in position for loading!
