title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Between late-1986 and the latter part of 1987, World Class was behind the UWF as the top promotion, but things were about to change soon, which would include the return of many major World Class stars by year's end. In April, World Class suffered another death when Mike Von Erich, after being diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome, was found dead near Lewisville Lake, having committed suicide by overdosing on Placidyl. The upcoming Parade of Champions card held in May was renamed in honor of both David and Mike Von Erich. This event, which drew over 20,000 fans the previous three years, drew less than 6,000 for the 1987 event, which featured Kevin Von Erich defending the World Class title against Nord The Barbarian, who in actuality was a protégé of Bruiser Brody's. To make matters worse, the WWF had also reached the pinnacle of its success at WrestleMania III, and began to gain more national exposure. The Dallas Sportatorium received a facelift with a new ring and red, yellow and blue ring ropes with a World Class banner placed at Section D of the arena, with the American flag moved to Section C. By now, attendance for WCCW shows was nearly dead. Gary Hart (who along with Brody were now World Class' main go-to people) formed a new stable alongside wrestler/manager Phil Apollo (who was then known as "Vince Apollo") which included Brian Adias, Al Madril, and Al Perez, who would eventually win the World Class heavyweight title by August. Eric Embry, Frankie Lancaster, The Rock 'n' Roll RPMs (Mike Davis and Tommy Lane), and Jason Sterling (the son of The Missing Link) also competed for a time in World Class.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: In mid-1987, after the buyout of the UWF by Jim Crockett Promotions, Ken Mantell launched his own Wild West Wrestling promotion with the popular Fort Worth nightspot Billy Bob's Texas as its homebase. Headlining for Mantell's group were such former World Class stars as Fabulous Lance (formerly Lance Von Erich, who by then had walked out on Fritz in a dispute over money), Wild Bill Irwin, The Missing Link, Buddy Roberts, Brian Adias, Jack Victory, Tatum and Parsons. Bill Mercer left World Class to become the ring announcer for Wild West Wrestling. After only a few months, Mantell agreed to return to WCCW as co-promoter with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich, following Fritz's decision to sell out his interest in the promotion; Wild West was absorbed into WCCW, and most of its talent — with the notable exception of Fabulous Lance, who was now considered "persona non grata" by the Adkissons after his abrupt departure earlier in the year — returned along with Mantell. The organization later co-promoted cards with World Class, including a May 1988 card in Mesquite, Texas which had Marc Lowrance as the ring announcer, and former World Class referee Jerry Usher officiating several matches. Wild West Wrestling continued promoting cards at Billy Bob's until late 1988, with its programming now featuring its Championship Sports broadcasts from the Sportatorium.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Chris Adams, who stayed with the NWA following their buyout with the UWF, abruptly left the NWA over a money dispute (reportedly against the wishes of Michael Hayes to stay), and returned to World Class beginning with the October 3, 1987 card at The Sportatorium. Upon returning, Adams worked an angle with Al Perez and manager Gary Hart, engaging in several matches — including one in which he supposedly won the World Class title following a victory over Perez. The decision was reversed by referee John Keeton who was pushed into Adams's superkick by Perez (backup ref Bronco Lubich made the three-count when Adams surprised Perez with a sunset flip), thus Keeton DQed Adams and Perez retained the championship, a match which fans felt was a Dusty Finish. Al Perez stated in a 2018 interview that the plan was for Adams to regain the World Class belt from him, however Fritz Von Erich ruled against it and told Perez that he is to remain the champion.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Adams also engaged in a brief feud with Brian Adias, mostly out of the rights to use the ring entrance music "Bad to the Bone", which Adias used, much to the objection of Adams, who was best known for this ring entrance music with Gino Hernandez. Chris also had some bouts with Eric Embry and Vince Apollo for a short time.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Kerry Von Erich also returned to World Class, wrestling with a prosthetic foot, and during a November card at the Sportatorium, he interfered in a match between his brother Kevin and Brian Adias. Adias, who taunted Kerry to enter the ring, was discus-punched out of the ring by Kerry, and then later Kerry and Kevin Von Erich drop-kicked manager Percy Pringle out of the ring, which brought the Sportatorium patrons to their feet. Kerry even bodyslammed Ted Arcidi during the post-match brawl.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: As the UWF/NWA merger was complete, many top names returned to World Class, including Buddy Roberts, Terry Gordy, The Angel of Death Iceman King Parsons, Jason Sterling, and Jeff Raitz. The Iron Sheik also joined the organization later on. Upon Ken Mantell's return, WCCW held its final "Christmas Day Star Wars" show, during which one of the most infamous incidents in Texas wrestling history — known to wrestling purists as the "Christmas Day Massacre" — occurred. WCWA champion Al Perez and Kerry Von Erich were scheduled to face each other in a steel cage main event for the title, with Gary Hart handcuffed to Fritz to prevent interference. However, before the match began, Terry Gordy ran in and made disparaging remarks about Kerry and his motorcycle accident, which started a fight. Buddy Roberts, Iceman King Parsons and the late Angel of Death stormed the ring and handcuffed Fritz to the cage, delivering a furious beating while Kerry was being ganged up by Gordy. Eventually Kevin stormed the ring to save both Kerry and Fritz. After the attack, Fritz — who was normally seen walking away from vicious attacks under his own power — was assisted out of the ring by Kerry and Kevin. Upon leaving the ring, Fritz staged a seizure by self-collapsing onto the floor of Reunion Arena, and was supposedly rushed to a hospital; local news media reported this as a top story, not realizing until later that the entire incident had been a work. Kerry, after an hour or so, returned to the ring to face Perez but lost the match due to outside interference from Hart. The next day on Championship Sports, announcer Marc Lowrance recapped the incident throughout the course of the two-hour program.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Afterwards, World Class promoted the renewed Freebird-Von Erich rivalry pitting Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts, King Parsons and The Angel of Death against Kevin and Kerry Von Erich and Chris Adams, with Steve or Shaun Simpson also helping to even the odds. The unusual twist of this feud was the absence of Michael Hayes, who was still in the NWA, but would eventually return to World Class, as a face, wrestling alongside the Von Erichs, starting a civil war between Hayes, Roberts and Gordy. Gordy would eventually join Hayes and the Von Erichs later on, but this occurred only weeks before the angle ran its course.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: One high mark in this renewed rivalry was a February 1988 country-whipping match between Kevin and Kerry against Gordy and Roberts. Iceman King Parsons and Chris Adams got involved in the match, and eventually turned into a six-man brawl. David Sheldon, aka The Angel of Death, also got involved, and orchestrated a four-on-two gangup on both Kerry and Adams with Kevin handcuffed to the ring rope. Kevin managed to escape and chase Sheldon, Roberts, Gordy and Parsons away.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Another was a planned match between Adams against Parsons, with Kevin and Gordy seconding their respective partners. This event, which occurred three weeks after the Christmas Day Massacre of 1987, turned into a four-on-two brawl, and eventually erupted into a battle royale. Announcer Marc Lowrance exclaimed during the brawl that 20 men were coming into the ring, which proved to be true as wrestlers from the back tried to end the carnage.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Another hot feud taking place during this period was Chris Adams against both Terry Taylor and Iceman King Parsons, both of whom were brought into WCCW by Mantell. Parsons and Adams resumed their feud that began in the UWF, while Taylor came in during late-January 1988, duping everyone into believing that he was a changed wrestler and wanted to tag-team with Adams again, after a violent feud of their own. This led to a February 12, 1988 angle at the Sportatorium in which Taylor was to have faced Al Perez for the WCWA World title. Adams came in wondering what Taylor was doing in World Class, and then later went on a tirade against Perez, demanding a title shot. Terry Gordy later came in and began fighting with Adams, with Kerry Von Erich running in to battle Perez and Gordy. Taylor, who did not get involved in the carnage, then sucker-punched Adams and broke his left hand with two piledrivers, as Von Erich and Gordy were fighting up the aisle. Adams missed about a month of wrestling as a result, returning with a bandaged left hand. The card itself, which featured the infamous country-whipping match, had at least a half-dozen piledrivers performed in the ring; including two by Taylor on Adams, another by Gordy on Kevin Von Erich, and two from Kerry – one on Gordy and another on Roberts. In another strange angle, Adams wrestled Taylor while wearing a catcher's mask in Fort Worth, in order to protect Chris from legit injuries he sustained during an earlier match in Missouri. Adams lost that match by DQ when he hit Taylor with the mask. In another contest, Adams won by DQ when Taylor brought Mike George and Masahiro Chono in a three-on-one gangup.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Meanwhile, Kerry Von Erich won the World Class title from Perez; and lost it to Iceman Parsons following an infamous incident during a March 1988 card in which the lights at the Sportatorium went out during the match, and when the lights returned, Kerry was down on the mat, with Parsons pinning him. Michael Hayes, who was fighting outside the ring with Buddy Roberts, was also down outside the ring. Many wrestlers believed at one time that Kevin Vaughn, formerly Lance Von Erich, was responsible for the lights being turned off which resulted in the unknown attack on both Hayes and Kerry. Kerry regained the championship the following May at the final Texas Stadium Parade of Champions card.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: By May 1988, World Class and the Memphis-based CWA began a working agreement with Renegades Rampage, allowing wrestlers from both organizations to appear either in Dallas or in the Memphis area. Jerry Lawler entered the Sportatorium ring for the first time in late-May and faced Kerry Von Erich for the first time. This bout never took place, as Lawler sucker-punched Kerry in the ring, resulting in Kerry being taken out on a stretcher. Adams and Taylor took their angle to Memphis and competed against each other several times at the Mid-South Coliseum.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: In the summer of 1988, the major storyline pitted Michael Hayes and Steve Cox against the Samoan Swat Team, managed by Buddy Roberts; along with a series of bouts between Jerry Lawler and Kerry Von Erich over the World Class and AWA titles. Chris Adams, Terry Gordy and Terry Taylor all left World Class at that time (Adams, who was also a promoter under the L&A Promotions banner, would eventually return towards the end of the year, as a wrestler and trainer). Gary Hart also left World Class during this time, and would not return to Dallas again until 1991 under the Global Wrestling Federation banner. Hart's decision to stay away from World Class (other than being under contract with the NWA) was mostly due to his concern about the federation that he, Mercer and Grant help build in a time span of eight years, go out of business two years after leaving the federation, as he mentioned in the "Heroes of World Class" DVD documentary, as well as not liking the idea of Ken Mantell buying a portion of the company, which he also revealed on the Triumph and Tragedy of WCCW DVD.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Several unsuccessful attempts had been made in 1987–88 to take World Class national; among them was a sparsely-attended "Von Erichs over America" tour, and a merger between World Class, the AWA and CWA the following year. A major pay-per-view card, AWA SuperClash III, was held in Chicago in December 1988, featuring a world title unification match in which Jerry Lawler defeated Kerry Von Erich. However, SuperClash III was not a hit, and Pro Wrestling USA was dissolved.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: After SuperClash III, Ken Mantell and Fritz Von Erich sold WCCW to CWA owner Jerry Jarrett. According to Skandor Akbar, Jarrett got sued by Kevin, although his brother Kerry welcomed Jarrett to the promotion. The combined federation became known as the USWA, originally called the United States Wrestling Alliance. Jarrett would run the new USWA out of two headquarters: one in Dallas (the weekly shows in Fort Worth being discontinued at this point, however several Fort Worth cards were still held), the other in Memphis. The deal made Jarrett 60 percent owner of World Class, with Kevin and Kerry Von Erich being 40 percent owners.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: In addition, the Sportatorium began to run free wrestling tapings for its "Championship Sports" broadcast on KTVT and for several months on its "Wild West Wrestling" program, which in some markets accompanied its "World Class Championship Wrestling" broadcasts, featuring its top stars wrestling preliminary wrestlers and up-and-coming stars, very similar to the Memphis Wrestling programs seen there. These broadcasts lasted until August 1990. A few markets, including Las Vegas, included a three-hour block of wrestling from the USWA promotion (two hours from Dallas and one hour from the Memphis' CWA promotion). John Keaton left the promotion soon afterwards, and was replaced by former Wild West Wrestling referee Harold Harris.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Following the merger of World Class with the CWA and AWA, the promotion originally developed an angle pitting wrestlers from Texas against wrestlers from Tennessee. This would eventually evolve into a new angle that would bring a return to sellout crowds to the Sportatorium for the first time in over six months: Eric Embry against Devastation Inc.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Embry, who became the promotion's booker and lead babyface, was originally offered a contract by Skandor Akbar to join Devastation Inc., which he refused to join. This resulted in several gangups on Embry by his stable, including Cactus Jack Manson, King Parsons and Gary Young. Jeff Jarrett, who was feuding with Embry over the World Class light heavyweight title, joined Embry's side and helped out fight off Akbar's Army, with Brickhouse Brown and later Chris Adams (returning to World Class after a six-month hiatus) getting involved. On two occasions, Embry duped Akbar, who referred to Embry as "the flamboyant piece of trash", into signing a contract to join Devastation Inc., once in which he took his $5,000 cash bonus and decked Akbar after quitting; and again when Embry and Akbar signed a document which was revealed by matchmaker Frank Dusek to be a wrestling match between the two. The popularity of Embry reached its high point when he lost a loser leaves town match to Gary Young, due to outside interference by Cactus Jack Manson. This prompted the return of Percy Pringle to the promotion, who would later campaign to bring Embry back to World Class, as well as being the victim of several attacks by Akbar and his troops. The campaign led to Embry's reinstatement to World Class.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Among the famous incidents that occurred during this angle include Embry being hit with a baseball bat by Akbar, Cactus Jack and Gary Young (in a mask as "The Zodiac") during an April 1989 battle against Akbar; both of whom were hiding under the Sportatorium ring for some three hours. Frank Dusek, who served as the special referee, was also lit up with the baseball bat and piledriven by Young during the melee. Afterwards, Embry induced vomiting in the ring (which was censored on television). Prior to that, another infamous angle occurred when Embry, who was a special referee in a match between Kerry Von Erich and Gary Young, was fighting with Akbar. The battle carried out into the Sportatorium parking lot, when a hand came through the fire door to kidnap Embry (later revealed to be Killer Tim Brooks). Chris Adams, Kerry Von Erich and Jimmy Jack Funk then carried a bloodied Embry out of the parking lot back into the arena following that vicious attack.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Another angle involved the late referee Harold Harris. Harris, who was using a British accent to make people believe he was from England (prompting Frank Dusek to say that if Harris was from England, then Chris Adams was Paul McCartney), drew controversy for favoring the heels, and on a few occasions, like the WWE's Danny Davis and the NWA's Teddy Long, Harris would execute fast three-counts on the heels and slow three-counts on the babyfaces. During one infamous incident, Embry piledrived Harris as he was attempting to get a spot as a referee in some matches. Harris was eventually "fired" by matchmaker Frank Dusek following a controversial Texas heavyweight title match in which Gary Young, dressed as "The Super Zodiac," defeated Eric Embry for the title, when Young grabbed a chain from the pocket of Harris (who took a bump by Embry) and blasted Embry for the win.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Shortly afterwards, during an interview segment, Harris, Iceman King Parsons, Brickhouse Brown and Skandor Akbar orchestrated a four-on-one gangup on Dusek, with Harris smashing a wooden chair over Dusek's head. Marc Lowrance exclaimed the incident as being "absolutely sickening," then later said that he was told not to use those words. Lowrance, outraged by the incident, later told Akbar to "kiss my ass" as the tag team match between Kerry Von Erich and Jeff Jarrett vs. Mick Foley and Gary Young was about to begin; and even walked away from the broadcast table while Akbar was conducting a tirade of his own. Foley and Young won the match, again due to interference by Akbar. Tojo Yamamoto was then introduced as the "President of World Class," who drew the ire of the fans due to his lack of action for the Dusek incident, then later getting involved in several altercations with various wrestlers, including a vicious attack against Dusek in an empty Sportatorium. Lowrance was also physically restrained by P.Y. Chu-Hi (Phil Hickerson) as manager Tojo Yamamoto berated Lowrance. Embry came out to save Lowrance from any further harm. Prior to that, Lowrance was involved in heated confrontations against Yamamoto, including one instance in which he called Yamamoto "a disgrace to wrestling and to himself." At the end of that interview, an unusually angry Lowrance said "go to black", signaling for a commercial message.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: With all of these aforementioned occurrences, everything came down to a battle for control of World Class on August 4, 1989 at the Dallas Sportatorium. Embry wrestled Hickerson in a steel cage match, with the winner gaining control of World Class (Embry representing the USWA, and Hickerson representing WCCW). During the match, Yamamoto shouted instructions at Hickerson, with Lowrance grabbing the mike out of his hands on several occasions. Finally, after a 10-minute battle, Embry managed to avoid a body avalanche from Hickerson and pin him to win, thus officially changing World Class into the USWA. This was necessary in reality because the Adkissons owned the World Class name, and would no longer allow Jerry Jarrett to continue using the name any further after this event.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: After the match, Embry and manager Percy Pringle walked to the D section of the Sportatorium and tore the World Class Championship Wrestling banner off of the wall (in the same spot where the American flag once was displayed). Various wrestlers such as Matt Borne then stomped and spit on it. Lowrance and Chris Adams, who celebrated Embry's victory in the ring, did not partake in the post-match festivities, showing respect to the Adkissons and the World Class name, and neither Kevin or Kerry were on hand during the celebration. Other World Class banners, all owned by the Adkisson family, above the Sportatorium were later removed, replaced with various World flags. The red World Class ring aprons were covered by the Renegades Rampage logo except for one section of the ring, but all of the aprons would be replaced as well as the ring itself.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: The Dallas Sportatorium was refurbished with a new ring, and ring aprons with the "Renegades Rampage" logo. Section D also had a large yellow banner promoting Renegades, which did not sit well with some longtime patrons who were more used to the American flag or the World Class banner displayed there. The main camera position was also relocated to the Section D area, and the broadcast table returned to its original position on the southern end of the arena. For a time, a USWA wrestling banner was placed above the Section D sign, but was later moved adjacent to the E and F sections of the Sportatorium, or the east corner of the arena. Its syndicated programs, "World Class Championship Wrestling" and "Wild West Wrestling" were later renamed "USWA Challenge" and "USWA Main Event" respectively. The latter program featured a main event of its Saturday "Championship Sports" program, with the remainder of the program featuring past World Class cards dating as far back as late-1987. These two programs aired in this format until 1991.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Some of the hot feuds of the era included Chris Adams and Toni Adams vs. Phil Hickerson and Tojo Yamamoto; Kerry Von Erich vs. Tarras Bulba (with Kerry being pinned by Bulba's iron claw); and Eric Embry vs. Billy Travis. Travis later feuded with Chris Adams, Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Von Erich. Kerry later wrestled against Mark Calaway, who was known as "The Punisher" at that time, while Embry was involved in a "blinding" angle (similar to the angle used with Chris Adams nearly four years before) involving a white bottle (which may have been Freebird Hair Cream) which Travis used against Embry to blind him. In fact, Billy Travis became the Sportatorium's biggest heel wrestler who would often sing a line of various songs during ringside interviews, heckle the crowd, and on several occasions smash a wooden guitar over the head of several wrestlers. One notable such incident occurred in October 1989 when he cold-cocked Percy Pringle with a guitar during an interview, then claimed that the guitar was given to him by Mick Jagger. During one incident, Travis spanked Toni Adams in the center of the ring at the Sportatorium, with Chris handcuffed on the ring rope; and in another infamous incident, Travis cold-cocked Adams with a coke bottle over his head, prompting announcer Marc Lowrance to announce that Adams "may be dead". Chris only received a minor cut on his scalp and returned to wrestle the following day, even disguising himself as another wrestler to gain revenge against Travis.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: In December 1989, Adams and Embry began feuding. The angle, developed by Embry and Adams, was brought about when Adams and Embry blamed each other for two significant losses in tag team matches, including one during a tag team tournament between Billy Travis and Gary Young. A few weeks later, a six-man tag match between Adams, Embry and Bill Dundee vs. Travis, Young and Skandor Akbar, was held. After taking punishment for 11 minutes by Young, Travis and Akbar, Adams was thrown out of the ring. Embry and Toni Adams attempted to help Chris, and an argument ensued, which led Embry to shove Toni down to the floor. As Embry attempted to help her back up, Chris attacked him, and a brawl between Adams and Embry ensued. Dundee attempted to help stop the carnage, but was hit by Embry, while Akbar, Young and Travis stood in the ring cheering. The carnage was broken up when wrestlers from the back, including Steve Austin and Matt Borne, came in to help get order restored. Two weeks later, Adams and Embry faced each other in the ring, with the majority of the crowd cheering for Embry in the beginning, and the hint of a possible heel turn by Adams. As the match progressed with no true dominance by either wrestler, Embry hit referee Bronko Lubich during the bout, which resulted in a DQ. As referee Tony Falk came in to stop the fight, Adams hits him, and another brawl between Embry and Adams ensued, with wrestlers again coming out to separate the two. According to Embry, the idea was for Embry to turn heel and start a long feud with Adams, but the crowd would not boo for Embry and turning Adams heel wouldn't work either, since he is a beloved figure in the area himself. The angle was short-lived, and Embry left the organization for a while, but returned a few months later and reteamed with Adams and continued his battles with Akbar's group until the USWA pulled out of Dallas.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Two major feuds erupted in 1990: one between Chris Adams and "Stunning" Steve Austin, and the other between Kerry Von Erich and Matt Borne. The Adams-Austin feud started slow, but eventually picked up huge heat thanks in part to good promoting by Adams, who decided to bring in former girlfriend Jean Clarke (also known as Jeanie Adams for a time, and later married to Austin) and then-wife Toni Adams into the feud; resulting in a mixed tag-team war very similar to the Adams-Sunshine vs. Garvin-Precious battles of the early 1980s. On a few occasions, Jeanie was spanked by Adams in the center of the ring; and on one interview segment, Clarke and Austin showed pictures of Adams with different women, including a 1986 picture with Sunshine and the World Class belt, and another of Adams and Clarke from his early days in England. The angle, which Adams created and wanted to promote initially in 1986 with Jeanie and the late Gino Hernandez, even gained national headlines, as the National Enquirer ran a story on the Adams-Toni-Jeanie-Austin angle. The climax of the Austin-Adams feud occurred just before the USWA/World Class breakup; when Austin wrestled in a come-as-you-are match, with Austin wearing his football gear from his playing days at UNT, and Adams wearing his Judo gi and using a kendo stick.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: The Kerry Von Erich-Matt Borne feud began in May 1990 when Borne turned heel by attacking Chris Von Erich during an interview segment with the soon-to-be departed Marc Lowrance at the Sportatorium. A week or so later, Borne and Von Erich battled in a "pinfall counts anywhere in the building" match, which eventually continued outside the Sportatorium. During the outside confrontation (in a thunderstorm, among other things), Von Erich slammed Borne onto the hood of a parked vehicle and also attempted to attack him with a piece of two-by-four. Minor damage occurred with the vehicles, and the ensuing fight continued until Chris Adams, Jeff Jarrett, and others broke up the brawl. Promoter Max Andrews "suspended" Kerry for his actions, but no time frame was given as to how long he was suspended. This drew the ire of Borne, who demanded the USWA forfeit Kerry's Texas heavyweight belt. Instead, Kerry was reinstated days later as the two battled for the belt, which Borne won thanks to interference by Percy Pringle. Pringle joined Borne in his feud with Kerry, until June 1990, when Von Erich left for the WWF. Borne also left a short time later to join that organization as Doink The Clown. Percy later joined Austin and Clarke in their feud with Chris and Toni Adams, with Chris Von Erich and at times Kevin Von Erich getting involved. Borne also had a few matches against Kerry's brother Kevin.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Another feud that drew headlines was between "Hollywood" John Tatum and Bill Dundee, with valet Tessa in the middle of the feud. Originally brought in by Tatum, Tessa, like Sunshine years before, turned face and joined Dundee's side. During a match against Tatum, Kevin Von Erich, who beat Tatum, swept Tessa off her feet and carried her into the dressing room much to the dismay of Tatum. During a July 1990 match, Tatum knocked Tessa unconscious following a superkick to the head, resulting in Tessa being carried out on a stretcher. In that same event, Toni Adams was carried out on a stretcher following a flying splash from the top rope onto Toni in the ring by Steve Austin, while Toni was on top of her husband Chris, who was piledrived on the concrete floor by Austin earlier, to protect him. These two incidents resulted in a few stations canceling its "USWA" broadcasts due to its violent nature.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: During this time, other wrestlers such as Terry Taylor made brief appearances, and future GWF wrestling star Rod Price made his debut by attacking Kerry during an interview segment.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Under Jarrett, World Class/USWA Dallas was finally able to turn itself around financially, and became modestly profitable during the 1989–1990 period. However, because of a revenue dispute with the Adkissons (who still owned 40 percent of the Dallas promotion), Jarrett ultimately pulled the promotion out of Dallas after the September 7, 1990 card. A week before Jarrett's departure, KTVT dropped its long-running Saturday night wrestling telecasts; according to some reports, the cancellation was the result of frequent on-air profanity (mostly from Eric Embry), despite multiple warnings from station management, as well as the controversial superkick incident between John Tatum and Tessa.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Kevin Von Erich, without the benefit of television (as the result of KTVT's cancellation of Saturday Night's "Championship Sports"), the absence of his brother Kerry, and longtime World Class guru Gary Hart (who was starting his Texas Wrestling Federation promotion at the time), began promoting Sportatorium wrestling himself, bringing back the World Class Championship Wrestling name on September 14, 1990. Longtime World Class mainstays Chris Adams, King Parsons, Kevin's brother Chris Von Erich, Percy Pringle, John Tatum, David Sheldon, Steve Austin, Jeanie Clarke and Toni Adams remained, while wrestlers associated with the Memphis end of the USWA left. Steve Simpson and Brian Adias also returned to the promotion, with a few appearances by former WCCW referee David Manning. Initially, the return of World Class proved to be a modest success (which included the return of ring announcer Marc Lowrance and a few appearances by Bill Mercer), but financial sources ran out quickly and attendance at the Sportatorium dropped considerably to sometimes fewer than 500. As a result, on November 23, 1990, Von Erich held its last World Class Championship Wrestling show at the Sportatorium, which featured Kevin winning the Texas heavyweight championship from The Angel of Death in the show's final match. After that match, referee Bronko Lubich announced his retirement from the sport. Lubich would return a few times as a special referee afterwards in the Global Wrestling Federation, with his last appearance in 1994. A month later, the USWA returned to the Sportatorium, but only for a limited basis, as promoters Max Andrews, Joe Pedicino, and Boni Blackstone were getting their Global Wrestling Federation promotion ready to go for the summer of 1991. WCCW veterans went on to compete in other promotions, including Gary Hart's Texas Wrestling Federation group in North Dallas.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Several attempts to revive WCCW since then have been modest at best: in 1991, Kevin Von Erich began a working agreement with Boston-based International Championship Wrestling, which renamed itself International World Class Championship Wrestling. During that brief time in IWCCW, Kevin had a legendary interview in which Tony Rumble, aka The Boston Bad Boy, made derogatory remarks about Kevin and his brothers, after which Kevin ran Rumble out of the interview studio. The following year, Kevin began promoting a few scattered cards under the WCCW banner (featuring Kerry, who had been released from the WWF, and Chris Adams). Finally, in 1997, Gary Hart – with no participation by either Kevin or Fritz—launched a World Class-in-name-only independent promotion at the Sportatorium. This organization, known as "World Class II: The Next Generation", featured only a few of the surviving wrestlers from the original WCCW group (most notably Chris Adams, Iceman Parsons and Maniac Mike Davis), as well as Gary's son, Chad Hart; it folded in less than a year. That promotion was also co-owned by Bill Mercer and Mickey Grant, and some believe that Adams was also a silent partner in World Class II. Adams, Mike Davis and Terry Gordy died in 2001, and the Sportatorium, which stood since 1934, was demolished in 2003, but not before Kevin Von Erich toured the damaged arena for the last time, along with filmmaker Brian Harrison. In 2008, Gary Hart died from a heart attack shortly after returning home from an autograph session. Two years later, Skandor Akbar and Toni Adams had died, and in 2013, Percy Pringle, who was one of the last surviving heel managers in World Class, passed.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Kevin Von Erich released a compilation DVD of classic Von Erichs matches in 2004. Rumors of an impending WWE buyout of the WCCW syndicated broadcast video library began to spread on internet message boards the following year, and on June 5, 2006, the company issued a press release announcing that the purchase had been finalized. Footage from KTVT's "Championship Sports" telecasts was not included in the buyout and is not owned by the WWE. WWE released a DVD titled "The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling" on December 11, 2007. A documentary by Chicago filmmaker Brian Harrison on WCCW and the Von Erichs, "Heroes of World Class", was released on DVD on June 15, 2006, to rave reviews from fans and critics alike. An updated "Director's Cut" DVD of "Heroes of World Class", 30 minutes longer than the original, was released in December 2006. The documentary featured interviews from several of the key figures in World Class, including Kevin, Mercer, Grant, Hart, Adams, Skandor Akbar, Marc Lowrance, David Manning and Johnny Mantell. On February 14, 2007, WWE 24/7 debuted WCCW on WWE 24/7 hosted by Kevin Von Erich and Michael Hayes.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: In 2009, the entire Von Erich family was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. World Class' two major venues, Reunion Arena and Texas Stadium, were demolished soon thereafter. Reunion Arena was imploded on November 17, 2009, while Texas Stadium saw the same fate nearly five months later, on April 11, 2010.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: In May 2018, Imperial Wrestling Revolution, an Oklahoma-based independent wrestling promotion, announced they had changed their name to World Class Revolution in honor of World Class Championship Wrestling, with the blessing of Kevin Von Erich and the Von Erich family.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Weekly wrestling shows were staged there on Tuesday nights until August 1978, then were moved to Sunday nights until the early '80s, and finally were held on Friday nights until the promotion's demise. In the early 1980s, WCCW began its hour-long weekly syndicated television show which introduced numerous innovative production techniques, many of which are still commonly used today. The promotion was also the first to use familiar rock songs as entrance music for its wrestlers. The show was syndicated across the United States, and at one point arguably scored higher ratings than "Saturday Night Live".


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: By the fall of 1983, the opening sequence of World Class' syndicated broadcasts began with a NASA photo of Earth, taken during the Apollo 16 mission back in 1972. An animated satellite would beam down over Dallas, and as it moves east, the World Class logo would appear and move across to the upper left hand corner of the picture. Two more satellite beams aired two highlights from World Class: one involving a match between Kerry Von Erich and Michael Hayes, and another between David Von Erich and Jimmy Garvin. Another opening sequence featured one segment with Kevin Von Erich performing a flying splash onto Terry Gordy, and another with Michael Hayes attacking Kerry Von Erich, who was handcuffed onto a ring rope. In late 1984, a different World Class logo was used and two different match sequences: one involving Skandor Akbar urging The Missing Link to head-butt Kerry Von Erich; while the other scene was Kerry Von Erich slamming Kamala to the mat, with his handler Friday outside the ring moving his fist down in disgust, with announcers Marc Lowrance and Ralph Pulley watching. This opening sequence would be used again in 1991 with Boston-based International World Class Championship Wrestling. By 1987, the opening sequence changed; beginning with a dusk photo of Dallas, and other shots of the city, including the Dallas North Tollway, before the World Class logo would appear; then scenes of past wrestling events (mostly from the 1987 Texas Stadium event) would follow before the logo reappeared again.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: WCCW's syndicated show was usually taped at the Sportatorium beginning in 1981, with two hour-long shows being recorded every other Friday. These telecasts were, in the beginning, seen in only a few markets and were hosted at various times by Gene Goodson, Steve Harms, and Marc Lowrance; when the show was taken over in 1982 by Continental Productions and went to international syndication, well-known north Texas journalist/sportscaster Bill Mercer (a former play-by-play announcer for the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox along with other Texas-based teams) became the ringside announcer at the Sportatorium. For a few months he co-hosted with Jay Saldi, and by 1983, hosted the hour-long program alone, with Lowrance filling in for Mercer from time to time. After Mercer left in 1987 to join Ken Mantell's Wild West Wrestling promotion, Lowrance returned to the broadcast position, where he would remain until resigning to become a minister in July 1990. Lowrance would later be paired by former wrestler-turned-matchmaker Frank Dusek for one year, then later by "The Beauty" Terrance Garvin. Lowrance left World Class/USWA in May 1990 to become a full-time Methodist minister, after nearly 10 years with the organization. Craig Johnson replaced Lowrance for the final two months of telecasts, due to the unavailability of Bill Mercer, who was a ringside announcer for Gary Hart's wrestling promotion at the Metroplex Arena. Percy Pringle III would replace Garvin, who returned to the wrestling ring. Horton eventually went on to host the USWA and GWF telecasts in later years, and Pringle went on to greater fame in the WWF/WWE as Paul Bearer, the manager of The Undertaker. Lowrance did return to the Sportatorium as ring announcer in September 1990 (as did Mercer, who filled in for Lowrance on a few cards), when World Class seceded from the USWA, and appeared occasionally during the 1990s in other Dallas-based promotions such as the Global Wrestling Federation. Lowrance is no longer in the business, but does appear at vintage pro wrestling conventions on occasion.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: The promotion also held matches on Monday nights in Fort Worth at the North Side Coliseum (an indoor rodeo arena, known today as the Cowtown Coliseum), until the mid-1970s, then relocated to the Will Rogers Memorial Center, where it remained until WCCW discontinued its regular Fort Worth shows in 1988, although the promotion did promote Fort Worth house cards on occasion until 1989. These matches aired Saturday nights on local station KTVT, as a 90-minute broadcast entitled "Saturday Night Wrestling", which was expanded to two hours in November 1983 and retitled "Championship Sports". From late 1988 until the station cancelled wrestling in 1990, KTVT's tapings were held at the Sportatorium on Saturday mornings. Dan Coats, who had served as ring announcer in Fort Worth for many years prior to the Von Erich era, called the action on KTVT from 1966 until 1976, when Bill Mercer was brought in to replace him. When Mercer moved to the syndicated telecasts, Marc Lowrance took over the KTVT show. As he would with the syndicated series, Jon Horton became host of "Championship Sports" for its last few episodes.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Lowrance was also the ring announcer at the Sportatorium for several years before moving to TV full-time; he was originally hired in 1980 to replace Boyd Pierce, who had been with the group since the 1960s and left to join Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Other ring announcers in WCCW included George Preston (1960s), Joe Rinelli (from the 1960s until 1988) and Ralph Pulley (mid-1980s), who also served as a referee for a time. Lowrance, who was 21 at the time, was originally hired for a three-week stint until a permanent replacement was found for Pierce. Soon after, when no one was found, Lowrance's stay with World Class became permanent. Doyle King, and for one week Jim Ross, worked as fill-in announcers for Lowrance for the Fort Worth telecasts. In 1981, Dallas rock 'n roll singer Gene Summers took over the ring announcing duties for both the Dallas and Fort Worth matches. However, his tenure was cut short due to conflicting European music tours. It was during this time period that he released the now famous recording "Ballad of Moon Dog Mayne" under the pseudonym of Ricky Ringside. Summers' brief announcing career in 1981 lasted from March 8 to May 31. Marc Lowrance returned to the ring announcing duties in Dallas, and either Ralph Pulley or Joe Rinelli handled the Fort Worth matches.


title: World Class Championship Wrestling

text: Lubich was also for a time the head booker. Manning held a full-time position as a teacher and wrestling coach at MacArthur High School in Irving.


title: Nostalghia

text: Nostalghia (UK: Nostalgia) is a 1983 Soviet-Italian drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and starring Oleg Yankovsky, Domiziana Giordano, and Erland Josephson. Tarkovsky co-wrote the screenplay with Tonino Guerra.


title: Nostalghia

text: The film depicts a Russian writer (Oleg Yankovsky) who visits Italy to carry out research about an 18th-century Russian composer, but is stricken by homesickness. The film utilizes autobiographical elements drawn from Tarkovsky's own experiences visiting Italy, and explores themes surrounding the untranslatability of art and culture.


title: Nostalghia

text: The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, the prize for Best Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It received generally positive reviews from critics. The film received nine total votes in the 2012 "Sight & Sound" polls of the greatest films ever made.


title: Nostalghia

text: The Russian writer Andrei Gorchakov travels to Italy to research the life of 18th-century Russian composer Pavel Sosnovsky, who lived there and committed suicide after his return to Russia. He and his comely interpreter Eugenia travel to a convent in the Tuscan countryside, to look at frescoes by Piero della Francesca. Andrei decides at the last minute that he does not want to enter.


title: Nostalghia

text: Back at their hotel Andrei feels displaced and longs to go back to Russia, but unnamed circumstances seem to get in the way. Eugenia is smitten with Andrei and is offended that he will not sleep with her, claiming that she has a better boyfriend waiting for her.


title: Nostalghia

text: Andrei meets and befriends a strange man named Domenico, who is famous in the village for trying to cross through the waters of a mineral pool with a lit candle. He claims that when finally achieving it, he will save the world. They both share a feeling of alienation from their surroundings. Andrei later learns that Domenico used to live in a lunatic asylum until the post-fascistic state closed them and now lives in the street. He also learns that Domenico had a family and was obsessed in keeping them inside his house in order to save them from the end of the world, until they were freed by the local police after seven years. Before leaving, Domenico gives Andrei his candle and asks him if he will cross the waters with the candle for him.


title: Nostalghia

text: During a dream-like sequence, Andrei sees himself as Domenico and has visions of his wife, Eugenia and the Mary as being all one and the same. Andrei seems to cut his research short and plans to leave for Russia, until he gets a call from Eugenia, who wishes to say goodbye and tell him that she met Domenico in Rome by chance and that he asked if Andrei has walked across the pool himself as he promised. Andrei says he has, although that is not true. Eugenia is with her boyfriend, but he seems uninterested in her and appears to be involved in dubious business affairs. Later, Domenico delivers a speech in the city about the need of mankind of being true brothers and sisters and to return to a simpler way of life. Finally, he plays the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and immolates himself while an onlooker imitates the action of him writhing on the ground in agony.


title: Nostalghia

text: Meanwhile, Andrei returns to the mineral pool in Bagno Vignoni (Val d'Orcia) to fulfill his promise, only to find that the pool has been drained. He enters the empty pool and repeatedly attempts to walk from one end to the other without letting the candle extinguish, as he experiences signs of his illness. When he finally achieves his goal, he collapses and dies. The final shot shows Andrei and a dog resting on the ground of Abbey of San Galgano, with a countryside with a wooden house in the background.


title: Nostalghia

text: This was Andrei Tarkovsky's first film directed outside of the Soviet Union. It was to be filmed in Italy with the support of Mosfilm, with most of the dialogue in Italian. The film was in pre-production as far back as 1980. Initially the film was titled "Viaggio in Italia" ("Voyage to Italy"), but since there was already a film "Journey to Italy" (1954) by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman, that bore that name, they searched for something else, eventually deciding upon "Nostalghia." When Mosfilm support was withdrawn, Tarkovsky used part of the budget provided by Italian State Television and French film company Gaumont to complete the film in Italy and cut some Russian scenes from the script, while recreating Russian locations for other scenes in Italy. Luciano Tovoli was considered for director of photography, although ultimately Giuseppe Lanci shot the film, though Tovoli would take that role in Tarkovsky’s 1982 documentary "Tempo di Viaggio", or "Voyage in Time".


title: Nostalghia

text: Donatella Baglivo filmed a ninety-minute documentary on the making of the film titled "Andrei Tarkovsky in Nostalghia" (1984)"," which includes interviews with cast and crew.


title: Nostalghia

text: Anatoly Solonitsyn was initially cast as Andrei Gorchakov, but died from cancer in 1982, forcing Tarkovsky to seek a new protagonist. Tarkovsky eventually decided upon Oleg Yankovsky, who had appeared in his previous film "Mirror."


title: Nostalghia

text: Several scenes of the film were set in the countryside of Tuscany and northern Lazio; as the Abbey of San Galgano, the spas of Bagno Vignoni, the Orcia Valley, in the Province of Siena, the mysterious crypt of the Chiesa di San Pietro (Tuscania) and the flooded Church of Santa Maria in San Vittorino of Cittaducale, in the Province of Rieti.


title: Nostalghia

text: Similarly to Tarkovsky's previous films, "Nostalghia" utilizes long takes, dream sequences, and minimal story. Of his use of dream sequences, to the question asked by Gian Luigi Rondi: “A realism of dream, like that of Mirror?"”" Tarkovsky answered: “There isn’t 'realism' on the one hand, and on the other hand (in contrast, in contradiction) 'dreams.' We spend a third of our life asleep (and thus dreaming): what is there that is more real than dreams?”


title: Nostalghia

text: Tarkovsky spoke of the profound form of nostalgia which he believes is unique to Russians when traveling abroad, comparing it to a disease, "an illness that drains away the strength of the soul, the capacity to work, the pleasure of living", but also, "a profound compassion that binds us not so much with our own privation, our longing, our separation, but rather with the suffering of others, a passionate empathy."


title: Nostalghia

text: Tarkovsky's goal in "Nostalghia," in terms of style, was to portray the soul, the memory, of Italy, of which it felt to him being there. When he visited Italy to begin studying the project of "Nostalghia" with Tonino Guerra, as they visited cities, Tonino would show him Renaissance architecture, art, monuments, and he admired them, and would take notes, but what struck him the most was the sky, the blue sky, black sky, with clouds, with the sun, at dawn, at noon, in the evening. A sky, he said, is always simply just that, but a change in the hour of the day, the wind, climate, can have it speak to you in a different way, with love, violence, longing, fear, etc. Cinema, he said, can give these "ways" back to you and that it must, with courage, and honest, always starting from the real.


title: Nostalghia

text: According to Tarkovsky, while shooting the film he realized that he would be able to express "something distinctive", which he believed he couldn't in his previous films – for only then he had become aware that "a film can make the inner life of its author visible", and, thereby, he "expanded into [himself]."


title: Nostalghia

text: The film features music by Ludwig van Beethoven, and Giuseppe Verdi (Requiem), as well as Russian folk songs. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is featured both during Andrei's visit at Domenico's home and during his demonstration in Rome.


title: Nostalghia

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" said that Tarkovsky "may well be a film poet but he's a film poet with a tiny vocabulary. [...] Nothing happens." Dave Kehr was mildly positive, considering it to be "packed with imagery that seems at once hopelessly obscure and crushingly obvious" while also arguing that the work "does succeed in inducing some kind of trance." The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, the prize for Best Director (Grand Prix du cinéma de creation, shared with Robert Bresson) and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. Soviet authorities prevented the film from winning the Palme d'Or, a fact that hardened Tarkovsky's resolve to never work in the Soviet Union again.


title: Nostalghia

text: It is today one of Tarkovsky's lesser-known works. In 2010, scholar Thomas Redwood wrote that "critics on the whole have tended to ignore the film. Relatively little has been written about "Nostalghia" and even less has been understood of it." "Nostalghia" has an approval rating of 86% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews, and an average rating of 8.22/10. The website's critical consensus states, ""Nostalgia" demands patience—and rewards the investment with a hypnotic viewing experience that finds Tarkovsky in gratifyingly uncompromising form. The film received nine total votes in the 2012 "Sight & Sound" polls of the greatest films ever made.


title: Moon face

text: A Moon face is a medical sign in which the face develops a rounded appearance (reminiscent of the "Man in the Moon") due to fat deposits on the sides of the face.


title: Moon face

text: Moon face is often associated with Cushing's syndrome or steroid treatment (especially corticosteroids), which has led to it being known as Cushingoid facies.


title: Moon face

text: Moon face is a type of corticosteroid-induced lipodystrophy along with "buffalo hump", which in one study occurred in 47% of the 820 patients. Moon face is among the most frequently reported adverse events of systemic glucocorticoids, along with insomnia (58%), mood disturbances (50%), and hyperphagia (49%).


title: Moon face

text: Another long-term study of 88 patients on prednisone showed that lipodystrophy, such as moon face, was the most frequent adverse event, experienced by 63% of patients.


title: Moon face

text: The risk for moon face increases with higher doses and longer time on steroid treatment. One study showed an increased risk in women, those younger than 50 years of age, and those with a high initial BMI.


title: Moon face

text: This change in facial appearance can be very distressing to patients taking steroids. Later studies of the 88 patients showed that those who had lipodystrophy had a greater risk for metabolic syndrome characteristics such as increased blood pressure, higher plasma concentrations of fasting glucose, triglycerides, and total cholesterol, along with lower HDL-cholesterol.


title: Moon face

text: Cessation of steroid therapy or treatment of the cause of Cushing's syndrome causes moon face to slowly decrease and eventually vanish. One study proposed that limiting calories could decrease the risk of corticosteroid-induced lipodystrophy.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The flag of Vatican City was adopted on 7 June 1929, the year Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, creating a new independent state governed by the Holy See. The Vatican City flag is modeled on the 1808 yellow and white flag of the earlier Papal States, to which a papal tiara and keys were later added. The Vatican (and the Holy See) also refers to it, interchangeably, as the flag of the Holy See.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The flag consists of two vertical bands, one of gold or yellow (hoist side) and one of white with the crossed keys of Saint Peter and the Papal Tiara centered in the white band. The crossed keys consist of a golden and a silver key, in which the silver key is placed in the dexter position. Despite the widespread idea that the flag is square, its proportions are not specified in the constitution, and in response to a letter sent in this regard, the nunciature in Germany explicitly mentioned that the flag does not have to be square.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The yellow and white of the flag also refer to the keys – in heraldic terminology, there is no distinction between yellow and gold (the metallic color "or"), nor between white and silver ("argent").


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The Argent color has also been reported in relation with the white mountains of Lebanon and of the biblical city of Miye ou Miye according to the Lebanese Historian Anis Freiha.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The placing of gold and white side-by-side is considered a violation of the rule of tincture; it can be difficult for the eye to distinguish between the two bands. Armorist Bruno Heim criticised the flag for placing silver keys on a white field, and suggested a new flag with the papal arms on a red shield in the centre.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The flag is displayed in many Catholic churches and institutions worldwide, often alongside the national flag of where the church or institution is located.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: During 2018 visit by Pope Francis to Ireland, South Dublin County Council refused to fly the Vatican flag; a local petrol station began to fly the flag in response.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: A Police Scotland list of flags which could be a criminal offence to display "in a threatening manner" included the Vatican flag; sectarianism is common in Scotland, especially in Glasgow, and the Vatican flag could supposedly be flown as a sign of Catholic identity to intimidate Protestant neighbours.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: The Papal States traditionally used a yellow and red cockade, the traditional colors of the Roman Senate and the Roman people. However, these colors were not used on flags. In 1808 Pope Pius VII ordered the Vatican's Noble Guard and other troops to replace red color with white, in order to distinguish them from the troops that had been incorporated into Napoleon's army.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: In 1803, the Papal States started using a white merchant flag with the Papal coat of arms in the centre. This flag was made official on 7 June 1815. On 17 September 1825, it was replaced with a yellow and white flag which took its colours from the materials of the key (yellow for gold, white for silver). These colors were probably taken from the 1808 flag of the Palatine guard. This was the first bicolour used by the Papal States and the ancestor of the modern flag of Vatican City. The merchant flag also served as a state flag on land.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: Starting in 1831, the papal infantry flew square yellow and white flags. At first, they were diagonally divided, but after 1849 they were vertically divided like the merchant flag. The last infantry colour, adopted in 1862, was a plain square white and yellow flag.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: On 8 February 1849, while Pope Pius IX was in exile in Gaeta, a Roman Republic was declared. The new government's flag was the Italian tricolor with the motto "Dio e Popolo" on the central stripe. The papal government and its flags were restored on 2 July 1849. On 20 September 1870, the Papal States were conquered by Italy and the yellow and white flags fell out of official use.


title: Flag of Vatican City

text: After the Lateran Treaty was signed in 1929, papal authorities decided to use the 1825 merchant flag as the state flag of the soon to be independent Vatican City state. However, the official drawing in the constitution used a drawing of the square 1862 infantry flag as a template. The treaty came into effect on 7 June 1929, and with it the newly-square Vatican flag.


title: Merseyrail

text: Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electrified lines that serve underground stations in the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead. Merseyrail branding is also applied to stations and 'shared' services on the City Line, which are within the Liverpool City Region but operated by other train operating companies. The City Line services operate on the Liverpool to Manchester Lines and the Liverpool to Wigan Line using a mix of AC electric and diesel trains.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Merseyrail third rail network has 68 stations, 66 of which are managed by the company, and of routes,


title: Merseyrail

text: of which are underground. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the network carried 31million passengers per year.


title: Merseyrail

text: The first part of the urban network was opened in 1977 by merging separate rail lines by constructing new tunnels under Liverpool city centre and Birkenhead. The full 1970s plans for the network were not realised, but the network has been extended on its peripheries with additional peripheral extensions proposed. The extensions were created by electrifying existing lines and then transferring the electrified sections into Merseyrail.


title: Merseyrail

text: Merseyrail is operated for Merseytravel by 50:50 joint venture Serco-Abellio, who superseded Arriva Trains Merseyside in 2003. The 25-year contract expires in 2028. , Serco-Abellio operates a fleet of 59 trains and employs 1,148 people.


title: Merseyrail

text: The network is operated by the Merseyrail train operating company, formally known as Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Limited, a 50:50 Serco-Abellio joint venture . Two lines known as the Northern Line and the Wirral Line with each line having substantial branches compose the electric third-rail part of the network. The lines are electrified throughout using a system. The City Line (marked red on the map) is operated primarily by Northern with funding from Merseytravel. The line is mainly electrified with one branch, the Liverpool to Manchester line via Warrington, operated by diesel trains.


title: Merseyrail

text: Trains on the Northern Line and Wirral Line cover the Liverpool City Region. The total route length of the two lines is , accommodating 66 stations. The lines connect Liverpool city centre with cities and towns on the outer reaches of the city region, such as Southport, Chester and Ormskirk. Frequent intermediate stops serve other sections of the urban area. Trains run at an off-peak interval of fifteen minutes on most branches, with lines converging to provide a frequency of up to every five minutes within central Liverpool and under the River Mersey to Birkenhead. The network has high frequency in the central underground sections with operation as a self-contained network making it comparable to European S-train systems.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Northern Line is shown in blue on the Merseyrail map and denoted by the above wordmark on underground stations. Services operate on three main routes: from Hunts Cross in the south of Liverpool to via the "Link" tunnel from Brunswick station through central Liverpool, from Liverpool Central to , and from Liverpool Central to . Each route operates a train every 15minutes from Monday to Saturday, giving a frequent interval between trains on the central section. Some additional trains run at peak hours on the Southport line.


title: Merseyrail

text: On matchdays at Everton F.C.'s Goodison Park and Liverpool F.C.'s Anfield, Northern Line services connect with the "SoccerBus" service at Sandhills station to transport fans to the stadia. Bus departure is at frequent intervals from Sandhills station with ticketing to combine both modes of travel. Kirkdale station is within walking distance of Goodison Park.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Wirral line is shown in green on the Merseyrail map and denoted by the above wordmark on underground stations. Services operate from the four terminus stations of: , , and . Each service from one of these the terminus stations runs through underground station in Birkenhead, then through the Mersey Railway Tunnel, continuing around the single track underground loop tunnel under Liverpool's city centre. Trains head back into the Mersey Railway Tunnel to return to one of the four terminus stations.


title: Merseyrail

text: Monday-Saturday services are every 15minutes to/from Liverpool to Chester, New Brighton and West Kirby, and every 30minutes to/from Ellesmere Port (Monday–Sunday). These combine to give a service at least every five minutes from Birkenhead Hamilton Square and around the loop under Liverpool's city centre.


title: Merseyrail

text: The City Line is shown in red on the Merseyrail map and denoted by the above wordmark on maps. Essentially the City Line is a shared train service. When a commuter train, not operated by Merseytravel, enters the Merseytravel area it becomes a Merseyrail service. The stopping services running through the Liverpool City Region are sponsored by Merseytravel with stations given Merseyrail's yellow branding, signage and ticketing.


title: Merseyrail

text: The line consists of the suburban/regional services which depart from the mainline surface platforms at on the Liverpool–Wigan line, the two routes of the Liverpool–Manchester lines, the Liverpool–Crewe Line, Liverpool–Chester line via Runcorn and the Liverpool–Blackpool line. Merseyrail does not operate the trains or stations; however, the trains stop at two stations operated by Merseyrail. Services are less frequent than those on the Northern Line and Wirral Line, generally half-hourly on weekdays.


title: Merseyrail

text: Two services are not electrified, the Manchester via Warrington Central and Chester via Runcorn. Services are provided by the Northern and London Northwestern Railway train operating companies.


title: Merseyrail

text: In 2015, Class 319 electric multiple units were transferred from the Thameslink route. Following a refurbishment, a repaint and the removal of the third rail collector shoes, they are operating on the newly electrified lines from Liverpool to Wigan and Manchester, which incorporates the City Line.


title: Merseyrail

text: Point-to-point or return tickets are purchased from staffed offices or ticket machines, but the system is tightly integrated with Merseytravel's City Region-wide pass system, which also encompasses the Mersey Ferries and city and regional bus networks. Merseytravel's smart ticketing is via the local MetroCard smartcard system, including Merseyrail travel.


title: Merseyrail

text: City Line services are not operated by Merseyrail, but have timetables produced by Merseytravel and are included here for completeness. Typical off-peak weekday service is as follows:


title: Merseyrail

text: Services on the electrified Merseyrail network are operated by British Rail Class 507 and Class 508 electric multiple unit trains (EMUs). These replaced pre-war Class 502 (originally constructed by the LMS) and similar Class 503 EMUs. There are 57 trains in service on the network. This is down from an initial 76: twelve 508s were transferred to Connex South Eastern in 1996, and a further three were transferred to Silverlink to supplement its fleet of Class 313 EMUs in North London. These train sets had been stored on Merseyside as surplus from the 1990s.


title: Merseyrail

text: Three sets have been written off and scrapped. These are unit 507022 in 1991, after a collision; unit 508118, which had been gutted by fire in an arson attack in Birkenhead in 2001; and unit 507006, which was written off after a crash at Kirkby in March 2021.


title: Merseyrail

text: The fleet was refurbished between 2002 and 2005 by Alstom at a cost of £32million, involving trainsets being transported to and from Eastleigh works behind Class 67 locomotives. Improvements to the trains included new high-backed seating, interior panel replacement, new lighting, the installation of a Passenger Information System and a new external livery.


title: Merseyrail

text: The original service on the Merseyrail lines was provided by Class 502s on the Northern Line and Class 503s on the Wirral Line. The former was withdrawn by 1980 and the latter by 1985. Although the withdrawal of the Class 503s began in June 1980, the majority of the Class 503s were progressively withdrawn from June 1984, with the final service train running on 29 March 1985.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 28 January 2020, Swiss rolling-stock manufacturer Stadler Rail provided the first of a new fleet of 53 new train sets, designated , built at Stadler's factory in Bussnang, Switzerland. The final units were due to enter service in 2021. The trains are based on the METRO platform, Stadler's product family for underground trains also used on the Berlin U-Bahn and the Minsk Metro. The new trains are a custom-built, bespoke design specifically for the Merseyrail network, with driver only and guard capability. This differs from the previous fleet, which was built to a standard British Rail design for commuter services.


title: Merseyrail

text: The new trains have an articulated four-car design, compared to the previous three-car units, with a significantly increased overall capacity and faster acceleration and deceleration, which gives reduced journey times. A combination of reduced weight of 99tonnes, representing a 5.5tonne weight reduction, and more efficient electrical systems will give a 20% reduction in energy use.


title: Merseyrail

text: The trains are flexible, being capable of operating on a combination of any of , overhead wires, or full battery operation using a five-tonne battery, provided they have the correct equipment installed, giving operation beyond the current network. , all trains are only equipped for operation, along with a smaller battery for depot shunting.


title: Merseyrail

text: The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers opposed driver-only operation on the new fleet, which they said would put passenger safety and security at risk. Following a period of strike action, an agreement was reached to guarantee a guard on every train.


title: Merseyrail

text: Merseytravel has an option for a further 60 Class 777 units as part of the contract, which if exercised would see a total of 113 trains built if services are extended to new destinations such as Helsby, Skelmersdale or Wrexham. The deal also involves the transfer of 155 of Merseyrail's maintenance workers and the operation of its maintenance depot at Kirkdale to Stadler Rail Service. The transfer of Kirkdale depot and Merseyrail engineering personnel took place in October 2017, as construction work to modernise the depot, which is the planned maintenance hub for the Class 777s, commenced.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Class 777 trains are capable of being propelled via onboard battery sets. The battery set per car can be up to 5tonnes in weight. The batteries can be charged via a rail terminal charger and while operating on electrified tracks. When the Headbolt Lane extension was unveiled to the public, it was also announced that the original order of 52 units was increased to 53 to allow for some units to undergo battery trials.


title: Merseyrail

text: Following on from the trial, it was announced in July 2021 that the units tested had been able to travel up to without the need for recharging. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority stated that the battery-powered trains will run to the new Headbolt Lane station at Kirkby which is due to open in 2023. The technology opens up the possibility of the trains being able to serve on routes to destinations such as Wrexham, Preston, Wigan and Warrington.


title: Merseyrail

text: The electric fleet is maintained and stabled at Stadler's maintenance depot and United Kingdom headquarters at Kirkdale and Birkenhead North TMD. Minor repair work and train cleaning is undertaken at Kirkdale, while overhauls are completed at Birkenhead. The roles will be reversed once the Class 777 trains fully replace the existing fleet. Other depots at Hall Road and Birkenhead Central were closed in 1997, and the former was demolished in April 2009. The Birkenhead Central depot is proposed for reopening.


title: Merseyrail

text: There are also two depots near Southport station: Southport Wall Sidings and Southport Carriage Holding Sidings.


title: Merseyrail

text: As a result of the privatisation of British Rail, the Northern Line and Wirral Line were brought together as the Mersey Rail Electrics passenger franchise, being sold on 19 January 1997. Although franchises are awarded and administered on a national level (initially through various independent bodies, and later the Department of Transport directly), under the original privatisation legislation of 1993, passenger transport executives (PTEs) were co-signatories of franchise agreements covering their areas – this role being later modified by the Railways Act 2005.


title: Merseyrail

text: The first train operating company awarded the Mersey Rail Electrics franchise contract was MTL. MTL was originally the operating arm of Merseytravel but had been privatised in 1985. The brand name Merseyrail Electrics was adopted by MTL.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Merseyrail name became the official brand for the network in the days of British Rail, surviving several franchise holders, although the name was not used by Arriva when holding the franchise. Despite this, Merseytravel continued the Merseyrail branding at stations, allowing the name to be adopted colloquially. With acquisition by Arriva, the train operating company was rebranded Arriva Trains Merseyside from 27 April 2001. Merseyrail is referred to as "Merseyrail Electrics" by National Rail Enquiries, and as "Serco/Abellio Merseyrail" by Merseytravel.


title: Merseyrail

text: The City Line was also privatised under the 1993 Act, but as part of a different, much larger North West Regional Railways (NWRR) franchise. Upon sale on 2 March 1997, the first train operating company awarded the NWRR franchise contract was North Western Trains (owned by Great Western Holdings). The train operating company was later bought by FirstGroup and rebranded First North Western.


title: Merseyrail

text: The third-rail electric Northern and Wirral lines were largely isolated from the rest of the National Rail network with no through passenger services to or from outside the third-rail Merseyrail network. A decision was to transfer the network into exclusive Merseytravel control, being removed from the national franchising system. The Secretary of State exempted the two lines from being designated as a national railway franchise under the 1993 Act.


title: Merseyrail

text: When the Mersey Rail Electrics franchise was due for renewal, coming into force on 20 July 2003, Merseytravel contracted the operation of the two lines with a concession extending for up to 25years. The first successful bidder was Merseyrail Electrics (2002) Ltd, a joint venture between Serco and NedRailways (renamed Abellio in 2009).


title: Merseyrail

text: The City Line, which was largely diesel-operated at the time, was not included in 2003 franchise, continuing as a part of the nationally administered rail franchise system. From 11 December 2004, the NWRR franchise was merged into a new Northern franchise. The first train operating company awarded this franchise contract was Northern Rail, also owned by a Serco-NedRail (Abellio) joint venture. This franchise passed to Arriva Rail North on 1 April 2016 and then to Northern Trains on 1 March 2020.


title: Merseyrail

text: Due to the isolation of the Northern and Wirral lines, Merseyrail Electrics (2002) Ltd are keen to adopt vertical integration – taking responsibility for maintenance of the track from Network Rail. The current managing director of Merseyrail is Andy Heath.


title: Merseyrail

text: Operating as a self-contained network means there are relatively few problems because there is little conflict with other train operating companies. Merseyrail has publicly committed to aiming to be the best train operating company in the United Kingdom.


title: Merseyrail

text: In February 2010, Merseyrail was named the most reliable operator of trains in the United Kingdom, with a reliability average of 96.33% during 2009–2010, the highest ever achieved by any United Kingdom train operator.


title: Merseyrail

text: Merseyrail employs a team of officers who enforce railway by-laws relating to placing feet on seats, travelling without tickets, and other kinds of anti-social behaviour. The enforcement of the 'feet on seat' by-law by Merseyrail was judged to be "draconian" in September 2007. However, Merseyrail stated that it did not want to take offenders to court, but was not allowed to fine offenders otherwise (unlike people who smoke on trains or station platforms). Merseyrail claimed its stance was popular with commuters and has reduced anti-social behaviour on the system.


title: Merseyrail

text: The nucleus of the system was the Mersey Railway, which opened from Liverpool James Street to , Birkenhead running through the 1886 Mersey Railway Tunnel, one of the world's first underwater railway tunnels. The tunnelled route was extended to in 1890. A tunnelled branch to Birkenhead Park was added in 1888 to connect with the Wirral Railway and the original line was extended to Rock Ferry to connect with the to Chester line in 1891.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Mersey Railway was electrified in 1903 being the world's first full electrification of a steam railway. This was followed by the separate Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway line from Liverpool Exchange to Southport, which was electrified in 1906. The electrification of the former Wirral Railway lines to New Brighton and West Kirby took place in 1937 and allowed through running into Liverpool via the Mersey Railway tunnel.


title: Merseyrail

text: The programme of route closures in the early 1960s, known as the Beeching Axe, included the closure of two of Liverpool's mainline terminal stations, and , and one on the Wirral, Birkenhead's Woodside Station, leaving only one mainline station serving all of Merseyside at Liverpool Lime Street. Riverside terminal station at the Pier Head later closed due to the demise of the trans-Atlantic liner trade in 1971. The Beeching Report recommended that the mostly-electrified suburban and outer-suburban commuter rail services into Exchange and Central High-level stations from the north and south of the city be terminated. Long and medium-distance routes would be concentrated on one mainline terminal station at Lime Street station serving Liverpool, the Wirral and beyond.


title: Merseyrail

text: Liverpool City Council took a different view, proposing the retention of the suburban services and integrating them into a regional electrified rapid-transit network by linking all lines via new tunnels under the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead. As well as ease of transport around most of Merseyside, the proposed network would offer all urban line areas ease of access to the remaining mainline station at Liverpool Lime Street and divert urban routes from the mainline terminus station to underground rail in Liverpool's centre; this would release platforms from urban use, leaving the mainline station to focus on mid- to long-haul routes. This approach was supported by the Merseyside Area Land Use and Transportation Study (the MALTS report). Merseyrail was born when Liverpool City Council's proposal was adopted. However, not all of the electrified sections were saved; as part of the Beeching cuts, the Southport to Preston line was to be axed, and rather than keeping the electrified section between Southport and Crossens it was closed in 1964.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority, later named Merseytravel, was formed in 1969 with representatives from all local authorities, taking responsibility for the local rail lines identified to be incorporated into the new network, known as 'Merseyrail'. At that time, the lines out of Liverpool Exchange, Liverpool Central Low Level, Liverpool Central High Level and Liverpool Lime Street stations were separate. The existing electric and diesel hauled lines identified to become the new Merseyrail lines, the first stage of Merseyrail's creation, were named the 'Northern Line' (from Exchange and Central High Level), 'Wirral Line' (from Central Low Level) and 'City Line' (from Lime Street station) respectively.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Strategic Plan for the North West (SPNW) in 1973 envisaged that the Outer Loop, the Edge Hill Spur connecting the east of the city to the central underground sections, and the lines to St. Helens, Wigan and Warrington would be electrified and all integrated into Merseyrail by 1991.


title: Merseyrail

text: Only the first two projects were constructed, creating the fully electrified third rail Northern and Wirral Lines. The last two were cancelled late in the project after some works had actually started. This isolated the City Line, preventing its full integration into the network: local services still entered the mainline Lime Street station, occupying platforms that could have been used for long-haul routes. In the decades following the commissioning of the resulting cut-down rapid-transit network, political moves were made to complete the full project, to fully incorporate the City Line into the network; but to no avail. Until the 2015 electrification of the Lime Street to Manchester and Wigan lines, the City Line remained 100% diesel hauled, with the Lime Street to Warrington line still retaining diesel traction. Since its creation Merseytravel has sponsored the use of Merseyrail branding in stations and paid British Rail to brand local services in a Merseyrail livery. This livery sponsorship ended with the privatisation of British Rail when operators adopted their own corporate train liveries.


title: Merseyrail

text: The major engineering works required to create the Northern and Wirral lines became known as the 'Loop' and 'Link' Project, consisting of two tunnels. The 'Loop' was the Wirral Line tunnel and the 'Link' the Northern Line tunnel, both under Liverpool's city centre. The main works were undertaken between 1972 and 1977. A further project, known as the Edge Hill Spur, would have integrated the City Lines into the city centre underground network. This would have meshed the eastern section of the city into the core underground city centre section of the electric network, releasing platforms at mainline Lime Street station for mid to long haul routes. The Edge Hill Spur was not completed due to budget cuts.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Loop Line is a single-track loop tunnel under Liverpool's city centre serving the Wirral Line branches. It was built to allow both greater capacity and a wider choice of destinations for Wirral Line users, which included the business and shopping districts of Liverpool city centre and the mainline Lime Street station. The loop extension offered direct mainline station access to Wirral residents after the decommissioning of the mainline Woodside terminal station in Birkenhead.


title: Merseyrail

text: Trains from Wirral arriving via the original Mersey Railway tunnel enter the loop beneath Mann Island in Liverpool continuing in a clockwise direction through James Street, , Lime Street and Central, returning to the Wirral via James Street station. The loop tunnel gave interchanges for passengers of the Wirral Line to the Northern line at Moorfields and Central stations.


title: Merseyrail

text: The purpose of the Link Tunnel was to link the separate urban lines north and south of the city creating a continuous north–south crossrail, called the Northern Line. A substantial section of the Northern Line had an additional function in completing the western section of a planned double-track electrified suburban orbital line, circling the city's outer suburbs, known as the 'Outer Rail Loop'. However, the eastern section of the Outer Rail Loop was never built due to budget cuts.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Link Line tunnel is a double-track tunnel that links two lines: One line running south from the city centre to Hunts Cross; another running north from the city centre to Southport, with branches to Ormskirk and Kirkby. One continuous line would be created, the Northern Line. The line provides direct access from the north and south of Liverpool to the shopping and business districts in the city centre via two underground stations, Liverpool Central and Moorfields, both of which also interchange with the Loop Line, which is an extension of the Wirral Line. The Northern Line effectively creates a north–south crossrail enabling passengers to travel from the south to the north of the city, and vice versa, via Liverpool city centre.


title: Merseyrail

text: The present Northern Line underground station at Liverpool Central was originally the Mersey Railway terminus at Liverpool Central Low Level. A section of the original 1880s tunnel between James Street and Central stations was used to form the Link Tunnel. The remainder, between Paradise Street Junction and Derby Square Junction, was retained for use as a rolling stock interchange line between the Northern and Wirral lines and also for a reversing siding for Wirral Line trains terminating at James Street when the Loop Tunnel is inoperative. The rolling stock interchange section of the tunnel is not used for passenger traffic.


title: Merseyrail

text: A burrowing junction was constructed at Birkenhead Hamilton Square station, to increase traffic capacity on the Wirral Line by eliminating the flat junction to the west of the station. This included a new station tunnel at Hamilton Square to serve the lines to New Brighton and West Kirby.


title: Merseyrail

text: To the south of Liverpool Central Low Level Station, a new track layout was constructed as part of the Link Line project. This layout permitted the former Mersey Railway route from the north, to be connected to the former Cheshire Lines Committee route running south from the closed Central High Level Station, allowing the Northern Line to be extended in a southerly direction to Garston and, later, Hunts Cross. It was accomplished by excavating the trackbed of the high-level tunnel to connect 5o the lower level tunnel of the two routes by means of a tunnelled gradient. As it was still necessary to accommodate a reversing siding to serve Central Low Level, and as the width of the high-level tunnel did not permit a three-track alignment, a new section of single-track tunnel was built for the Central to Garston line. This tunnel starts to the south of the station and rises to join the high-level tunnel.


title: Merseyrail

text: At the time of construction, the opportunity was taken to construct two short header tunnels for the proposed Edge Hill Spur project (see below). Should the project go ahead, the connecting tunnels could be constructed without the need to obstruct rail services on the existing route. The junction arrangement would be a burrowing junction, as at Hamilton Square (see above), with the grade separation of tracks increasing capacity.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Loop and Link project was followed by a programme of expansion, electrification and new stations, which built on the greater integration and capacity provided by the new infrastructure.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 30 April 1977, terminus station was closed as a part of the Link tunnel project to create the electrified Merseyrail north-south crossrail line named the Northern Line. Liverpool Exchange was the terminus of the northern Liverpool to Manchester route to Manchester Victoria via Wigan Wallgate station.


title: Merseyrail

text: A tunnel under Liverpool's city centre, the Link tunnel, created the through crossrail Northern Line. The nearby Moorfields underground through station located on the new Link tunnel, serving the Northern and Wirral Lines, replaced Liverpool Exchange terminus station. Since diesel trains could not operate in the underground stations and tunnels for safety reasons, trains that had terminated at Liverpool Exchange terminus from Wigan Wallgate were terminated at Sandhills station as a temporary measure, which is the last surface station before the tunnel.


title: Merseyrail

text: A year later in 1978, the short line electrification from Walton to Kirkby extended the Merseyrail network, creating a Northern Line branch terminus and interchange station at Kirkby. The line was electrified using the standard 750 V DC third rail Merseyrail system. The northern Liverpool to Manchester route was cut into two with differing modes of traction, electric and diesel. The diesel Wigan service terminating at Sandhills station was cut back to Kirkby. The Merseyrail electric and the Northern Rail diesel services use opposite ends of the same platform at Kirkby. Merseyrail and Northern Rail trains are generally timed to meet for ease of interchange.


title: Merseyrail

text: In 1978 the Northern Line was extended south from Liverpool Central to Garston. This was made possible by inclining the tunnel into Central High Level from Garston to run down into the lower level tunnel entering Central Low Level from the opposite end of the station forming one continuous tunnel. The linking of the two tunnels had been envisaged when the Mersey Railway was extended to Central from James Street in the 1890s, with the Mersey Railway ensuring the two tunnels were on the same alignment.


title: Merseyrail

text: The diesel-hauled line from Liverpool Central High Level to Gateacre in the south of the city had been abandoned in 1972. On reopening under the Merseyrail brand, the electrified line never reached Gateacre as it once did, terminating three stations towards the city centre at Garston.


title: Merseyrail

text: This short extension of electrified Merseyrail line at the southern end of the Northern Line opened in 1983. It facilitated passenger interchanging between the Merseyrail Northern Line services with the Merseyrail City Line and main line services from Lime Street. The reopened line passed under the West Coast Main Line Liverpool branch at Allerton but needed to cross the southern Manchester line via Warrington on the flat, which affected capacity.


title: Merseyrail

text: Rock Ferry railway station had been a terminus for Wirral Line services since the Mersey Railway was extended there from Green Lane in 1891. Passengers for the lines to Chester and Helsby would change trains at this station from the electric service on to mainline services operated by steam and diesel. Rock Ferry became one of the terminals for the Merseyrail Wirral Line. In 1985 the line from Rock Ferry to Hooton was electrified and incorporated in the Wirral Line of Merseyrail, Hooton thus becoming a new terminus.


title: Merseyrail

text: Hooton is a junction station where the line to Helsby via Ellesmere Port branches off the main Chester line. The line from Hooton to Chester was electrified in 1993, Chester thus becoming a terminus station of the Wirral Line. The line from Hooton to Ellesmere Port was electrified in 1994 and incorporated into the Wirral Line, Ellesmere Port thus also becoming a terminus and interchange station.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 26 October 2005, a Merseyrail Class 508 train de-railed in a tunnel on the approach to Liverpool Central underground station. All 119 passengers and train crew were evacuated safely; only the guard was injured. The cause was determined to be rail gauge spread caused by poor maintenance.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 30 June 2009, a train ran away at , running through a buffer stop and colliding with a wall. A passenger train had passed the site of the accident less than 5 seconds earlier. Merseyrail was fined £85,000 plus costs of £20,970.15 for offences under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 22 October 2011, an intoxicated teenage girl died after falling between the train and platform at James Street station. The train guard was subsequently convicted of her manslaughter by gross negligence and was jailed for five years.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 13 March 2021, a Merseyrail Class 507 train collided with the buffer stop at station. The cause was found to be that the driver of the train was using a mobile phone whilst driving. The distraction led him to enter the station at nearly three times the permitted speed. He was sacked and prosecuted, pleading guilty in February 2022 to a charge of endangering the safety of people on the railway.


title: Merseyrail

text: On 28 October 2022, a Merseyrail train derailed on the tracks just outside of Liverpool Central underground station. The train was not in service at the time, and no one was injured. In a statement released by Merseyrail it was stated a train "tripped a safety device that is designed to lead to a controlled derailment"


title: Merseyrail

text: There have been various suggestions for ways to enlarge the Merseyrail network. In August 2014, Merseytravel gave details of a 30-year plan for the network to be presented to the leaders of the city region.


title: Merseyrail

text: Some proposals would extend beyond the current Liverpool City Region area, while others would use former existing lines or track beds inside the area. In November 2016 the details of the next phase of the Merseyrail fleet were announced: if trains capable of use beyond the third-rail DC network are selected as replacements, various expansions can be achieved without electrification of the entire new route. The newly acquired Class 777 trains are capable of operating on non-electrified track, drawing this aspiration closer.


title: Merseyrail

text: In July 2021, the metro-mayor of the Liverpool City Region announced that bi-modal battery electric Class 777 trains will operate on Merseyrail, extending the network. He stated "This capability means they could eventually provide a direct service from as far as Preston and Wrexham."


title: Merseyrail

text: Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced in August 2019 that it was planning to use part of a £172million funding package to reopen St James Station in Liverpool City Centre and build a new station at Headbolt Lane, Kirkby.


title: Merseyrail

text: The former St James railway station, now disused, is located on the corner of St.James' Place and Parliament Street in the Baltic Triangle district, having been closed in 1917. The station is in a deep cutting on the operational crossrail Northern Line tunnel section between Liverpool Central Station and Brunswick Station.


title: Merseyrail

text: In 2020, a series of investments and land purchases advanced the case for a station at the site of St James in the Baltic Triangle. Part of the Spatial Regeneration Framework for the area includes a new Baltic Triangle railway station.


title: Merseyrail

text: In April 2022, following a public vote, the new station was official confirmed as Liverpool Baltic station.


title: Merseyrail

text: In August 2019, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced that funding is available for the construction of a three platform station. The station will be the terminal of a Northern Line branch, and also an interchange on a Headbolt Lane to Manchester line via Wigan. The platforms will be designed to accommodate any future Merseyrail extension to Skelmersdale. The station will accommodate a 300 space car park and bus interchange. In August 2021 network rail formally applied to Knowsley Borough Council for planning permission for a station.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced in July 2021 that Class 777 battery-electric trains will serve the new station on opening. The Merseyrail extension from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane will not be electrified.


title: Merseyrail

text: In its 30-year plan of 2014, Merseytravel mentions the possibility of a new station between Moorfields and Sandhills in the Vauxhall area on the Northern Line. A station at this location would serve the under construction Everton F.C. stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, which is near to the Northern Line.


title: Merseyrail

text: In August 2009, it was reported that a new tram-train link to Liverpool John Lennon Airport and a link to Kings Dock from the east of the city had been proposed.


title: Merseyrail

text: The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Long Term Rail Strategy document of October 2017 stated that trials of new Merseyrail battery trains would be undertaken in 2020. The aim was to extend the electric network onto unelectrified track. A number of lines were targeted for electric third rail/battery train trials, for network extension. Merseyrail Class 777 electric trains have the capability to operate on unelectrified track, which otherwise would not be considered for track electrification on cost grounds. The lines chosen for the trials are:


title: Merseyrail

text: The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced in July 2021 that the trial had been successful. The new units were able to travel up to 20miles on the fitted batteries. This opens up the possibilities of the trains being used to serve other destinations such as Skelmersdale, Wrexham, Warrington and Runcorn.


title: Merseyrail

text: Many proposals to electrify lines adding them to the existing Merseyrail network have been proposed over past decades. However, in 2017 the Department for Transport announced that electrification of lines in Britain will only be where necessary with many planned projects cancelled. Bi-modal trains with combinations of battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell and diesel engines are the preferred options.


title: Merseyrail

text: Merseytravel purchased Class 777 trains incorporating battery electric technology, having conducted trials on sections of unelectrified track with a view to incorporate into Merseyrail. The successful trials will curtail future full electrification of track. To meet the ambitions of the Liverpool City Region's Long Term Rail Strategy, Merseytravel have clear aspirations to extend the network beyond the current Merseyrail boundaries. Locations such as Skelmersdale, Wrexham and Warrington have been targeted. Many of the lines that were proposed over the decades to be electrified are under consideration for battery electric operation.


title: Merseyrail

text: In 1977, the Liverpool to section of the Liverpool-to-Bolton route was electrified being merged into Merseyrail. Kirkby became the terminus of the Northern Line Kirkby branch. The former through service to Bolton was split into two, with passengers making through journeys having to change at Kirkby from the Merseyrail electric network to the Northern Rail diesel network onwards to Wigan and Bolton.


title: Merseyrail

text: Electrifying track from Kirkby and extending the Northern Line to Wigan Wallgate was a long-term aspiration of Merseytravel in 2014. The extension was identified by Network Rail as a route where electrification would enable new patterns of passenger services to operate. The aspiration was accelerated in March 2015 with the Electrification Task force placing electrification of the line from Kirkby to Salford Crescent in a Tier 1 priority category.


title: Merseyrail

text: The line from Kirkby to the Headbolt Lane station will be operated by Class 777 battery trains when the new station is completed.