page_title: Liverpool Overhead Railway
section_title: Closure
hierarchical_section_title: Liverpool Overhead Railway / History / Closure
caption_attribution_description: English: The wall of Clarence Graving Docks Looking across Regent Road towards the wall of Clarence Graving Docks. Before 1957 this unspectacular view would have been enhanced by the presence of the Liverpool Overhead Railway and the Clarence Dock station, which stood above the height of the dock wall. The vertical channels in the wall are where the supports for the railway were located.
context_page_description: The Liverpool Overhead Railway was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number of world firsts: it was the first electric elevated railway, the first to use automatic signalling, electric colour light signals and electric multiple units, and was home to one of the first passenger escalators at a railway station. It was the second oldest electric metro in the world, being preceded by the 1890 City and South London Railway.
  Originally spanning five miles from Alexandra Dock to Herculaneum Dock, the railway was extended at both ends over the years of operation, as far south as Dingle and north to Seaforth & Litherland. A number of stations opened and closed during the railway's operation owing to relative popularity and damage, including air bombing during World War II. At its peak almost 20 million people used the railway every year. Being a local railway, it was not nationalised in 1948.
  In 1955, a report into the structure of the many viaducts showed major repairs were needed that the company could not afford.
context_section_description: The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking onto which the tracks were laid. It was vulnerable to corrosion, especially as the steam-operated Docks Railway operated beneath some sections, despite the locomotives being fitted with chimney cowls which were intended to deflect the steam from the structure. Parts of the decking had become rusty on the surface, caused by steam and soot from the dock locomotives that passed underneath, mixing with rainwater to form an acid that began to corrode the metalwork. Drainage blockages combined with grit and constant vibration also played a part in the degradation of the structure.
  Alongside this deterioration of the railway, the company never made as much money as they had hoped. Passengers made shorter journeys over the years, with the average passenger value declining from 2d in 1897 to 1.7d in 1913. Electric trams were introduced and competed with the railway, reducing the number of people using it, and changes to ticketing increased operational costs for the company.
  A full-time maintenance team was employed solely for the Overhead Railway, but struggled to keep up with repairs, and costs began to rise steeply during the 1950s. In 1955, a survey discovered that repairs would be necessary in five years at a cost of £2 million. The company could not afford such costs and looked for financial support, from the Liverpool Corporation, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and British Rail. A number of attempts to rescue the railway and arrange a takeover took place over the next year but were ultimately unsuccessful.
  The company went into voluntary liquidation, despite still being reporting to be profitable for its shareholders, and was relieved of its statutory obligation to operate passenger services with the Liverpool Overhead Railway Act 1956.
  Despite public protest, the line was closed on the evening of 30 December 1956. The final two scheduled trains were full of passengers and were timed to meet at Pier Head, where crowds gathered. It was the first electrified urban railway in the UK to close.
  A small number of staff were kept to maintain the buildings and structures, and it was hoped that a way of reopening the railway could be found. More than 100 members of the LOR staff joined British Railways for work after its closure. The railway was replaced by a bus service operated by Liverpool Corporation who purchased 60 new buses for the route. The price of a workman's return fare subsequently increased from 8d to 1s as workers were forced to use bus services.
caption: Remnants of Overhead Railway supports built into a wall near Clarence Dock.
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