The Overhead Railway.
The Liverpool dock estate margins the Lancashire shore of the Mersey for six miles, and the offices of the shipowners and merchants, who have their business with the docks, are about the centre. In old days the difficulty of getting to and from the various docks was greatly increased by the crowded state of the adjacent streets. 'Buses ran along the dock lines of rails, but having frequently to pull up for traffic they proved a very slow mode of conveyance, but notwithstanding this they carried 2,500,000 passengers each year. The trade of the port was consequently greatly hindered by the want of rapid communication, and the expenses of the port were increased by the difficulty of moving large bodies of men about. Crews were delayed in getting to their ships, and stevedores and master-porters lost the greater part of the day in going from dock to dock.
Under such circumstances much pressure was brought to bear upon the Dock Board to construct a railway along the line of docks. In the end they obtained Parliamentary powers, but for years they hesitated to proceed with the work.
Some of us thought the Dock Board was unduly timid, and we felt that the trade of the port was being seriously hampered. We approached the Dock Board and offered to find the capital to construct the railway. The Dock Board agreed to our proposals, subject to terms, and Parliament approved of the transfer of these powers to me as representing the directors of the proposed new Overhead Railway. In 1889 we issued a prospectus, the first directors being myself (chairman), Richard Hobson, Harold Brocklebank, George Robertson, Edward Lawrence, and James Barrow. Our capital was subscribed for twice over.
We were fortunate in making our contracts for the ironwork, which we purchased at the lowest price ever known. Our first intention was to work the line with steam locomotives, but during the course of its construction we very seriously thought out the question of electric traction. There was much to deter us from adopting the new motive power. It had not been tried on a large scale; there were unknown risks and dangers, and the cost of the electric equipment would involve an additional outlay of £100,000. Nevertheless we eventually decided to adopt electric traction, laying down as a fundamental principle that everything should be of the best, and that we would try as few experiments as possible. We were fortunate in having Sir Douglas Fox and Mr. Francis Fox as our engineers, and Mr. Cottrell as their local representative.
We had many difficulties. The Dock Board, very foolishly I think, refused to allow us to make our structure strong enough to carry goods traffic. The Corporation declined to allow us to carry our line along the foot of St. Nicholas' Churchyard and through the Back Goree, and so avoid our unsightly structure crossing St. Nicholas' Place and destroying one of the most beautiful sites and vistas in Liverpool. I have often been upbraided in the Council for this; but nobody could have done more than I did to avoid it, and the entire responsibility lies at the door of the Health Committee, of which Mr. Hawley was at that time the chairman.
Neither the Dock Board nor the Corporation was sympathetic to our undertaking. The former called upon us to re-make the entire line of dock railway at a cost of £60,000, and the Health Committee, for the privilege of moving one of our columns a few inches outside our Parliamentary limits, required us to re-pave Wapping at a cost of £8,000.