Notes: The Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR) opened on 6 March 1893 and Herculaneum Dock was the northern terminus of the five mile line. The LOR was an elevated railway track level being 16ft above the street. The line was carried on an iron deck supported on iron pillars. By the late 19th century the Liverpool dock system had become so congested that a passenger railway was required and the LOR was built to meet that need. From the start it was an electric railway using three coach electric multiple units that collected their current from a live rail laid in the centre of the running rails.

Herculaneum Dock was on the north side of dock from which it took its name at the southern end of the Liverpool Dock system. To the east was the Brunswick yard of the Cheshire Lines Committee railway.

The station was elevated above the line on iron pillars. It had two platforms that were protected from the elements by an overall roof of iron, timber and glass. access to the station was by covered stairways that led up from the street.

At the time of opening Herculaneum Dock had a frequent service of electric trains that ran to and from Alexandra Dock. On 30 April 1894 a northern extension opened to Seaforth Sands which became the northern terminus for train services.

The line was an immediate success but its passenger numbers dropped off after 6.00pm when most of the dock workers had returned home. The LOR believed that they needed to tap into residential areas and to achieve that aim they built an extension to Dingle which opened on 21 December 1896. The extension deviated from the original line to the north of Herculaneum Dock station leaving it isolated. Because of this a new Herculaneum Dock station was opened to the north of the junction between thye original line and the Dingle extension.

The original station was converted into a carriage shed which remained in use until the line closed on 30 December 1956.

The original Herculaneum Dock station was demolished with the rest of the Overhead Railway towards the end of 1957.

Click here for a brief history of the Liverpool Overhead Railway

Click here to see a selection of photos of the LOR by D J Norton

Tickets by Michael Stewart, except 4989 Nick Catford, Bradshaw by Nick Catford and route map drawn by Alan Young.

Sources:

• Disused Stations - Lost Termini of North West England , P T Wright, Silver Link Publishing, 2010.
• Lost Lines - Liverpool and the Mersey , by N Welbourne, Ian Allan, 2008.
• Seventeen Stations to Dingle , John W Gahan, Countryvise Ltd, 1982.
• The Dockers Umbrella , by P Bolger, The Bluecoat Press, 1994.
• The research notes of Tony Graham taken from the National Archives.

To see the other stations on the Liverpool Overhead Railway
click on the station name:

Dingle, Herculaneum Dock (2nd), Toxteth Dock, Brunswick Dock, Wapping Dock, Canning, James Street, Pier Head, Princes Dock, Clarence Dock, Nelson Dock, Sandon Dock, Huskisson Dock, Canada Dock, Brocklebank Dock, Langton Dock, Alexandra Dock, Gladstone Dock & Seaforth Sands