Notes: The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR) opened their Wapping & Salthouse Goods station in 1902. The station served the Albert, Salthouse and Wapping Docks and it was located close to the city centre, on the east side of Wapping which ran parallel to the river to the east of the dock estate. The station was located close to Salthouse Dock which had opened in 1753.

The LYR had no main lines in the south part of the city. The company’s nearest main line link was at their North Docks Goods station, opened in 1848, which was over a mile to the north. The Mersey Dock & Harbour Board (MD&HB) had established a dock railway between Harrington Dock and Canada Dock by 1860 and it extended with the docks over the following years. The creation of that line allowed the LYR to establish its Wapping & Salthouse Goods station where it did as its North Docks station was connected to it.

On 4 February 1893 the Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR) was opened and it ran directly opposite the LYR goods station and directly above the dock railway.

The goods station had an overall roof that protected goods from the weather. It was opened primarily to serve the cotton trade. Within the station there were loading bays and wagon turntables. Single-track connections linked the goods station to the MD&HB line in both north and south directions. The LYR had opened its South Docks Goods station near to Brunswick Dock in 1882 and the south-facing connection allowed trains to run to and from that location.

Originally the MD&HB line had been horse-worked but from 13 May 1895 locomotive working throughout the system had been allowed. The LYR used 0-4-0 ‘Pug’ tank engines to work its trains on the MD&HB system and it would have been this type of locomotive that worked into Wapping & Salthouse.

The goods station was enlarged in 1911.

During the Great War (1914 – 18) the dock system at Liverpool was extremely busy and all of the goods stations worked to capacity.

On 1 January 1922 the LYR was taken over by the LNWR and a year later, on 1 January 1923, the LNWR was taken over by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). One company now found itself in the possession of a number of goods stations within the Liverpool dock system. The LMS concentrated specific goods at some of its stations to avoid duplication of facilities.

The LMS changed the name of the station to simply ‘Wapping’. The former LNWR Wapping Goods station had been renamed as Park Lane Goods in LNWR days. Wapping remained busy throughout the 1930s and the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939 made it even busier.

Wapping became part of British Railways [London Midland Region] (BR[LMR]) on 1 January 1948.

The 1956 Handbook of Stations listed Wapping as being able to handle public goods and having a 1-ton 10cwt lifting crane.

BR[LMR] closed Wapping Goods on 22 June 1959. The station was demolished and the Merseyside Police Headquarters was later built on its site.

Sources:

• An Illustrated History of Liverpool's Railways - Paul Anderson - Irwell Press 1996.
• Rails to Port and starboard – John W Gahan – Countyvise 1992.
• The Railway Clearing House Handbook of stations 1904 - David & Charles 1970.

See Also: South Docks Goods (LYR)