Crown Street Station was located on Crown Street,
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The station opened on 15 September 1830 as the Liverpool passenger terminus of the
Liverpool and Manchester RailwayThe Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
, the world's first public passenger line. This gave it the distinction, along with Manchester's corresponding Liverpool Road station that opened on the same day, of being the world's first two dedicated intercity passenger railway stations.
The architecture is attributed to George Stephenson. The station was accessed by a 291 yard long single track tunnel from the deep Edge Hill Cutting to the east, sometime known as the Cavendish Cutting. Together with the adjacent 1.26 mile
Wapping TunnelWapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester, and all points between, as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a metropolis...
, these were the first tunnels to be bored under a metropolis. Stationary steam engines, located in the cutting, operated a continuous rope system to haul wagons up
inclineIncline, inclined, inclining, or inclination may refer to:* Incline, California* Inclined plane, a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights* Inclined orbit, an orbital plane is tipped away from the equator...
s from Edge Hill station and up the 1.26 miles long
Wapping TunnelWapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester, and all points between, as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a metropolis...
from
Park Lane Goods DepotPark Lane was the world's first goods terminus on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway serving the south end Liverpool Docks. The station was opened in 1830. Its initial name was Wapping Station...
, earlier known as Wapping railway goods station, at Liverpool's south end docks. The Wapping Tunnel runs under the Crown Street station site.
Crown Street station was too far from Liverpool city centre. Its use as a passenger station ended after only six years of use in 1836 when
Lime Street StationLiverpool Lime Street is a railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England. The station lies on a branch of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, and on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network...
was opened. The site of the Crown Street station was converted to a goods yard. An additional twin track tunnel was built from the Edge Hill cutting in 1846 to improve throughput to the goods yard. The goods yard closed permanently when services through the two tunnels ended in 1972. The
Wapping TunnelWapping or Edge Hill Tunnel in Liverpool, England, was constructed to enable goods services to operate between Liverpool docks and Manchester, and all points between, as part of the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was the first tunnel in the world to be bored under a metropolis...
along with the original Crown Street tunnel also ceased to be used in 1972.
The area has been landscaped as a park with the original 1830 single track tunnel's western portal covered over. The 1846 Crown Street tunnel is now used as a
headshuntA headshunt is a short length of track, provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines.- Terminal Headshunts :...
for trains. Student accommodation for the nearby
University of LiverpoolThe University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
has been built on a part of the old goods yard site. The site of the station itself is landscaped.
[http://www.unite-students.com/student-accommodation/liverpool/the-railyard?] The Wapping Tunnel's ventilation tower and plaque mark commemorates the station's place in history.
Sources
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RAliverpoolST.htm
- http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/l/liverpool_edge_hill_cutting/index.shtml