Talk: ‘Going Underground: Tunnelling on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway’ by Anthony Dawson & Eric Shenton. This is a joint meeting with the Stephenson Locomotive Society.

The Liverpool & Manchester Railway was probably unique in being a mainline passenger railway with rope-worked inclines at either terminal. The first part of the talk will examine the stationary engines, and the operation of the Wapping, Crown Street, and Lime Street tunnels of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway 1830-1845 and briefly consider those at Manchester Victoria.

The second part will describe the 1977-79 excavations at the site of the Edge Hill Engine Station and discuss the findings and implications for the future exploration of this archaeology and how the site may be made available for the public to visit once again.

About the lecturers

Anthony Dawson B.Sc Hons Dip. PT, M.Res is a graduate of the University of Bradford and the University of Leeds. He is a professional historian, writer and field archaeologist and also a museum professional. He has written over twenty books on early railways and the Crimean War, including The Liverpool & Manchester Railway: An Operating History, Locomotives of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and The Railway Which Helped Win a War. He is a member of the Railway & Canal Historical Society; the Heritage Railway Association Museum’s Committee; the 1722 Waggonway Project; the 8th Early Railways Conference organising committee and is preparing to start his PhD – on railways.

Eric Shenton Cert Ed. BA. trained as a teacher at Chester College and later gained a BA degree at the Open University. Taking part in some of the “digs” at the Edge Hill Engine Station site, he became a director of the Edge Hill Railway Trust (1980-82). Currently he is Chair of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Trust.