IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Queens Drive, LIVERPOOL, L4 6SH

15/02/05 - taken during the final days in the life of the high rise residential block hetherlow tower on the edge of walton hall park.

(Like many Sheds in areas subjected to bombing during the War, there was little glass in the roof, so 'indoor' photography was possible without flash). This was a rare engine originating on the former H&B Railway, J75 0-6-0T No. 8365, which ended its career at the little-known Cheshire Lines (CLC) Depot at Walton-on-the-Hill on the long-gone Huskisson branch. In spite of its importance in servicing locomotives of freight trains for Huskisson and the other North Liverpool dockyard stations, which came and went far and wide - also Specials for the Grand National once a year, Walton had only a small allocation of engines for local work. In 1947 the allocation of 16 comprised:- 2 4-4-0, 7 0-6-0, 5 0-6-2T and 2 0-6-0T. Although Walton Yard lasted until 1968 and Huskisson Goods until 1978, Walton Shed was closed in December 1963, all CLC lines and depots having been in the London Midland Region since Nationalisation in 1948.

Walton on the Hill St Mary the Virgen

The church of St Mary, Walton-on-the-Hill is of no great age but the site is ancient, a church here is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

An ex-War Department (WD) locomotive no.90010 stands in the front of the engine shed. 935 of these locomotives were constructed for the British War Department by the North British Co. and Vulcan Foundry between 1943 and 1945, for wartime use. Almost all were used in Europe during the latter stages of the war. They were designated 'Austerity' as they were built as cheaply as possible and expected to have a limited lifespan. After the war, 733 of the engines were taken into British Railways stock and were used throughout the network almost exclusively on goods trains and were invariably very grimy. The last was withdrawn in 1967. One of the type survives at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway it having been imported from Sweden. Walton on the Hill depot stood beside the Huskisson branch which ran from Halewood to Aintree and which was very busy with goods trains until the early sixties. As it happens, this photo was taken just a year before the depot closed in December 1963. The line closed in 1975 and was lifted in 1978. The site of the shed is now occupied by housing and no trace of the railway survives.