Archive - Crewe to Bootle Docks 

Brilliant video thanks for taking the time to make it. Good old 47/57. Some old and new train,s and interesting driver eyes view thanks for a great video.

I’m pleased to see the only video I can find of the Crewe avoidance lines is on your channel. Hope you are doing well. Thanks for posting.

Thank you Don for uploading this. We all miss your wonderful videos and I hope you're keeping well.

thanks Don, so good to see your input again, hope you are going as well as can :) & very much a thank-you goes out to Rob for saving these!

Wow - for sheer rarity and archive alone, this one rates as 10/10, Don - old boxes awaiting inevitable demolition on the WCML, Ditton station still extant, Allerton station and box, no eastbound chord at Olive Mount, and on it goes - what an absolute gem. Just a shame that it wasn't a 4hr tape originally, and then we would have been treated to the full spectacle of the Crewe Independent Lines (35 years since I last worked a train down there, with 25051 & 31245) - no complaints though, as this one is 24 carat gold. Cheers.

Great Stuff. Rob Ellis was a sound lad, he was my Shunter when I was a Chargeman back in the early 90s at Warrington Arpley. He Often used to give us a tune on his Banjolele.

Brilliant ! Enjoyed the run over Regents Road crossing and along to the docks. Cheers

Brilliant archive footage! Really enjoyed watching! Brings back a few memories!

I remember taking the Southport to Lime Street train - a couple of carriages which would be attached to the up Merseyside Express. All stations to Bootle then onto the Edge Hill line after Bootle station (Oriel Road, I think it was called then). Steam all the way of course, 2-6-4 tank down to Lime Street and usually a Princess Coronation on the Merseyside Express, nonstop to Euston. . All this in the late '50's.

This has everything i love about old freight lines, the old track, old infrastructure and the train slowly moving down it, fabulous.

Thanks for sharing this video. I used to go spotting around Hartford and I know the area very well. There were stations on the Bootle Branch, such as Edge Lane, Stanley, Tuebrook, etc., . and Spellow, Walton, Huskisson, as well. If re-edit this video with the titles of where these stations originally were. All closed January 1948 due to WW2 bomb damage. Merseyrail are hoping to reinstate line for passenger use with these stations being reinstated as well.

Great video thanks for sharing. When the train got to Bootle docks I followed it on google earth, it was fascinating to see the tracks and some of the infrastructure are still present.

Fantastic. What a save. Just had time for a quick look, I'll watch it through tomorrow. Well done that man.

Fascinating, thanks for uploading. It's sad that the lineside litter really starts to show around the Spellow Tunnels. According to the 15th Edition of the late S K Baker's Rail Atlas, three stations are proposed along the Seaforth Container Terminal Branch (or Bootle Branch).

Its really good to see Allerton station being called its proper name again.

What a lucky find; rummaging in skips is a very under-rated pastime. 😁 I always track your videos on RailMapOnline and had no idea what a major railway location Winsford 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒. I've only been there once but there were no obvious clues. The journey through the badlands of Bootle was fascinating and a complete contrast for me: I've done Crewe - Lime St in the cab of a unit but I've never even 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 these other lines. The railway architecture(bridges, tunnels, cuttings etc) is so distinctive, it could only be Liverpool. I wonder if the litter is still so bad today? What a mess!! One final highlight for me was the lovely bit of train regulation at the very end, looping our train for the express to overtake, without even bringing us to a stand.👍 Thanks for taking the time to upload this for us - a fascinating journey. 👍😁 Cheers for now, Dougie.

00:01:30 ish - Not 100% sure but those works look like when the alex (football ground) rebuilt one of the stands that backed on to the railway.

Thats how I remember Allerton Station from my childhood. Though Liverpool South Parkway does look fabulous compared to how it looked back then. Thank you for sharing

Thanks Don, Shows the striking difference in the old cameras and the modern ones.

Great video Don, many thanks. We all moan about our railway but what we have now is sooooo much better then back then.

Great to see your name in association with rail videos. Will watch in peace tomorrow. Keep well, Don.

I was going to say 'vintage stuff', but then I can remember spotting on Crewe station in the seventies. Lor, I'm old! Really pleased to see you back in some form of activity Don. Grateful thanks to Mrs.C for letting you out to play occasionally!

WOW, this is great, I love the bits from where the tunnels start and into the docks, I would have been around that area at the time, so this really takes me back.

I love the opening, most people wont have seen it from that angle before

Messsge to Robbie Ellis: Great to hear your name again mate, not heard from you since I was Crewe ETD driver till I left in 2004. Remember all the fun and games with “Webby” 🤦🤦🏻 Don’t miss that one ! Hope you’re well and still writing the railway poems and playing your banjelaley? 🪕 Well done on your promotion Robbie 👍🏼😉 Take care matey. Flake. (Ian Morris) 😊

What a unique insight into 20+ years ago and a very unique route. Shame about the sound but this footage existing is great!

Yay, Seaforth docks, I could see them from my bedroom window (in Crosby) when I was a young boy. - Excellent video.

Thanks for sharing, Don! Stay safe, brother!

Looking at this it's incredible how much the video quality has improved in the last 25 years.

Hey Don, I'm glad to see u posting on the channel again. I hadn't seen u in forever. I hope ur safe. Excellent video, mate. Keep up the great work. Those videos are indeed very old. Some of them are as old as I am, LOL.

Thanks Don. Very interesting. Cheers, Bob

Just watched some of this, my Dad was a driver for freightliner. Neville Gray,

I think Edge Hill to Bootle should be reopened for semi fast trains to Southport, open the Bootle to Aintree line as well and you have semi fast access to Ormskirk and Preston. For me that absolutely makes sense and the 777’s can do it no problem. This would also relieve Sandhills junction and enable even more frequent running.

Good to see Allerton station being called by its proper name.

"Industrial Language" Love it :-) . Miss your videos Don. Hope you're doing OK. Best wishes and Happy New Year to you and yours.

Hi Don, great to see you back, this looks interesting and I can't wait to get stuck in. Happy Christmas.

Loving the use of the words “industrial language!” 😅

This looks great. Many thanks!

I'm really disappointed as I was expecting some fruity language. Turns out there's no sound at all. It is however fantastic that the docks line is still in use.

Don, I wonder if this is the route taken by the Biomass trains from Gladstone Dock in Bootle to Drax power station? You mention that the Olive Mount eastbound chord has been re-installed, which would then give the Biomass trains easy access to East bound Chat Moss, where the train would turn south at Earlestown through Warrington following the route of the BinLiners as per your videos. Thanks so much for posting this. Kept me rivetted for three hours - plus never seen before footage of the Crewe goods line tunnel at Crewe North.

i used to drive this train. Some great memories but it is definately bandit country from Wapping down to the docks. The Bulger murder was on this track... 8(

Wow some scary tunnels. The ventilation shaft actually comes up in the Kirkdale depot.

Astonished by the volume of rubbish just dumped over the fence onto the trackside at various places. This must have been quite hazardous to trackworkers. Were there teams who were tasked to clear it or was it just left to deay?

and the road on the left hand side going back towards Runcorn station is no longer being used by heavy traffic, also where the large undercover cark park is at the far end of Runcorn station now stands a multi storey car park, and Halton curve as now been reopened since 2019 for passenger services and is now back in full use to passengers travelling to and from Liverpool Lime st and Chester,

Fascinating, though, from a modeller's point of view, in that era, we need so much more ***** on our tracks...!

Felicitări Don Coffey 👏👏👏👏🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️🖐🖐🖐🖐🖐salutări din România 🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩

I'm no expert I just enjoy the videos but that poor driver in the first clip seemed to spend 90% of his day doing 10mph

I did not here the Advanced Warning System go ping in his cab, also has he got some more video's to see on youtube channel ?.

Great Video Don 👍

0:43 - looks like it was filmed using a vhs camera given the timeline that was mentioned in the description

Magic.

Okay, Don, it appears you've got hold of either Cyberlink Power Director(of a fairly recent version) or some other brand of video editing software that allows you to convert old 4:3 aspect ratio analogue video content out to 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio without compromising proportionality(any people in the video not looking like they've raided the fridge! LOL). Well done!

Great footage, thanks. Is this service running at the usual speed, as even on the main line it seems slow. I know some parts of the route near Bootle are restricted and the signals were very rarely at green but still interested if they were running slow for the benefit of the recording or another reason.

Yet another Coffey inspired gem. Where Don goes others should try and copy.

How does the Volvo driver get the go ahead when the train is fully over the crossing. The driver 'monitors' it to stop road traffic but who starts the road traffic again?

Disappointed they is no sound watched it on fast forward

isn't this the line where poor James Bulger was found?

I can't believe that there's so much rubbish on the tracks. It is madness

Don where are we at 2:03:31 have we reversed or was there a loop?

Everything looked so dirty then

Don. Great Video. I'm missing something? If train comes through West Allerton, heading towards Lime St, how is it getting on to the Bootle line, by veering left and left again at Edge Hill? Was there a reverse manouvre somewhere?

Are they very slow trains?

OOOO ty ty ty

congratulations on your channel and great footage with beautiful captures, my channel deals with the locomotives of the logistics route here in Araraquara sp- Brazil, thanks