North Liverpool Loop Line (N3L) 

This is not really anything Trust related. This is just an experimental study based on Kayla Bibby’s Sergeant Pepper Rail Line, which looks to join up the Victoria/Waterloo Tunnels with the Bootle branch line by running along Regent Road. The motivation for doing this is to prove that if we are to open another route into the city, it is better to use the Victoria/Waterloo, rather than the Wapping. Looking at Kayla’s plan to join the new line through the Canada Dock Tunnel seems to run across a lot of land that is occupied by several businesses. We also know that Costco currently stands in the way of the Waterloo Tunnel’s exit. So, to minimise disruption, I would redirect the line further north from the Canada Dock Tunnel to the Alexandra Dock tunnel, which is in use with the Bootle Branch Line. Like Kayla, I agree that for many reasons, not least nostalgia the line should now climb to become a new overhead railway, avoiding all the entrances to the docks it passes. However, once past Trafalgar Dock, it would need to descend underground to a shallow tunnel that should be built using the cut and cover technique. This means the line could go under the current Costco store, directly into the Waterloo Tunnel via the Grand Arch and the newly replaced Gt. Howard Street Bridge.
Now, my main concern is the engineering possibility of raising the line from where it comes out of the Alexandra Dock Tunnel to an overhead level within 200 meters. Might that be too steep? The next concern is how high to make the overhead section. It needs to be high enough to allow lorries under it, but not so high it will cross paths with Norton Scrap’s Regent Road overhead conveyor.
While this line needs to go underground at Trafalgar Dock, it could also carry on overhead to Pier Head and beyond, which would please many city residents.
Station wise, the Victoria Tunnel could be breached twice at Paddington and London Road, with other station in the Scotland Road cutting, serving JMU/Museum/Library and under the Grand Arch at Pall Mall, serving Liverpool Waters and Old Hall Street. Then on the overhead section, you could make as many stops as you like, but Bramley Moore Dock would appear to be an obvious choice, also bringing public transport to Stanley Dock and the Titanic Hotel. The next big stop would be Kirkdale, which would become the North Liverpool equivalent of South Parkway, so North Parkway anyone? Along the Bootle Branch Line, you could construct any number of stations from County Road to Edge Lane.
The benefit of this loop line is that trains could join it at Edge Hill, run clockwise around the loop and then continue down to Lime Street after passing Edge Hill for the second time. People on the Northern Line can change at Kirkdale for the loop and get trains in either direction to Manchester or London.
If for any reason Lime Street was to be closed again, stations at London Road and Scotland Road would get you within a couple of hundred yards.
Again, this concept is 99% Kayla’s idea, I just wanted to look at the logistics of it and prove that apart from cost, there is no downside to the scheme. The only thing I didn’t like was the name, so I called it the North Liverpool Loop Line or NLLL which becomes the catchy N3L.
Enjoy the video!