Wirral Steam 

what a wonderful reminder of the day s of steam I was a fireman at Birkenhead in the 60s and was on the iron Orr trains it was hard work you never stopped shoveling

As a young trainspotter I spent many hours on Ellesmere Port station in my school lunch time. We used to dream of seeing a Britannia there!

Let me tell you all about my railway heritage, first my great-grandfather and then my granddad. Henry Spilsbury, or as he preferred to be called Harry. Was born in Wirral, Merseyside, on September 20th, 1900. During World War I, he signed up for the Royal Navy when he was just 16 years old. Back then you had to be 18 or over to join, but he somehow managed to bluff his way through. Like so many lads and young men at that time, he did it out of patriotism and adventure. I don't know a whole lot what he did during his service, other than the fact he was stationed on a ship that was built by White Star Line, the same shipping company that made the Titanic. Later on, after the war in 1920, he started his lifelong career as a railway labourer. Being based at Hooton railway station, which is situated on the Wirral line. He would have seen a lot, from long distance passenger services coming from Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside, to the large amount of coal wagons on the freight sidings. There was even a branch line, that went from Hooton to West Kirby. Working on the rail tracks was a dangerous job for my great-grandfather, but he was self-taught and was never afraid of getting his hands dirty. In today's world it's all health & safety, but back in the day folks like him would have worn just overcoats, waistcoats, boiler suits and flat caps. In difficult times, especially during the great depression in the 1930s, he would take large chunks of coal from the wagons on the freight sidings, put them in a bag and take them home for the fireplace. Even in the 1950s, the house he lived in was still lit up by old Victorian gas lamps. He didn't always take coal from the wagons, other times he got it from passing steam locomotives, since he was friends with most of the drivers and firemen. One thing that surprises me about him is that every now and again, he operated Hooton's signal boxes. Usually whenever the signalmen were either unwell or too drunk, which was actually a common occurrence in them days. Despite being a rail labourer, he did it because there wasn't anyone else suitable for the job and he had engineering experience. He may have not been paid a lot, but it was a job my great-grandfather was proud of having. So much so he was even a member of the National Union of Railwaymen, and the local rail union as well. When work wasn't needed at Hooton on weekends, my great-grandfather and other railway labourers were sent either to Chester or Helsby. His career was suddenly put on hold, when World War II broke out. My great-grandfather was drafted into the Royal Engineers and was stationed in Ireland for most of the war, but that changed later when he was shipped to Europe, shortly after the D-day invasion. Again, I don't know exactly what he did or whereabouts he was in Europe. But I have no doubt he would have done things such as detecting landmines and putting his railway expertise to good use. I do know while he was over there, my great-grandfather found a dead Nazi soldier. He searched the body and found his identification wallet, containing everything about who this guy was, but it's all in German. He brought the identification wallet back home with him. When World War II ended in 1945, my great-grandfather earned several medals during his time in service, including the France and Germany Star. In his later years, he was promoted to a railway ganger. By the 1960s as he was getting older, my great-grandfather could see the changes happening all around him. Steam being replaced by diesel and electric, branch lines being closed and knowing the fact he won't be doing this job forever. Upon his suppose retirement in 1965, British Railways gave him a lovely wristwatch for his 45 years of services. But instead of retiring, he decided to stay on for 5 more years as a lookout. Eventually he did retire in 1970 at the age of 70, after 50 years of service. In the final years of his life, my great-grandfather kept himself busy, enjoying his hobbies like gardening and no matter where he went, he always wore a suit and tie. On February 20th, 1985, Harry Spilsbury passed away from natural causes, he was 84 years old. Today, Hooton station has become a shadow of its former self. So much modernisation has been done to it, I doubt even my great-grandfather would have liked the changes. The signal boxes are long gone. I've always wondered why the station was never grade listed. It was such a lovely busy junction station back in its prime, but I guess I'll never know the answers. As far as I can see the world was a far better place, when people like my great-grandfather and Fred Dibnah were around. They were the salt of the earth, it's what made this country great in the first place. History was always my favourite subject back in school, but's even better to know your own family's history. I'll always be thankful for my granddad, for telling me everything he could remember about his father to me. Kenneth Spilsbury was born on October 18th, 1934. He also worked on the railways for a time as a lengthman, but only for 5 years. His biggest accomplishment was receiving a certificate by the London Midland Region. For high standard of permanent way maintenance, on the class 'B' lines of the Bangor district in 1962. Apart from his time on the railways, my granddad's biggest passion in life was music. He spend many hours of life going to Liverpool and seeing all the great rock n' roll bands of the day, The Beatles and Bob Dylan were his top two favourites. My granddad sadly died on June 10th, 2021, after suffering from gangrene, aged 86.

I live right near Bidston station it's crazy to think all that used to go through there. Now it's just electric passenger trains that travel through usually. Good video I enjoyed it thanks.

From Irby on the Wirral, now 64. As a little kid my dad would take me to Woodside first to look at the ships, which scared me a bit, then the best bit - all the buses parked up. Blue & cream & I learned all the route numbers. We'd then get some chips & go home on the 71. BUT!! Had he lifted me up so I could see over the wall there was Woodside loco depot. Maybe he thought I was only into buses but hey dad - it was a yard full of 9Fs queueing up to take stuff from John Summers Iron Works, probably with a few heavy shunters too. My mum went to school on the "Cheshire Lines" daily chugger. Hooton to West Kirby (same school as Glenda Jackson!). An old GWR loco, 1 coach and mum said "Sometimes it was only me on it".

What an amazing video, thanks for sharing. The sounds are fantastic.

Exceptionally interesting.

cheers Alan great video 👍👍

Brilliant ! Thanks so much. I was 3 when the last 9F’s stormed up the banks with these ore trains. We will never see their like again sadly.

Love the sounds I remember so well and imagine the smells. Great video, thanks for sharing.

It was great to see the 9Fs working for a living, even though some of them looked very fired. The good old days of steam. Martin. (Thailand)

Thanks for sharing this fascinating video - greets from South Australia.

Fabulous footage, with my surname you can see why I enjoyed it 😊 Thanks for sharing

Used to go this way trainspotting in the 50s to Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton and sheds at Stafford Rd and Oxley

Thanku for posting😊

Thanks for keeping these live for us to see. The loader if the hooper dud a Great Job as you can see they are all loaded to the same level. You wait if thing go oops in 2023 we might have to start coal mining again.

What happened to the LNER! wrexham to Newbrighton and to Birkenhead North after Dr Beeching plan.

Nice train vid but I do wonder how this ended up in my recommendations

Great stuff, reminds me so much of days gone by. Can you just imagen if HSE were about then & the clean air people as well, the Country would have shut down ! However, as much as I hate to admit it, our beloved steam locos did chuck a load of crap didn't they ?

You shouldn't be posting full videos like this, it can only harm the publishers. A three or four minute clip is better as it promotes interest in their catalogues and helps them prepare more releases.

Fowler crabs on a fitted freight,cracking loco the 2300 tanks weren't bad either