Liverpool is built on an escarpment running down to the River Mersey. The original proposal for the railway out of Liverpool was a route north along the docks and riverbank. This route proved problematic with local landowners. The new route entering the city centre from the east required considerable engineering works in addition to the tunnel. The 1 in 48 gradient of the tunnel was much too steep for the power of the steam locomotives of the day. A large stationary steam engine was installed at the Cavendish cutting at Edge Hill in a short tunnel bored into the rock faceon the side of the cutting, near a decorative Moorish Arch spanning the cutting. Goods wagons were hauled by rope up from the Park Lane goods station at the south end docks. The goods wagons were hitched to locomotives at the Edge Hill junction for the continuing journey to all locations from Liverpool to Manchester. The tunnel opened in 1830 closing on 15 May 1972. The dockside portal to the tunnel is clearly visible on Kings Dock Street. This was the middle of three short exit tunnels at the western end, which met in a short open ventilation cutting between Park Lane and Upper Frederick Street. The quoted length of 2030m includes both the main tunnel and the short exit tunnel. The Edge Hill entrance is still open to the atmosphere, however not accessible to the public. The portal is the central of three tunnels at the western end of the Cavendish cutting. The right hand tunnel is the original 1829 tunnel into Crown Street Station. The left hand tunnel is the later 1846 tunnel into the Crown Street goods yard. This tunnel currently has tracks, for use as a headshunt and locomotive run-round for goods trains. However, artwork from before the third tunnel was constructed shows that a portal was already present from the outset - this was purely for architectural symmetry and is, in fact, a store room. Other visible evidence of the tunnel still exists, in the form of three imposing red-brick ventilation towers. One is on the landscaped park between Crown Street and Smithdown Lane, one on Blackburne Place, and one close to Grenville Street South. There were at least two others that were later demolished, one adjacent to Great George Street, and one by Myrtle Street.
Plans for partial reinstatement of tunnel
In the 1970s, during planning work for the Merseyrail underground in Liverpool city centre, there were two proposals to use parts of the Wapping Tunnel or Waterloo Tunnel to connect Liverpool Central underground station and Edge Hill junction. During the construction of the Merseyrail network in the 1970s a part of the new tunnel south out of Central Station passed over the Wapping Tunnel at right angles. The new tunnel dropped into the upper part of the Wapping tunnel reducing its height. This would require lowering the floor of the tunnel at this point to allow trains to pass. When the junction on the Northern Line tunnel south of Central station was built in the late 1970s, two header tunnels were constructed to cater for branching into the Wapping Tunnel. In May 2007 it was reported that MerseytravelChief Executive Neil Scales had prepared a report outlining the possibilities for reuse of the tunnel. The November 2016 refresh of Mersytravel's Long Term Strategy references a "Wapping Tunnel Scheme" in Network Rail's period. Merseytravel hope to re-use the tunnel to create new underground connections into burrowing junctions south of Liverpool Central station on the Northern Line to allow trains to run between Central station and Edge Hill station and beyond. Merseytravel commissioned a feasibility study into the re-opening of the tunnel which was completed in May 2016. The study was focused on using the Wapping Tunnel to connect the Northern and City Lines together and the possible creation of a new station along the route to serve the city's Knowledge Quarter. The report found that the Wapping Tunnel was in good condition though suffered from flooding in places and would require some remedial work, however the concept of re-opening the tunnel was viable.
