Twenty-seven brave souls participated on the journey into the subterranean world of the Queensway (old) Mersey Tunnel wondering beneath Liverpool’s city streets.
As I approached the George’s Dock Building entrance I was greeted by the site of an jolly crowd of Liverpool Canoe Club members with some bright spark shouting “Did you bring the biscuits and sausage rolls?” What cheek!
After sorting out bright yellow hard hats/high visibility vests we assembled by the two tour guides who gave us a brief history of the construction, safety issues etc. and then the tour began.
Young Aleksander between the 2 Craigs!
The entrance hall
Meeting Room
Now we could have taken the lift but we all decided, some unwisely, to ascend the 4 flights of stairs to the original tunnel control room where Irene took centre stage, displaying what to do in an emergency should there be flooding!
After all the laughter and the banter between LCC and the 2 Scouse Tunnel Guide comics the atmosphere changed as they told us about the ghost and tried to frighten young Aleksander (and us). Aleksander was not at all bothered unlike some of us who shuddered at the eerie stories!!
After fiddling with all the dials, controls etc it was time to descend into the depths. Back down the stairs we went to the ground floor and then down more stairs to 4 floors below street level.
We arrived at one of the huge ventilation chambers and waited while the fan started up. Although rather dusty walking down when the fan got going the air was remarkably clean and fresh and quite gusty!
Another ventilation fan
We walked through what seemed a labyrinth of twists and turns until we got to the emergency escape refuges, where seven of us at a time were let loose in the actual road tunnel with about 12 inches between us and the roadway! We were instructed not to lean forward as we could have been buffeted by the vehicle wing mirrors.
Then is was time to ascend the four floors up to ground level. Again we all decided to walk instead of being sensible and taking the lift.
After two hours the tour ended, we thanked the guides for a most instructive and fun tour and went our separate ways. After chatting outside and viewing the beautiful art deco adorning the outside of George’s Dock building and the old toll booth/tunnel entrance lighting beacons I said my farewells to Craig and Aleksander Ford and my fellow organiser Craig Ellingham.
What will be the next LCC outing?
Julie Brookes
Organisers – Craig Ellingham & Julie Brookes
Participants – 27 brave LCC members