Exploring the old Liverpool Overhead Railway Gallery at the Museum of Liverpool, Merseyside
Exploring the old Liverpool Overhead Railway at the Museum of Liverpool, Merseyside
The Liverpool Overhead Railway gallery tells the remarkable story of the first electric elevated railway in the world.
The Overhead Railway was built in 1893 to ease congestion along seven miles of Liverpool's docks. It was also marketed as a tourist attraction as it provided amazing views of the docks, shipping and transatlantic liners on the River Mersey. It was fondly known as the 'dockers' umbrella' as it also provided shelter from the rain.
In the gallery you can meet some of the people who worked and travelled on the Overhead Railway. You can climb aboard a carriage, which is fixed at the exact height of the original railway at 4.8m (16 feet) above the ground. Find out more about the carriage in our land transport collection.
The displays also explore why the railway was eventually pulled down in the late 1950s and the legacy it has left behind.
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