Wirral Combined Corporation Railway Agreement

The Wirral Combined Corporation Railway Agreement was a railway arrangement on the Wirral, Merseyside, during the first half of the 20th Century, between the Corporations of Wallasey and Birkenhead to operate trains on the Wallasey King Street Branch Line of the Birkenhead Junction Railway.

The Railway
The Birkenhead Junction Railway opened its branch line from their main station at Birkenhead General to Wallasey King Street in 1900; the intention had been to construct a grand station on the riverside, where they would open up a ferry service to Liverpool, in an attempt to compete with the Wirral Railway service from Seacombe- these ferries would meet trams taking passengers up to Lime Street Station, where they could catch connecting trains. Sadly, just like the Wirral Railway, this plan was beset with difficulties, and in the end only a small station was opened on the west side of King Street.

By 1903 both the Wallasey and Birkenhead Corporations were running tram services in their respective boroughs, and both expressed an interest in running trains along existing rail routes. The BJR was facing financial difficulties and the Wallasey Branch had already been bailed out once, so the three parties came together to reach an operating agreement, whereby the BJR would provide rolling stock, but the trains would be operated by the corporations. The existing locomotives on the line, in the form of the BJR C Class, were retained, and carriages built by Milnes of Birkenhead were cascaded down from the Parkgate branch line. The stations were operated by a quasi-independent company called the 'Wallasey and Birkenhead Stations Committee', later affiliated to the Birkenhead Committee.

Route of the Railway
The railway left Birkenhead General Station, usually from platform 4, and split from the main line of the BJR shortly afterwards, at the Birkenhead Junction. The branch continued to a station on the southern side of Wallasey Pool, on the Birket, and, after crossing the river and the pool, the line split again, with a branch to the left being the goods line. Both lines ran parallel to each other, but the main line was elevated on an embankment. Wallasey South was the next station, where there was also a small goods yard, and just east of the station the goods line passed under the passenger line and travelled on its southern side until King Street, where it passed under the passenger line once more and arrived at a lower level at King Street station. King Street had two platforms, although one was taken out of use in 1928.

Operation
The railway was operated by two BJR C Class locomotives, Nos 38 & 39, that ran the line almost exclusively, only rarely assisted by other locomotives, until 1938, when two Great Western Railway 57xx class Pannier Tank locomotives were brought in to compliment the existing fleet. Each was painted in the colours of the corporations, and in 1947 the two panniers took over running of the line completely.

Passenger Rolling Stock
Passenger stock was in the form of two trains, each two carriages long, that were stored at King Street station. All carriages were to a Milnes design, and each rake consisted of a brake third and a composite, all four wheeled vehicles. One train was in the green and cream colours of the Wallasey Corporation, with maroon underframes, and the other was in the maroon and white of the Birkenhead, with black underframes. By the 1930s the Birkenhead train had been repainted in the blue and light cream of that corporation's new buses, and the locomotives was repainted accordingly. In the summer of 1912 the WCCRA trialled a bogie coach, with brake van attached, to increase capacity. Sadly the platforms at all the stations were only long enough for the standard rake, which resulted in the brake van being off the platform.