Please note that the Edge Hill Trust existed to 1981 not 1991

Thanks for the promotion to President but no such office existed. I was just a member of the Board of Directors!

Eric, are you still about? I would love to have a chat with you about all things Moorish.

Yes, I`m still around.What would you like to chat about?

Hi Eric, I will drop you an email.

I am doing a desk study on the Chatsworth Street Cutting and was wondering if anyone was able to share their knowledge on it, specifically the rooms cut in to the rock and the steam tunnels.

Hello Annabel,
If you would care to join us on our Facebook group, we have a member called Tony who was a signalman who had family who worked in the cutting and he used to cover the cutting area too.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/liverpoolandmanchesterrailway/

Hello Annabel. I can give you some very interesting news about the Edge Hill (Chatsworth Cutting). My uncle Oswald (Ossie) Wheeler was a foreman on the railway at Wapping Bank Head for 50 years after serving in the army in the Boer War in South Africa. Of the three tunnels at Wapping Bank Head, looking from left to right. The first was originally a workshop with doors, which can be seen in many contemporary prints. The centre tunnal led from the cutting down to Wapping Docks on Liverpool’s waterfront, but, known locally as Park Lane, and was controlled by a signal box with that name at that end. The right-hand tunnel leading to Crown Street, as you know was the first railway tunnel to be used by passenger trains, but, never in its history were locomotives allowed to travel through it because of its restricted clearance and all trains were dealt with using the rope method controlled from the engine house situated in the famous Moorish Arch, seen in many contemporary prints by Bury. What now follows is something that is not documented anywhere, and answers one of your questions. There are various rooms cut out of the solid sandstone rocks on the site, to house all sorts of equipment such as engines and storerooms, but the one immediately adjacent to this tunnel was the office occupied by my uncle during his railway service.  On the wall of the doorway - about 4ft off the ground someone has etched the following:- AD 1846. and can clearly be seen today. On a more personal matter. Anyone wishing to work on the railways had to be recommended by a person already employed by them, and my uncle did the necessary for me in 1947, and thankfully I carried on the family tradition and was able to serve for 50 years as a signalman, relief signalman and Signalmen’s Inspector at Liverpool Lime Street. Together with my uncle, we gave a century of service to the railway and both of us enjoyed every minute of the experience.

Thank you to everyone for the information provided.
Paul, I have requested to join the Facebook group I will post my questions on their as well.
Tony, it sounds like your uncle lived a very interesting and exciting life, thank you for sharing your story. It is very impressive that together you served a century to the railway, I imagine you have many more stories to tell!
I was wondering if you knew any more about the rooms cut in to the rock, unfortunately I have been unable to find much information about the extent of them or who the cutting/rooms/tunnels belong to now.

Hi, Annabel,

Sent a few pictures of the Crown Street site by email.
Some of the rooms were housed stationary engines to haul the coaches of trains through the Crown Street Tunnel.
Each room on the site only went back a few yards, hewn from the solid sandstone. I did make a DVD about the Liverpool to Manchester Railway and on it, some of the questions you wish to know about could quite possibly on it. Would you like a complimentary copy?
Kind regards,
Tony.