Old slam door trains in Liverpool

[Kurdt Kobain]

Hi first post! Can somebody tell me what were the old slam door trains which used to operate on the City Line in Liverpool until the late 80's?

I'm 25yrs now and only have some vague but fond memories of these trains I'd love to see some pictures of these again if poss!

Thanks in advance,

Stuart.

[Trev]

HI Stuart, and welcome to the forum.

I'm not that knowledgeable about the railway on Merseyside. I've only ever been there by train once, and that was into Lime Street from Euston. Were the units you remember electric or diesel?

[malcolmchisholm]

When I moved to Southport in 1975, DMUs were used from Southport to Lime St, while 3rd rail electrics went to Liverpool Exchange. The DMUs gave a direct link to passengers for Inter-City services.

Years earlier the Lime St service was operated by steam, but I don't know when the change to DMU occurred.

Malcolm Chisholm

[Trev]

Wasn't there some LMS designed 3rd rail units in use on Merseyside until the late 70's/ early 80's? I don't think that they were slam door though.

[swisstrains]

Hello Stuart and welcome to the forum.
I am assuming that the "City Line" in Liverpool is the one to Hunts Cross that continues on to Warrington Central and Manchester. If so, the "slamdoor" trains you refer to were probably Class 108 Diesel Multiple Units or even possibly Class 115's. If you follow the links from this page you will find more details of both classes.
I could be wrong but I have a sneaky feeling that the mainline from Lime Street to Runcorn and Crewe was also called the "City Line" at one stage in which case the "slamdoor" trains could have been Electric Multiple Units of Class 304. Picture here
Hope this helps you to track down some more info.

[John H-T]

Hi Stuart,

Welcome to the forum.

As a small boy I lived on the Wirral and remember the electric trains going to Wallasey, New Brighton and out to West Kirby. The Stock working on the lines to New Brighton and Wallesey were I think slam door and had a rather American look.

My principle memory was the change in colour from Crimson Lake to Green!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[Trev]

Just had a look through an old ABC, and the third rail units on Merseyside (Classes 502, 503 and 507) are all described as having air operated sliding doors.

Class 502 (Liverpool - Southport) and Class 503 (Wirral and Mersey) were introduced in 1939 and do have a bit of an American look about them. Would they be the ones that you remember John?

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by Trev

Just had a look through an old ABC, and the third rail units on Merseyside (Classes 502, 503 and 507) are all described as having air operated sliding doors.

Class 502 (Liverpool - Southport) and Class 503 (Wirral and Mersey) were introduced in 1939 and do have a bit of an American look about them. Would they be the ones that you remember John?

Here's a pic of a preserved Liverpool-Southport 2-car set in LMS livery.
29396.jpg

[Kurdt Kobain]

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm pretty sure it's the Class 108's that used to run on the City Line.

There are 2 branches of the City Line that run out of Lime St one running through Hunts Cross / Allerton the other through Huyton (my local station) to destinations such as Blackpool, Yorkshire, Manchester and Warrington. I imagine the trains must have been the same types on both branches back then as they are today. (plus Inter City / Virgin trains also use the Allerton branch).

I was always very fond of these trains and much prefer them to the awful class 142 pacers they were replaced with in the late 80's. It was annoying that other parts of the country kept their slam door trains a lot longer than we did.

[John_142]

I rember class 108's on the Liverpool - Wigan "City Line"

On the Runcorn Line they ran clas 304's up untill about 1990 ish pre Central Trains.