Editing Wapping Tunnel (section)

==History==
Liverpool is built on an [[escarpment]] running down to the [[River Mersey]]. The original proposal for the railway out of Liverpool was a route north along the docks and riverbank. This route proved problematic with local landowners.  The new route entering the city centre from the east required considerable engineering works in addition to the tunnel.  The 1-in-48 gradient of the tunnel was much too steep for the power of the steam locomotives of the day.  A large stationary steam engine was installed at the Cavendish cutting at Edge Hill in a short tunnel bored into the rock face on the side of the cutting, near a decorative Moorish Arch spanning the cutting. Goods wagons were hauled by rope up from the Park Lane goods station at the south end docks.  The goods wagons were hitched to locomotives at the Edge Hill junction for the continuing journey to all locations from Liverpool to Manchester. The tunnel opened in 1830 and closed on 15 May 1972.

The dockside portal to the tunnel is clearly visible on [[King's Dock, Port of Liverpool|Kings Dock]] Street. This was the middle of three short exit tunnels at the western end, which met in a short open ventilation cutting between Park Lane and Upper Frederick Street. The quoted length of {{convert|2030|m|abbr=off}} includes both the main tunnel and the short exit tunnel.

The Edge Hill entrance is still open to the atmosphere, but is not accessible to the public.  The portal is the central of three tunnels at the western end of the Cavendish cutting. The right hand tunnel is the original 1829 tunnel into [[Crown Street Station]]. The left hand tunnel is the later 1846 tunnel into the Crown Street goods yard.  This tunnel currently has tracks, for use as a headshunt and locomotive run-round for goods trains.  However, artwork<!--preparatory designs?--> from before the third tunnel was constructed shows that a portal was already present from the outset{{cn|date=December 2021}} - this was purely for architectural symmetry and is, in fact, a store room.

Other visible evidence of the tunnel still exists, in the form of three imposing red-brick ventilation towers. One is on the landscaped park between Crown Street and Smithdown Lane, one on Blackburne Place (''illustration''), and one close to Grenville Street South. There were at least two others that were later demolished, one adjacent to Great George Street, and one by Myrtle Street.

<gallery mode="packed" caption="The derelict tunnel today" heights="150px">
File:Edge Hill cutting.jpg|Eastern portal in the Cavendish Cutting today. The tunnel is the middle portal of three. The portal to the right is obscured by undergrowth.
File:WappingTunnelShaft.jpg|A tunnel ventilation shaft on Blackburne Place
File:Wapping Tunnel 1.jpg|Inside of Tunnel from Kings Dock Street. The light seen is from an air shaft
File:Wapping Tunnel 2.jpg|Tunnel portal at Kings Dock Street at the western end
</gallery>