The Ups and Downs of Mersey Tunnel Tour
A few intrepid club members (small group photo) met up in front of the 3 Graces in sunshine to have a quick coffee before entering the Queensway Tunnel’s Art Deco ventilation building. This is behind the Port of Liverpool building and built on top of George’s Dock (one of the original docks in Liverpool).
We went up to the reception area to meet up with members of Hartford SAC who were also visiting that day (large group photo). After donning hi-vis jackets and hard hats we were given a safety talk and introduction to this 1930’s civil engineering marvel!
It was then up the flights of steps to the top of the building to visit the original control room (control panel photo) (no longer in use). There besides the inevitable advalanche of information we were introduced to our guides ‘interactive’ content (jokes and special effects).
We then made our way down to the fan room (still above ground) to see the inlet and extract fans (9m diameter) with the inlet fans run up to 25% capacity so that we could feel the draft (Fan photo). From there it was down below ground to chambers below the building where some of the brick and stone work of George’s Dock were seen.
After descending another flight of steps we finally saw the inside of the tunnel to view the traffic (traffic photo to follow). This was followed by descending under the road deck to visit one of the refuge areas. To conclude the tour we walked up the 212 steps back up to the reception area.
The tour was hosted by the guides Bill and Phil whose repartee kept us entertained as well as informed. Well worth the £10 entrance fee! The debrief was held in the Pump House on Albert’s Dock.
Paul Tweedale
