Report - Waterloo - Victoria Tunnel, Liverpool 11/08/2015.

[Gerard]

Today myself and fellow urban safari aficionado @DanMarrio decided it was high time we took a little wander down to a classic Liverpool spot, the Waterloo - Victoria tunnel. When I first decided to check this place out I had no clue on the location of the entrance to this particular tunnel and after hours of painstaking research of old maps, sketches and the odd YouTube video I managed to pinpoint the entrance. Doing the homework and research is half of the fun! Anyway, here is some general information and history about the Waterloo tunnel, Byrom Street cutting and Victoria tunnel (yes, it is a double whammy for subterranean sillyness!). This is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

"The Waterloo Tunnel in Liverpool, England, is a former railway tunnel, 852 yd (779 m) long, which opened in 1849. At its western end was Waterloo Goods railway station, after 1895 continuing beyond to Liverpool Riverside railway station, and onto the dock railway system. The eastern end opens into a short (69 yd (63 m)) cutting, four tracks wide between Byrom Street and Fontenoy Street, which connects to the Victoria Tunnel, which emerges at Edge Hill station. It is effectively one long tunnel from Edge Hill to Liverpool Waterloo Dock with two names along its route. The tunnels were given two different names because initially trains in the Victoria Tunnel were cable hauled and in the Waterloo Tunnel locomotive hauled. Both tunnels closed on 19 November 1972.

The Victoria Tunnel in Liverpool, England is a 2,706 yd (2,474 m) long rail tunnel. Opened in 1849, its eastern portal is adjacent to Edge Hill station and its western portal opens into the Cutting located at Byrom Street which was use for connecting Rail cars and ventilation for both the Waterloo and Victoria Tunnels."
​

Initially as we approached the entry location there was an odd tingle in the air as it was the first tunnel location we had explored so we were extremely wary of guards, CCTV and also general public types who wanted to have a nose at the two dudes looking around in a pile of overgrown brush and then disappearing.
Once we had descended down to the tunnel opening the feeling of trepidation lifted substantially. After we entered the tunnel we began the slow walk down towards the cutting at Byrom Street, snapping shots of all the usual favorite artifacts; the plastic Pig head on a stick being the main culprit of our camera curiosity as well as making our brains melt a little at the same time.

​

The entry to Waterloo Tunnel.

The creepy assed Pig head on a stick.

Ok, things are getting a little disconcerting now...

At this point it's like walking through Silent Hill.

It was so strange to see bright daylight out of nowhere when he happened on this ventilation shaft, not sure where it comes out on the surface.

Arriving at the Byrom Street cutting, we were greeted with the obvious and rampant fly tipping of the local residents but also with the sheer beauty of witnessing nature reclaim the land. We couldn't get over how it looked like something from maybe some post nuclear dystopian world. It was here we decided to plonk down and have lunch. A couple of sandwiches later we were back on our feet and storming on to the entrance to Victoria Tunnel, snapping pictures all the way! As you can see in the pictures, there are some strange things knocking about in these tunnels; not so much Victoria, just Waterloo and Byrom Street Cutting. We (myself and @DanMarrio ) hope you enjoy the shots we have here, we decided to include some arty farty shots at the bottom too. Thank you for checking out this report!

View from what I can only assume is a switching point.

Pretty self explanatory sign in the mouth of Victoria Tunnel.

Electrical box.

Some artsy vaping at the Exit to Byrom Street cutting from Victoria Tunnel

Yes, even in the abandoned places of the world you can't escape Microsoft!

The entrance of Waterloo Tunnel from inside.

@DanMarrio doing his best Rocky pose at the exit of the Waterloo Tunnel to Byrom Street cutting.

The exit of Waterloo Tunnel to Byrom Street cutting.

Mystery cave thing in Byrom Street cutting.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Er what happened to pics of the Tunnels ?
I was under the impression (going off your title) that the report was about the tunnels, not the rubbish inside them :

 

[Gerard]

Er what happened to pics of the Tunnels ?
I was under the impression (going off your title) that the report was about the tunnels, not the rubbish inside them :

Updated with more pictures. We took a lot and a bunch of them still need editing so we are uploading them as and when we have decent shots to show. I've uploaded some Tunnel shots that aren't in need of much editing.

 

[toby]

Enjoyed your report, looks like you had a lovely day out. Thanks chaps.

 

[Gerard]

Enjoyed your report, looks like you had a lovely day out. Thanks chaps.

Thanks very much! It was a great time exploring, snapping photos and playing music as we walked. We didn't get all the way through to the end of the Victoria Tunnel but we are going back again soon to do the complete walk. Will update this report with pictures when we do the full walk. Glad you enjoyed the report

 

[Lord Oort]

Maybe time for a few lessons in light painting...

 

[Gerard]

Maybe time for a few lessons in light painting...

We didn't have time today to do any light painting as we started quite late on in the day to get everything we wanted to done. We are heading back very soon and will be doing a bunch of light painting. Will post pictures in comments or edit them into the report, watch this space!

 

[coolboyslim]

LOL. Hey you had a go right and that place is bloody long long long. But be warned the end is live station. But has some really really old toilets on a disused platform there. Quite interesting. Anyway have fun. Thanks for pics.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Now you've updated the pics all you seem to have done is increased the amount of pics of the Portals as there's only 4 of them in total and you only saw 3 of them it's a pretty high percentage of your shots.to say the least.

If you're not skilled in the basic art of light painting you're gonna struggle in any tunnel not just these two. And to be fair I found these to be one of the more impressive liking photographic wise with the many layers of sandstone in various colours. Which if not lit correctly everyone seems to miss

Why there's a trend to take pics of rubbish inside here I fail to understand ? Must be me as I kick it out of the way rubbish is rubbish and has nothing to do with Victorian tunnels .

As @Coolboyslim has mentioned be aware the last 100FT or so is used for shuffling the trains about as I found out . And having the driver turn his lights on you is a little disconcerting to say the least. And be aware it's under the unbrella of Network Rail and its classed as semi live leading into a live station there's the possibility of a visit and fines so be careful at that end.

Happy light painting

 

[coolboyslim]

LOL @ACID- REFLUX he is right though it does need a little more light and less shakes. Not sure if you was using a tripod or not. But at least ya exploring i was exactly the same. I'm an explorer not a photographer lol but now i love both of them. It just takes times that's all.

 

[Gerard]

If you're not skilled in the basic art of light painting you're gonna struggle in any tunnel not just these two. And to be fair I found these to be one of the more impressive liking photographic wise with the many layers of sandstone in various colours. Which if not lit correctly everyone seems to miss

We do have pictures of the changes in stone colours, stalactites and other various bits but as I've said, we too a lot of pictures and we still need to edit them and see what is worth uploading. I don't want to be uploading shitty quality pictures.

Why there's a trend to take pics of rubbish inside here I fail to understand ? Must be me as I kick it out of the way rubbish is rubbish and has nothing to do with Victorian tunnels .

To be honest, I'm not much of a photographer and photography doesn't interest me. I do have a half way decent camera but not much in the way of lighting equipment and @DanMarrio is a film maker. We went down to explore, we took pictures of what we thought might be interesting to see in the way of things people have left behind down there over the years as well as some other bits. I understand that we need to learn more things to take effective pictures but it was our first tunnel and this is my first report and that visit was our first time down there, we are going back down again very soon (not saying exactly when) so we can take the time between now and the next visit to try and take down some more equipment and get more pictures.

As @Coolboyslim has mentioned be aware the last 100FT or so is used for shuffling the trains about as I found out . And having the driver turn his lights on you is a little disconcerting to say the least. And be aware it's under the unbrella of Network Rail and its classed as semi live leading into a live station there's the possibility of a visit and fines so be careful at that end.

Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated

LOL @ACID- REFLUX he is right though it does need a little more light and less shakes. Not sure if you was using a tripod or not. But at least ya exploring i was exactly the same. I'm an explorer not a photographer lol but now i love both of them. It just takes times that's all.

We didn't take a tripod with us but we can take one next time. Will do my best to get some more pictures of the tunnel itself but we don't have much lighting equipment nor much experience with photography.

 

[coolboyslim]

It's all good. Yea tripod is a definite in a place like this. Has for light just do what you can with what you got. Took me a while to get the hang of it. First tunnel etc. You will get used to taking pics etc big difference between a building and a tunnel. Acid likes to play rough but means we'll by it. It was his early comments on my first posts that got me better at pics oh and he tweaked my cam settings lol. But overall just have fun kk m8ty.

 

[Gerard]

Acid likes to play rough but means we'll by it.

Oh I know it's all with good intention, I happily accept what he says and I know I still have a ways to go before I'm producing good shots but I'm more than happy to work at it to improve the reports I do.

I've just been out and picked up a reasonably powerful flashlight (on a tight budget) but hopefully it will do the job for the time being!

 

[stranton]

long and boring, nothing in comparison too its sister tunnel,
so did or didnt you reach Edge Hill?

 

[Nickindroy]

Good advice here, from time to time.