Hamilton Square Railway Station, Birkenhead
Hamilton Square station is an underground station built by the Mersey Railway and opened in 1886. It connects with the next station to the north, Liverpool James Street, by the Mersey Railway Tunnel.
The station building was designed by G. E. Grayson in Italianate style. It stood on the original route from James Street station in Liverpool to Green Lane, later extended to Rock Ferry and Birkenhead Park.
For detailed information, see Wikipedia entry.
The original lifts, three at Hamilton Square station and three at St. James Park station at the Liverpool end of the tunnel, were hydraulic, made by Easton and Anderson, and used a direct-acting low pressure ram. This necessitated the sinking of wells in the sandstone 40 inches in diameter und 90 feet deep to accommodate the hydraulic cylinders. E. Timmins and Sons, of Runcorn, undertook the sinking of the shaft for the ram at Hamilton Square Station. Each lift could accommodate 100 passengers, and the journey took about 45 seconds. The cages, or cars, were made by the Starbuck Car Co, and had seats on each side, and the mirrored lantern-roof had a central gas-lamp, supplied with town's gas supplied through flexible tubes. The cage was supported on a frame of iron girders, riveted to a central forged-steel cross, attached to a hollow steel ram, 18 inches in diameter. In the tower at the station, about 120 feet above the pavement, was a 10,000 gallon water tank, and at about 60 feet below the pavement there was a waste tank of similar capacity. The hydraulic pumping machinery was on an intermediate floor. The rams were composed of steel tubes 18in. outside diameter, screwed together in lengths of 11.5ft. The lifts were balanced to the extent of about two-thirds of the weight of their cages and rams.[1] [2]