On Sep 2, 9:40*am, Neil Williams wrote:
On Sep 1, 9:57*pm, Bruce wrote:

That's a photo of the former terminus of the Mersey Railway that is no
longer used.

Er, not quite. *The former Mersey Railway platforms were rebuilt into
the Link platforms. *The old line towards James St is still there as a
stock-interchange line - look out to the left when leaving Central
northbound. *The "stub" at the other end was continued on and burrowed
up into the old Central high-level line towards St James (could do
with being reopened for the university, though possibly under a
different name) and Garston.

It's interesting that seemingly only one photo of things as they were
exists - that is I think the same one as found in my Merseyrail book
issued around the time of the rebuild.

The deep level platforms are indeed far more pleasant, though perhaps
a repanel to give them a more modern look might not be a bad idea.
But Low Level isn't nice, even though it *was* ripped out and
substantially altered (a new roof in parts, for instance, though it
still leaks!) when rebuilt in the 1970s. *I think it would have been
better either to roof it in properly and make it look like the Loop
platforms (or a faux-James St[1]) or to make it completely open to the
air, more like Conway Park, given that all that's on top of most of it
(barring the station building) is a car park.

[1] While James St is of similar vintage, the high curved roof, murals
and lighting style coupled with the slightly damp atmosphere make it
quite an impressive station, to me at least. *The problem with Central
Low Level is that it just feels like a 1970s bodge that had a lick of
paint once or twice.

Neil

Wasn't there an contractual issue with the original project? Something
like the contractor going bust or the tenders coming in way above the
authorised sum, meaning that the scope of works had to be cut back.