George Francis Train was quite a character and a genius at promoting himself and his schemes.
It's mentioned on an earlier thread how he threw a huge banquet in a warehouse near Birkenhead docks to mark the opening of the tramway, inviting everyone from the Pope to Garibaldi.
He later compiled a booklet of Press reports about the event, snappily entitled Report of the Banquet Given by George Francis Train Esq of Boston US to Inaugurate the Opening of the First Street Railway in Europe at Birkenhead, August 30 1860.
You can still buy this on Amazon.
There is also a very interesting and entertaining biography of Train called Around the World with Citizen Train: The Sensational Adventures of the Real Phileas Fogg, by Allen Foster - again available on Amazon.
I know the thread was started 7 years ago but the original pic in the first post is not where the poster thought it was, it's at the other end of Church Rd in what is now called bebington road but was then called Church Lane, and the buildings on the left used to be in Victoria Park, the shops on the right are still there.
Very interesting, you seem quite certain so I suppose you have found some evidence. It makes sense when you read the last paragraph of the attached extract from "Birkenhead Electric Tramways, 1901-1937" by Charles Rycroft. I guess those buildings were where the bowling greens are now. The O.S. map of 1912 shows the exact location of the tram terminus.
specialboy is quite right, the photo does show the tram terminus at the start of Bebington Road with Victoria Park on the right. The 1899 OS map below shows the area in question before the shops on the right hand side of the road had been built. The buildings on the left were demolished at some point before 1909 when plans were drawn up to widen the road.
The building opposite the bus depot in Laird St on the corner of Mallaby St.,was the Autoticket Company, which was taken over by the Anglo Numerator Company which still made the ticket machines but I don't know who made the tickets, they operated under the management of Victory-Kidder Printing Machine Company, when VK moved to Arrowe park in the early 70s, a few firms moved in, the last one I remember was called Liverpool Precision Engineering, The VK name was cast in stone high up on the wall, if I'd known they were going to demolish the building I'd have tried to save the stone, I served my time there and stayed for 16 years
