company changed its name to the Seacombe, Hoylake and Deeside Railway, by Act of 18 July 1881. Wirral Railway The Wirral Railway was incorporated by Act of 13 June 1883; it was to build a "Dee Extension" line from Bidston (on the Hoylake line) to Hawarden Bridge on the River Dee, and another line from the Birkenhead Central station of the Mersey Railway to Woodchurch. Woodchurch was a place on the Dee Extension a little south of the present-day Upton station on the Hawarden Bridge line. In fact the Woodchurch line was not built; but on 14 August 1884 the company were authorised to build from Bidston to New Brighton. Wirral Railway Company Limited Also authorised on 14 August 1884 was a separate company, the Wirral Railway Company Limited. This new company was authorised to purchase the previous Wirral Railway company as well as the Seacombe, Hoylake and Deeside Railway. Having acquired those companies, the WRC Ltd kept them in existence for the time being. In substitution for the cancelled Woodchurch line, the earlier Wirral Railway company had obtained powers to extend from near Wallasey Bridge Road to Birkenhead Park, joining the Mersey Railway there; there was to be an intermediate station at Birkenhead Docks. The Docks station was now constructed by the SH&DR and, with a short section of connecting line, opened on 2 January 1888, when Wallasey Bridge Road station was closed. The (original) Wirral Railway constructed the extension to Birkenhead Park, and that opened on the same day. The Mersey Railway had extended its own line to meet the Wirral at Birkenhead Park, and that extension too opened on 2 January 1888. By this time, the train service had been increased to 22 each way on weekdays, 8 on Sundays. For a period, convenient changes of trains were provided at Birkenhead Park, but through trains were run from 1 May 1890. The Wirral engines did not have the power to climb the gradient in the Mersey Tunnel, nor condensing equipment, so the trains changed engines at Birkenhead Park. The through trains continued until 30 June 1894, when disagreements between the Wirral and Mersey companies led to a suspension of co-operation. New Brighton Writing in 1914, Mercer observed that the Wirral had become known as "'The Dormitory of Liverpool' owing to the number of people who reside on the Cheshire side of the Mersey and travel across under