Docks Gallery

Great Western Railway Goods Depot, Liverpool, c1930

The GWR Goods Depot was situated at the Manchester Dock Depot on Mann Island and was part of the Liverpool Dock complex. Cargo was brought over from the GWR's premises at Morpeth Dock in Birkenhead and then distributed around Liverpool by road vehicle. The Port of Liverpool building can be seen in the background

© STEAM - Museum of the GWR

US soldiers embarking a ship in a GWR South Wales Dock, 1942

The GWR docks in South Wales became busy points for the arrival and departure of US troops from mid 1942 when the first American ship to arrive at the Company's docks berthed at Swansea on the 18th August of that year. From that date, thousands of American soldiers passing through Western ports became a common sight. This image shows a troop of US soldiers embarking a ship at one of the South Wales docks in 1942, presumably on their way to fight with allied forces in Europe. Unfortunately the exact date the photograph was taken and the dock they are departing from are not known. Not only was the mobilisation of troops from the ports a huge undertaking, so too was the loading and unloading of US tanks, planes, trains and a whole range of other military equipment that the US military brought with them to support the allied war effort

© STEAM Museum of the GWR