A train enthusiast has bought a 1970s train that once carried Queen Elizabeth II to Kirby for £1 to save it from the scrapyard.
Robert Hampton, 41, now hopes to raise £10,000 to move the Merseyrail Class 507 train to a museum after it gets retired within the next 12 months.
The Class 507 trains, which were first introduced in 1978, are being replaced by the Class 777 fleet.
But rail enthusiasts like Mr Hampton have launched a campaign to save the first train in the 507 class, the 507001, due to its place in Merseyside’s history.
The 507001 was the exact train the Queen travelled on from Moorfields station to Kirkby after she unveiled a plaque to open the Merseyrail network on October 25, 1978.
Robert Hampton, 41, now hopes to raise £10,000 to move the Merseyrail Class 507 train to a museum after it gets retired within the next 12 months
Rail enthusiasts have launched a campaign to save the first train in the 507 class, the 507001 (pictured), due to its place in Merseyside’s history
The 507001 was the exact train the Queen travelled on from Moorfields station to Kirkby after she unveiled a plaque to open the Merseyrail network on October 25, 1978. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II on a visit to Liverpool in 1978
The entire fleet of trains inspire strong feeling in the area after they transported generations of Merseysiders — to work, to school, to days out at the seaside, to nights out on the town.
The 507001 was the first train of the fleet to enter service, making it the oldest train.
The special train was also recently restored to British Rail blue and grey livery to commemorate its long service, which Mr Hampton said has made it ‘something of a celebrity among rail enthusiasts’.
Mr Hampton told the BBC: ‘The Class 507 trains are our trains.
‘Lots of trains work all across the country but the 507… has only ever worked on the Merseyrail network.’
The IT consultant said that he had a ‘sentimental attachment’ to the fleet and associates them with the summer holidays.
The 507001 was the first train of the fleet to enter service, making it the oldest train
The Merseyrail commuter rail network has two lines, the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. It carried 25million passengers in the 2022/23 year
Only three other cities across the UK have a commuter train and metro network like Merseyside’s, those being London, Glasgow, and Newcastle. A train at James Street Station, Liverpool
Only three other cities across the UK have a commuter train and metro network like Merseyside’s, those being London, Glasgow, and Newcastle.
The Class 507s were built by British Rail Engineering Limited at Holgate Road Works in York.
A number have already been scrapped, with the rest due to be within the next year.
Mr Hampton, who founded the Class 507 Preservation Society to safeguard the train’s future, secured a deal to purchase the 507001 from owner Angel Trains for a nominal £1.
He has found a home for the train at the Nant Mawr visitor centre at the Tanat Valley Light Railway just south of Llangollen in North West Shropshire.
Nant Mawr is home to a wide variety of locomotives and rolling stock, as well as the UK’s largest collection of industrial monorail equipment.
The entire fleet of trains inspire strong feeling in the area after they transported generations of Merseysiders — to work, to school, to days out at the seaside, to nights out on the town
But the move across the road network will cost around £10,000, prompting Mr Hampton to launch a fundraiser to meet the cost.
It is a three-coach train, with each coach measuring around 65ft long.
In the future he hopes the train will be transformed into an educational exhibit in its new home.
Mr Hampton said: ‘The class 507 trains have served the Liverpool City Region well in their 46 years. We hope we can repay their service by raising the funds needed to give 507001 a well-earned retirement in the Shropshire countryside.
‘Lots of people will have happy memories of travelling on these trains, from a day out at the beach to a night out on the town.
‘But without the help of people who remember travelling on these trains they are now destined to be sent to South Wales where they will be cut up and turned into razor blades.
‘We don’t want to see that happen; we want to preserve this train and then tell the story of how the railways helped build the Liverpool City Region.’