The Liverpool overhead railway ran the entire length of the dock front in Liverpool.
It was referred to locally as the ‘dockers umbrella’. It opened in 1893, having taken fewer than four years to build and in its construction signalling and the use of electricity as a power source ( as opposed to steam) it had many unique and innovative design features.
Run as a private railway,it escaped nationalisation although this ultimately may have led to its downfall. In 1955, a report on the structure of the overhead lines listed extensive repairs needed to be carried out in order to make the railway safe. The private company who owned the railway, deemed these were unaffordable and opted to close it down. It closed to passengers in 1956 and the track was dismantled the following year.
This carriage and the section of track are preserved in the Museum of Liverpool
Pete's Favourite Things 
The cost od replacing the steel decking was £2 million.
2 million in 1955 would be about 45 million today. No wonder they couldn’t afford it.