LIVERPOOL.- The new Museum of Liverpool will open even more galleries and an entire new floor before the end of the year.

The news comes as it is announced that it has received a record half a million visitors in the first three months since opening in July.

Galleries including The Great Port and much awaited Liverpool Overhead Railway will open on Friday 2 December, along with a 38 metre time traveller’s timeline, and a gallery dedicated to Liverpool’s King’s Regiment.

Janet Dugdale, Director of the Museum of Liverpool said: “Having already had 500,000 visitors through our doors to see the first galleries opened, we’re so excited to be opening even more, which will reveal some much-loved and anticipated objects that we know will be taken into the hearts of our visitors.

“People may have spotted our first object - the Liverpool Overhead Railway carriage - move into the Museum last year, and have been looking forward to seeing it on display along with another firm favourite, the famous 1838 steam locomotive ‘Lion’. These objects have been carefully restored by our conservation team, and we can’t wait to show them off.”

From December, visitors to the Museum of Liverpool will be able to witness the brilliance of the Liverpool Overhead Railway for themselves, 55 years after it was demolished. Displayed on rails at its original working height above The Great Port gallery, ‘motor coach No. 3’ is the last surviving carriage of its type from what was once known as ‘The Dockers’ Umbrella’.

The carriage will be displayed as part of a reconstruction of Pier Head Station, and accompanied by the Lumière Brothers’ archive footage filmed from the railway in 1897, showing the impact of Liverpool’s port at the time.

Beneath it, The Great Port gallery charts the history of Liverpool’s relationship with the River Mersey, and the people who dedicated their lives to it. Pioneering the world’s first commercial wet dock in 1715, Liverpool’s port continued to thrive. At the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, it led the way with new technological developments including canals, the first timetabled passenger railway, and the world’s first elevated electrified railway line.

The gallery uses exhibits from National Museums Liverpool’s land transport collection to bring the story of Liverpool as a great port to life. Its centrepiece is the steam locomotive Lion (1838), along with a Sentinel 10-12 ton Super Steam Tractor (1927) used widely on the dockside, and the only known surviving Liver 3 ½ h.p. Phaeton automobile (1900) manufactured by the William Lea Motor Co Ltd of Birkenhead and Liverpool.

Janet Dugdale continues: “Aside from The Great Port on the ground floor, we are also opening up the entire first floor of the Museum which includes the Liverpool Overhead Railway gallery and two more special galleries. History Detectives will focus on the history of the area from the Ice Age to the present day, and the second will explore Liverpool’s special relationship with one of Britain’s oldest regiments, the King’s Regiment.”

History Detectives will feature a 38 metre time traveller’s timeline packed with objects, which forms the backbone of this gallery. It spreads far back before the granting of Liverpool’s letters patent (charter) in 1207 and panning forward into the future. The timeline gives a context to every visit to the Museum, accompanied by a unique interactive map where visitors can explore how places have changed and reveal key events that have shaped local history.

City Soldiers focuses on the long history of the King’s Regiment. Created in 1685, it has been Liverpool’s regiment since 1881, and is now amalgamated into the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment. The gallery utilises the King’s Regiment collection, which includes film, video, memoirs, uniforms, trophies and weaponry to tell the Regiment’s story, and visitors will be inspired to research their own family history, using the collection and archive information as a starting point.