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Making Tracks looks at some of the history of the railways affecting the Warrington area.
Note: some of this material is from Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia. Please see the foot of the Feedback page for important copyright information.
In the Beginning Text from Wikipedia
Iron rails
Edgeway
Another form of rail, the edge rail, was first used by William Jessop on a line opened between Loughborough and Nanpantan in Leicestershire in 1789. This line was originally designed as a plateway on the Outram system, but objections were raised to rails with upstanding ledges or flanges being laid on the turnpike road, this difficulty was overcome by paving, or "causewaying", the road up to the level of the top of the flanges. These two systems of constructing railways, the plate-rail and the edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well on into the 19th century.
The world's first railway locomotive Text from Wikipedia
Puffing Billy (steam locomotive) Text from Wikipedia
Stockton and Darlington Railway (1825) Text from Wikipedia
History
Inspired by wealthy local wool merchant Edward Pease, the S&DR was authorised by Parliament in 1821 and initially intended to be an ordinary horse-drawn plateway, which were then commonplace in England. However George Stephenson had been perfecting his engines at Killingworth for about seven years, and had built the Hetton colliery railway. With a deputation from Killingworth, he persuaded Edward Pease, on the day that the Act received Royal Assent, to allow him to resurvey the route and work it, at least partly, by steam. This was agreed with the added clause to permit the use of "loco-motive or moveable engines". The line had two cable-worked inclines at the western end, joined by a short horse-worked section.
The official opening of the line was on 27 September, 1825; the first steam-hauled passenger train ran and carried up to 600 passengers. The first passenger train was not fast, taking two hours to complete the first 12 miles (19 km) of the journey. Most of the passengers sat in open coal wagons but one experimental passenger coach, resembling a wooden shed on wheels and called "The Experiment," carried various dignitaries. By 1833, the S&DR had become entirely steam-operated, and it gradually began to resemble a modern railway. The S&DR company became the sole train operator on the line, parallel double tracks were built for trains travelling in opposite directions, timetables were established and a crude signalling system was established to prevent collisions. These methods of operation became standard on railways across the world. The S&DR was absorbed into the North Eastern Railway in 1863, which merged into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1922. Much, but not all, of the original S&DR line is still operating today.
Rainhill Trials (1829) Text from WikipediaThe Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 near Rainhill (just outside Liverpool). When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was approaching completion, the directors of the railway ran a competition to decide whether stationary steam engines or locomotives would be used to pull the trains. The Rainhill Trials were arranged as an open contest that would let them see all the locomotive candidates in action, with the choice to follow. Regardless of whether or not locomotives were settled upon, a prize of £500 was offered to the winner of the trials. RulesLocomotives that were entered were to undergo a variety of tests and conditions. These were amended at various points, but were eventually nailed down to:
EntriesTen locomotives were entered, but on the day the competition began - 6 October 1829 - only five locomotives actually began the tests:
CompetitionLocomotives were run two or three per day, and several tests for each locomotive were performed over the course of several days. The Rainhill strech of the railway was dead level for a mile or so, meaning it was perfect for the Trials. Cycloped was the first to drop out of the competition. Built with "legacy technology", it used a horse walking on a drive belt for power, and was withdrawn after an accident caused the horse to burst through the floor of the engine. Next to go was Perseverance. Damaged en route to the competition, Burstall spent five days repairing it. When it failed to reach the required 10 miles per hour on its first tests the next day, it was withdrawn from the trial. It was granted a £25 consolation prize. Sans Pareil nearly completed the trials, though at first there was some doubt as to whether it would be allowed to compete as it was 300 lb (136 kg) overweight. However, it did eventually complete eight trips before cracking a cylinder. Despite the failure it was purchased by the Liverpool & Manchester, where it served for two years before being leased to the Bolton and Leigh Railway. The
last drop-out was Novelty. In complete contrast to Cycloped it was
cutting edge for 1829, lighter and considerably faster than the other
locomotives in the competition. It was accordingly the crowd favourite. Reaching
a then-astonishing 28 mph (45 km/h) on the first day of competition, it later
suffered some damage to a boiler pipe which could not be fixed properly on site
in the time allotted. Nevertheless it continued its run on the next day, but
upon reaching 15 mph (24 km/h) the pipe gave way again and damaged the engine
severely enough that it had to drop out. So, Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the trials. It averaged 12 miles per hour (achieving a top speed of 30 miles per hour) hauling 13 tons, and was declared the winner of the £500 prize. The Stephensons were accordingly given the contract to produce locomotives for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.
Stephenson's
Rocket
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Rocket
was a steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built by George
Stephenson in 1829. A common misconception is that Rocket was the first steam locomotive. In fact the first steam locomotive to run on tracks was built by Richard Trevithick 25 years earlier, but was not financially successful. George Stephenson, as well as a number of other engineers, had built steam locomotives before. Rocket was in some ways an evolution, not a revolution. Rocket used a multi-tubular boiler, which made for much more efficient and effective heat transfer between the exhaust gases and the water. Previous boilers consisted of a single pipe surrounded by water. |
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Rocket
also used a blastpipe for the first time - using the blast of exhaust steam to
induce a partial vacuum to pull air through the fire. Credit for the invention
of the blastpipe is, however, disputed between Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and
Timothy Hackworth.
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After the Rainhill Trials, it was used near Tindale village and on Lord Carlisle's Railway. Rocket was donated to the Patent Museum in London in 1862 by the Thompsons of Milton Hall, near Brampton, in Cumbria. It still exists, in the Science Museum, London, in much modified form compared to its state at the Rainhill Trials. The cylinders were altered to the horizontal position, compared to the slanted arrangement as new, and the locomotive was given a proper smokebox. Such are the changes in the engine from 1829 that The Engineer magazine, circa 1884, concluded that it seems to us indisputable that the Rocket of 1829 and 1830 were totally different engines. |
| Illustration of
Rocket. Wikipedia.  |
In 1979 a replica Rocket was built by Locomotion Enterprises for the 150th anniversary celebrations. The main difference between the replica and the original is the shorter smoke stack of the replica, due to the increased trackbed height under the bridge at Rainhill.
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| Statue of George Stephenson, Rocker replica and eat the National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| Photos © GI Gandy 2006, mywarrington. | ||
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the world's first intercity passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and operated for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The LMR was primarily built to provide faster transport of raw materials and finished goods between the port of Liverpool and mills in Manchester in northwest England.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company was founded on 24 May 1823. It was established by Henry Booth, who became its secretary and treasurer, along with other merchants from Liverpool and Manchester.
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A bill presented to Parliament in 1825 was rejected, but it passed in May the following year. The initial survey for the line was carried out by William James and Robert Stephenson and, being done secretly and/or by trespass, was defective. Robert departed for South America and William James became bankrupt. Consequently, in 1824 George Stephenson was appointed engineer in their place. He lacked the skills to do the required calculations and upon presentation to Parliament in 1825 it was shown to be inaccurate (particularly in relation to the Irwell bridge), and the first bill was thrown out. It was intended to place the Manchester terminus on the Salford side of the river, but the Mersey and Irwell Navigation withdrew their opposition to a crossing of their river at the last moment, in return for access for their carts to the intended railway bridge. |
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Stephenson's
viaduct crossing the Sankey |
The
Manchester station was thus fixed at Liverpool Road in the heart of Castlefield.
The 35-mile line was a remarkable engineering achievement for its time, beginning with the 2250-yard Wapping Tunnel beneath Liverpool from the docks to Edge Hill.
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Following this was a two mile-long-cutting, up to 70 feet deep, through rock at Olive Mount, and a nine arch viaduct (each arch of 50 feet (15.2 m) span), over the Sankey Brook valley, around 70 feet (21.3 m) high. Not least was the famous 4.75-mile crossing of Chat Moss. Having found it impossible to drain the bog, Stephenson began constructing a large number of wooden and heather hurdles, which were sunk into the bog using stones and earth until they could provide a solid foundation. It was reported that at one point tipping went on solidly for weeks until such a foundation had been created. The line was built as double track. Firstly, there was no convenient means of operating the line as single track as the line predated the telegraph. Secondly, the amount of traffic was expected to require double track. |
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A Manchester to
Chester |
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The line opened on 15 September 1830, with termini at Liverpool Road, Manchester (now part of the Museum of Science and Industry) and Edge Hill, Liverpool. The festivities of the opening day were marred when William Huskisson, the popular Member of Parliament for Liverpool, rode down the line in the same train as the Duke of Wellington, when at Parkside, close to Newton-le-Willows, the train stopped to observe a cavalcade on the adjacent line. Several members of the Duke's party, including Huskisson, stepped onto the trackside to observe more closely. As they were standing outside, the locomotive Rocket approached on the parallel track. |
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Stephenson's
bridge
over the Warrington
to Wigan Turnpike road
at Newton. Wikipedia
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Huskisson was unable to get out
of the engine's way in time, and his left leg was crushed by it. He
become the world's first railway passenger fatality. (He was not killed
instantly; the locomotive Northumbrian was detached from the Duke's train
and rushed him to Eccles, where he died in the vicarage). The somewhat subdued
party proceeded to Manchester, where, the Duke being deeply unpopular with the
labouring classes, they were given a lively reception (bricks thrown, etc), and
returned to Liverpool.
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Notwithstanding the unfortunate start to its career, the L&MR was very successful. Within a few weeks of opening it ran its first excursion trains, carried the first mails, and was conveying road-rail containers for Pickfords. By the summer of 1831 it was carrying tens of thousands by special trains to Newton Races. Initially trains travelled at 17 mph, due the limitations of the track. The tunnel from Lime Street to Edge Hill was fully completed in 1836. When it opened, carriages were separated from their engines and lowered to Lime Street Station by gravity, their descent controlled by brakemen, and hauled back up to Edge Hill by rope from a stationary engine. The tunnel is approximately 1,811 metres (1,980 yards) long. |
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Huskisson's
Memorial |
On 30 July 1842 work started to
extend the line from Ordsall Lane to the new Manchester Victoria Station. The
extension was opened on 4 May 1844 and Liverpool Road closed.
The L&MR developed the practice of red signals for stop, green for caution and white for clear, which spread by the early 1840s to other railways in Britain and the United States. These colours later changed to the more familiar red, yellow (amber) and green. The L&MR was also responsible for the gauge of 4' 8½", or 1435mm, which came to be used more or less universally.
In 1845 the L&MR was absorbed by its principal business partner, the Grand Junction Railway; the following year the GJR formed part of the London and North Western Railway. The original Liverpool and Manchester line still operates between the two cities - the former Cheshire Lines Committee route via Warrington Central is the busier route. A stopping service operates between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street, while a fast service leaves from Manchester Piccadilly.
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The
Liverpool and Manchester Railway (LMR)
57 Lion is an early 0-4-2 steam locomotive. One of a
pair designed for hauling freight (the other, number 58 was called Tiger),
built by Todd, Kitson & Laird (later Kitsons) of Leeds in 1838. It
was then "rediscovered" and preserved. A new tender for it was
constructed based on contemporary drawings. |
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Lion
5" gauge model |
Lion
was steamed as part of |
Lion took part in the LMR centenary celebrations in 1930 and the London and Birmingham Railway centenary in 1938. It starred in the 1953 film The Titfield Thunderbolt. It is the second-oldest locomotive to be steamed, the older being the British-built American locomotive John Bull. Lion is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
Warrington and Newton Railway was an early railway company in England that acted as a feeder to the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It opened on 25 July 1831, and ran from near the Three Pigeons Hotel, along Dallam Lane, Warrington, to Newton Junction, better known as Earlestown.
The
line was taken over by the Grand Junction Railway on 31st December 1834, and by
the London & North Western Railway on the 16th July 1846. It moved to
Bank Quay when that opened. It is believed that a small window at the side of
the pub was the ticket office but it has never been authenticated. The engine
shed was in what later became the Co-op coal yard. Only a bit of the far wall
now survives. (Peter Spilsbury
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at Dallam shed being turned and watered. |
70032
Tennison at Dallam shed. |
45156
Ayrshire Yeomanry at Dallam shed 1968. |
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Lord Rowallen at Dallam shed. |
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Earlestown Station lies on the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was opened in 1830, and in 1831 the Warrington and Newton Railway was opened. It made a junction at a point in the township of Newton, facing in the direction of Liverpool. Earlestown Station was built at the point of intersection of these two early railways, incidentally forming the first steam railway junction, which was given the name Newton Junction.
It was later named 'Earlestown', after James Hardman Earle, a director of the Liverpool and Manchester company. It was selected as the site of the company's carriage and wagon works (discussed later), and thus developed into something of a 'company town'. There was also a branch to a local colliery.
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| 44907 at Earlestown Station and Earlestown Station waiting room. | |
| Photos © Peter Spilsbury. | |
The junction had very tight
curvature and this caused problems - instructions were issued on the maximum
speed at which trains could go from one line to another. The original building
now forms the (currently unused) waiting room of Earlestown Station.
The Grand Junction Railway absorbed the Warrington and Newton company and used it to access the Liverpool and Manchester line in 1837. A new "Curve" was built at Newton Junction so that trains could run towards Manchester; this gave the station a triangular formation with 6 platforms.
The method of operation involved the despatch of a Grand Junction train from both Liverpool and Manchester to meet at Earlestown. These were joined together and continued as one train to Birmingham. Both portions conveyed through carriages (after 1839) to London. The Grand Junction trains arriving from Birmingham were usually split at Warrington Bank Quay, and passed through Earlestown as separate Liverpool and Manchester trains.
In contemporary times, there are frequent services to Liverpool (Lime Street), Manchester (Victoria and Piccadilly), Warrington (Bank Quay), Chester and then to North Wales. The line through the 'curve' is electrified as part of the spur which runs from Winwick Junction (on the West Coast Mainline north of Warrington) and Golborne Junction (south of Wigan, where the main line is rejoined). There are no regular electric passenger services through Earlestown or Newton le Willows, though. Only diverted electric trains use this section.
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at Earlestown Station on 21 Mar 1964. |
41286
on a Push & Pull rail tour at Earlestown Station on 12 Feb 1966. |
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Firth of Clyde at Earlestown Station (left) on 27 Mar 1965 and Blue Pullman at Earlestown Station on Grand National Specials (Jay Trump won). |
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All Photos © Peter Spilsbury. |
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Vulcan
Foundry was a
British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire (now
part of Merseyside). |
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City of Carlisle passing Vulcan Works. Photo © Peter Spilsbury. |
The company's locomotives had a strong Stephenson influence, many during the following decade being of the "long boiler" design. In 1852, the first locomotives ever to run in India were supplied to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway.
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The
company had become The Vulcan Foundry Company in 1847 and
acquired limited liability in 1864. From
the beginning of 1898, the name changed again to the Vulcan Foundry
Limited, dropping the word 'company.' The healthy export trade
continued, particularly to India and South America, and continued after
World War I. Throughout
the 1930s the company survived the trade recessions with the aid of more
orders from India, some from Tanganyika and the Argentine, and a large order in
1934 from the LMS for 4-6-0 "Black Fives" and 2-8-0 Stanier-designed
locomotives. |
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45432
was taken on the |
From 1939 the works was mostly concerned with the war effort, becoming involved in the development and production of the Matilda tank. From 1943 large orders were received from the Ministry of Supply - nearly 400 2-8-0s and fifty 0-6-0 saddle tanks.
A Vulcan Fairlie from
Wikipedia
In 1944 the Vulcan Foundry acquired Robert Stephenson and Hawthornes Limited, and in 1945 received a large order for 2-8-0 locomotives for UNRRA in Europe.
The war had left India's railways in a parlous state and in 1947, with foreign aid, embarked on a massive rebuilding plan. The Vulcan Foundry benefited from orders sub-contracted from the North British Locomotive Company, but the writing was on the wall for all British manufacturers. Not only was the competition fierce from other countries, but India had developed the ability to build its own locomotives.
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45034 at Vulcan Bank. |
41286
at Vulcan Halt |
46115
Scots Guardsman |
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All 3 Photos © Peter Spilsbury. |
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The company had experience of both diesel and electric locomotives, having built thirty-one so-called "Crocodile" electric locomotives in 1928 for India and, in 1931, the LMS's first experimental diesel shunter.
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So
the factory gradually changed over to diesel and electric production, and
in 1955 became part of the English Electric group. Although the works still produced diesel engines under name Ruston Paxman Diesels Limited, which had been moved from Lincoln, locomotive manufacture finished in 1970. Output was mainly for marine and stationary applications, but the company was the supplier of choice for British Rail Engineering for locos built at Doncaster and Crewe. The factory passed through various hands, firstly as GEC Alsthom then Alstom, and finally as part of MAN B&W Diesel in 2000. |
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D9009 Deltic at |
At the end of 2002 the works closed. It is now an industrial estate (appropriately called "Vulcan Industrial Estate") and this can still be seen as one passes on the train. The site is just north of Winwick Junction where the line to Newton Le Willows branches off to the east from the West Coast Main Line.
NB: Vulcan being associated with fire and ironwork, names such as "Vulcan Foundry" were common in many towns and cities. There was no connection with Vulcan Iron Works in the United States.
External Vulcan Works website
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| Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. | ||
| All photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. | ||
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The Grand
Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company which existed
between 1833 and 1846. The line built by the company was one of the
first railway lines to be built in England, and arguably the world's
first long-distance railway. Authorised by
Parliament in 1833 and designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke,
it opened for business on 4 July 1837, running for 82 miles from
Birmingham through Wolverhampton (via Perry Bar and Bescot), Stafford,
Crewe and Warrington, before joining the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway at a triangular junction at Newton Junction. The GJR established
its chief engineering works at Crewe, moving there from Edge Hill near
Liverpool. |
The Grand Junction |
Shortly after opening with a temporary Birmingham terminus at Vauxhall, services were routed to and from Curzon Street Station, which it shared with the London and Birmingham Railway (LBR), whose platforms were adjacent, providing a link between Liverpool, Manchester and London.
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In 1840 the GJR absorbed the Chester and Crewe Railway shortly before it opened. It was the absorption of this company that led the Grand Junction Railway to build its locomotive works at Crewe, which led to Crewe becoming a major railway town. Seeing itself as part of a grand railway network, it encouraged the development of the North Union Railway which took the tracks onward to Preston, and it also invested in the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and the Caledonian Railway. In 1845 the GJR merged with the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, and consolidated its position by buying the North Union
Railway in association with the Manchester and Leeds Railway. |
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Moore
Station, |
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| 5151 at Walton. | Class 40 at Walton Old Junction. | 44987 at Moore. |
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| 48271 at Moore. | DMU at Moore. | 92055 at Moore. |
| Photos © Peter Spilsbury. | ||
The GJR was very profitable, paying dividends of at least 10% from its opening and having a final capital value of over £5.75 million when it merged with the London and Birmingham Railway and Manchester and Birmingham Railway companies to became the London and North Western Railway in 1846, and the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1922. Today, the lines which made up the GJR form the central section of the West Coast Main Line.
William Allcard, born 1801, lived at Bank House on Sankey Street by the Town Hall between 1839 and 1854. He was heavily involved in the Grand Junction Railway and was given the task of building the Sankey Viaduct on the Liverpool and Manchester. He went into partnership with William Buddicom in the manufacture of railway engines. Read more about him in Warrington People.
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| Grand Junction Railway/West Coast Main Line 9 Jul 2004. | ||
| Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. | ||
If you are in northwest England in summertime why not pay a visit to The Railway Age at Crewe to see the railway heritage which made the town famous. They open from Easter to the end of September. Check out their website.
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The railway gauge is the distance between the two rails. Today in the United Kingdom we use "standard gauge" (4 feet 8½ inches - 1.435 metres), but when Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Great Western Railway, he used a "broad gauge" system. His broad gauge was 7 feet and ¼ inch (2.14m). This caused problems for through trains as passengers and luggage had to be moved from the standard gauge to the broad gauge trains. The other type of gauge is narrow gauge, and is the name given to any track narrower than standard gauge. In the GWR days of Brunel, they always referred to standard gauge track as 'narrow gauge'. |
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Iron Duke at National |
A
replica Iron Duke. |
The Firefly was a class of broad gauge 2-2-2 steam locomotives used for passenger services on the Great Western. The class was introduced into service between March 1840 and December 1842, and withdrawn between December 1863 and July 1879.
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The North Wales Coast Line is the railway line from Crewe to Holyhead. Virgin Trains consider their services along it to be a spur of the West Coast Mainline. The first section from Crewe to Chester was built by the Chester and Crewe Railway and absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway shortly before opening in 1840. The remainder was built between 1844 and 1850 by the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company as the route of the Irish Mail services to Dublin. The line was later
incorporated into the London and North Western Railway. Between Chester
and Saltney Junction the line was from the start used by trains of the
Shrewsbury and Chester Railway, later to be incorporated in the Great
Western Railway. |
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Chester
No 2 signal box |
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In April 2006, Network Rail organised its maintenance and train control operations into "26 Routes". The main line through Crewe forms part of Route 18 (The West Coast Main Line). The North Wales Coast Line from Crewe (North Junction) to Chester and North Wales has been designated Route 22 (North Wales and Borders), and this includes the line to Chester from Acton Grange Junction, south of Warrington. The line from Shrewsbury to Chester via Wrexham is Route 14 (South and Central Wales and Borders) until Saltney Junction. |
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Big
Foot outside |
25076
and 08665 |
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The line contains several notable engineering structures, namely Conwy railway bridge across the River Conwy, and Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait. During the evening of 23 May 1970, the bridge was greatly damaged when boys playing in the bridge dropped a burning torch, starting a fire. As a consequence the bridge was completely rebuilt. So important was the line in the 19th and early 20th centuries to passenger, mail and freight traffic between Britain and Ireland, that the world's first experimental and operational water troughs were installed at Mochdre between Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction. |
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Chester
Motive Power |
BR 73157 at |
The long Welsh railway
station and village name is often shorted to Llanfair P.G. these days. The
translation of the full-length word is:
"St Mary's church near the pool of the white hazel near the fierce
whirlpool and St Tysilio's church by the red cave". However, the original
name of the village is Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. It was lengthened by a nineteenth
century publican who thought it might entice more of the many visitors to the
attractions of Snowdonia to cross into Anglesey if he "enhanced" the
name to a record length. Hence its current long-winded modification. For the
original village name translation, stop after "white hazel". My thanks
to Mike who supplied the additional information.
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Their purpose being to enable steam engines (especially on the Irish Mail) to collect water without stopping. Later, considerable stretches of line between Chester and Colwyn Bay were quadrupled to increase line capacity but these sections have now been reduced to two tracks. Principal through passenger services are London to Llandudno and Holyhead, operated by Virgin Trains, and Crewe to Holyhead, Cardiff to Holyhead and Manchester to Llandudno via Warrington Bank Quay along the route of the former Warrington & Newton Railway currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales (who replaced First North Western). The line still provides the UK railway part of the through passenger service to Dublin using fast car ferries from Holyhead to Dublin Ferryport. |
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| The
original Britannia Bridge, destroyed by fire in 1970, when a group of youngsters accidentally dropped their torch whilst exploring the tubes. Photo © Peter Spilsbury. |
The
new Britannia Bridge facing east along the Menai Strait with a Virgin Voyager train visible on the lower deck and road traffic on the upper deck. Author: Andrew Dixon. Taken 10 Jan 2005. Wikipedia. |
Reader Story: In 2003 when on holiday in Porthmadog, I actually rode on the footplate of an engine on the Welsh Highland Railway. They had an 'open day' where for £5 (adults only) you could ride the length of the track and back .... it was just brilliant. The heat, the smoke and smell .... HEAVEN. I even got to pull the cord and toot the hooter. A DREAM COME TRUE.
Text from Wikipedia |
The Midland
Railway (MR) was formed in 1844 by the merger of the Midland
Counties Railway, the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby
Junction Railway, and existed until 1922. The Midland Railway became an equal partner of the Cheshire Lines Committee under the Cheshire Lines Transfer Act of 1865. The Midland extended the line from Rowsley to New Mills South in 1867, joining the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway into Manchester. In 1880 it opened its own line into Manchester Central Station. |
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Wikimedia
Commons. Author: chevin. |
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In the 1870s a dispute with the London and North Western Railway over access rights to the LNWR line to Scotland caused the MR to construct the Settle and Carlisle (S&C) line. It is the highest main line in England, and was constructed in order to secure the company's access to Scotland. Ironically the dispute with the LNWR was settled before the S&C was built, but parliament refused to allow the MR to withdraw from the project, which was completed in 1876. |
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Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. |
Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. |
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The Midland pioneered the use of gas lighting for trains in Britain, put third-class carriages on all its trains in 1872, and abolished second class in 1875. This gave third class passengers the level of comfort formerly afforded to second class passengers (elsewhere some third class passengers travelled in open wagons). The
railway also introduced the first British Pullman supplementary-fare
cars. The numbering of classes, with 1st and 3rd class
only, continued until 1956, when third class was renamed second. The company was grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) on 1 January 1923, and was the most influential of the pre-grouping companies that formed the LMS. |
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Ribblehead Viaduct
on
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Items from the collection at National Railway Museum, York. |
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Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
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Text from Wikipedia|
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The
Great Northern Railway (GNR) was founded by the London & York
Railway Act of 1846. |
| The Great Northern warehouse in Manchester. In February 2009 Manchester City Council pulled out of plans to buy the Grade II* listed building, which is being used as a cinema with cafés and shops. Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. | |
In the 1870s, the GNR participating in various extensions to the CLC network in Lancashire, thereby risking overextending itself on marginally profitable lines well outside its natural territory.
The
GNR, along with North Eastern and North British Railways, ran the 10am
departures on the east coast from King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, which
began running in June 1862, known as the "Flying Scotsman" by 1870.
The Great Northern Railway Company's Goods Warehouse in the centre of Manchester has been put to a new use. It is now the Great Northern shopping and leisure complex on Peter Street. I am pleased to say they haven't messed about with it much, having retained the original look. Under the 1923 Grouping, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway.
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The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) existed between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three railway companies - the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, and is effectively an ancestor of today's West Coast Main Line. In 1864 it took over the St Helens Canal and Railway
Company (see On
The Waterfront for more). |
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46251 City of
Nottingham |
It was known as the 'Premier Line' - though disputed by many, it may be thought that it deserved this title as the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first passenger railway in the world, was one of its ancestors through its merger with the Grand Junction Railway. As the largest joint stock railway in the United Kingdom, it collected a greater revenue than any other company. It served some of Britain's largest cities: Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester, and (through co-operation with the Caledonian Railway) Edinburgh and Glasgow. |
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The LNWR became a constituent part of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway when the railways of Great Britain were merged in the grouping of 1923. The LNWR's main engineering works were at Crewe (locomotives) and Wolverton (carriages and wagons). The locomotive livery is described as 'blackberry black'. |
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46256 Sir William |
It still runs through Warrington Bank Quay, travelling under the Cheshire Lines route at Froghall Lane. In recent years it has been suggested that this junction should become the location of one big railway station to cater for all journeys to and from Warrington. This would take away the need for Warrington Bank Quay and Warrington Central stations. Cost is the main stumbling block and the millions of pounds required isn't available. |
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These elaborate cast iron gates are from the Doric Portico that formed the entrance to the original Euston Station in London. They were designed by the inventor and locksmith J J Bramah for the Euston terminus of the London & Birmingham Railway in 1838. From the Collection at the National Railway Museum, York. Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
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| 45140 at Bank Quay. | 45652 Hawke at Bank Quay. | 45343 at Bank Quay. |
| Photos © Peter Spilsbury. | ||
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The Manchester,
Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was the major part of
the Great Central Railway. It was an east to west line, and had been
formed by the amalgamation of various lines in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire
and Lancashire. The headquarters of the MS&LR was at Manchester
London Road (now Manchester Piccadilly). |
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Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 2006. |
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In 1864 Sir Edward Watkin took over directorship of the MS&LR. He had grand ambitions for the company, with plans to transform it from a provincial middle-of-the-road railway company into a major national player. Watkin was a visionary who wanted to build a new railway line that would not only link his network to London, but which one day would be expanded and link to a future channel tunnel. This latter
ambition was never fulfilled completely. When Watkin became chairman
of the South Eastern Railway in the 1880s he was, however, involved in
the earliest attempt to construct the Tunnel. |
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Photo © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
Cuerdley
Fiddler's Ferry & Penketh
Text in this section (except photo captions) courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk
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On 3 July 1851, an Act of Parliament created the Warrington and Altrincham Junction Railway, which became the Warrington and Stockport Railway on 4 August 1853. Meanwhile, west of Warrington, the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway opened a line from Garston to Warrington in 1853. |
Warrington Bank Quay Low Level Station was situated on what was to become known as the Ditton Junction to Skelton Junction line, on a section that was opened by The St. Helens Railway on 1 May 1854. The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway on 1 January 1853. The name ‘Low Level’ was its unofficial name and used for identification purposes only.
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| The Low Level line near Fairclough's old flour mill - the Big Pink Eye. | ||
| All Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 22 Apr 2004. | ||
The St. Helens Railway arrived in the town at a
temporary terminus at Whitecross on 1 February 1853, with a line from Garston
Dock. Six months later the Warrington and Stockport Railway (which actually ran
to Altrincham) ran to a temporary terminus at Wilderspool, and opened on 1
November 1853.
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On 1 May 1854, the two
lines were joined together at a new joint station called Warrington
Arpley, which was situated less than half a mile to the east of Bank
Quay. |
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Crosfields
signal box, |
Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington. |
Littons Mill. |
Regular passenger services finished on 10 September 1962, but a York Mail train continued to serve the Low Level platforms until 14 July 1965, after which the Low Level Station closed. It was demolished and no trace now remains.
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| A
Class 40 leaves Bank Quay on the Low Level for Sankey. |
A
Class 47 on the Low Level near Crosfields on 5 Sep 1977. |
The
Staffordshire Ranger DMU at Bank Quay Low Level. |
| All photos © Peter Spilsbury. | ||
The Low Level line was always busy with goods services, and remains so to this day, although the line to the east, the original Warrington and Stockport Railway, is now truncated at Latchford. By the 1980's, expensive repairs were needed to the bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal at Latchford and alternative routes were available. The line closed east of Latchford with the last booked trains running on 7 July 1985.
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47323 at Bank Quay on 14 Sep 1983. When Factory Lane was open under Bank Quay Station, There was a footpath on one side of it. At the other side one crossed over to a footbridge over the Low Level railway lines, where I took this photo. The path from the bridge led to British Aluminium. The path and bridge closed after the 'Alla' closed. Photo and caption © Peter Spilsbury. |
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Read a more detailed account of the Low Level Line in Making Tracks 3 |
Text in this section courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
The St. Helens Railway opened
this station on 3 January 1856. It was situated on their eastern extension from
Widnes to Warrington which opened on 1 February 1853. It closed on 1 January
1858, and has since been demolished. Its exact location is unknown.
Text in this section (except photo captions) courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
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Fiddler's Ferry section with the level crossing by the Marina. |
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All Photos © GI Gandy, mywarrington 6 Jul 2004. |
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The St. Helens and Runcorn Gap
Railway opened this station on 1 February 1853. It was located on the west side
of Station Road, adjacent to the Sankey Canal. In April 1881, the station was
renamed as 'Fiddler's Ferry and Penketh'.
The station closed to passengers
on 2 January 1950, but the line was still used for passenger services by the
Ditton Junction to Manchester Oxford Road via Warrington Bank Quay Low Level
train, which continued until 1 September 1962. A nearby coal yard operated into
the 1960s. The station was closed altogether on 2 December 1963 by British
Railways (Midland Region). The station was demolished but the Station House
still standing as private residence.
Today the line is a busy freight
route from Ditton to Warrington Arpley.
Text in this section (except photo captions) courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
Sankey Bridges Station was located on the south side of Liverpool Road/Old Liverpool Road, and was opened on 1 February 1853 by its owner, the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway.
Sankey Bridges Station stood at a point where the line crossed the Sankey Canal (1757) by way of a swing bridge, which remained in use until the 1950s. The eastbound platform still exists and can be seen from a public footpath which crosses the line at the east end of the platform.
The station was closed by British Railways (Midland Region) on 26 September 1949.
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| A DMU at Sankey in 1971. | Monks Hall sidings. | Monks Hall sidings. | Crossing the Sankey-St. Helens Canal at Sankey Bridges. The original bridge could swing to allow barges to pass. | Monks
Hall site was being cleared when this was taken. The Coach and Horses pub is in the background. |
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Photos and captions © Peter Spilsbury. |
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Text in this section (except photo captions) courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
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Arpley Station comes next after Bank Quay Low Level and served as the headquarters of the Warrington and Stockport Railway. The St. Helens Railway and Warrington & Stockport Railway opened it on 1 May 1854, which completed a line from Liverpool (Garston) to Altrincham. The station had a grand façade and overall roof but only ever had two platforms, even though four tracks passed through it. 90477 at Arpley. Photo © Peter Spilsbury. |
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| Site
of the Bank Quay Low Level Station. |
Capstone
of the road bridge over the railway. |
Arpley Sidings. | ||
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| Signalling near Wilderspool Bridge. | Wilderspool Bridge. Originally a level crossing. | |||
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| Entrance to the works by the iron bridge over the Mersey.| | |The bridge over the Mersey.| | |The route eastwards to Thelwall, etc. | |
| All Photos and captions © G I Gandy, mywarrington. | |||
The
LNWR tried to close the station on 16 November 1868 as they felt it was too
close to Bank Quay. But there was a massive protest from townsfolk who felt that
Arpley was closer to the town centre. However, it did close to passenger use on
4 September 1958. It was closed for good by British Railways (London Midland
Region) on 9 August 1965. It was located on the south side of Wilson Patten
Street. The station building was demolished.
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| 45305
at Arpley on 4 Aug 1968. |
92053 at Arpley. | 25307
on 27 Oct 1985. The old tall London & North Western signal stands proudly in this scene at Arpley Junction. |
Class
56 56093 on Wilderspool bridge with a merry-go-round (mgr) train of empty coal wagons from Fiddler's Ferry Power Station on 28 May 1982. |
56063
at Arpley signal box on 9 Sep 1985. |
| Photos and captions © Peter Spilsbury. | ||||
Text in this section (except photo captions) courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
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Latchford
Station was
located on the north side of Station Road, and was opened on 10 July
1893 by the London & North Western Railway. In the 1890's the
construction of the Manchester Ship Canal made it necessary to divert
and realign a number of railway lines in the Warrington area to
create the required 75 feet clearance for the ships. The original line
was at a fairly level elevation, and a station was provided at
Latchford called Latchford & Grappenhall Road, which opened with
the line and closed on 9 August 1893. A large girder bridge called Latchford Bridge took the line to a high elevation and over the canal. |
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47530
at Latchford |
47490
at Latchford |
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Peter adds: Passenger trains were diverted from the Manchester - Stockport line for a few Sundays for repairs to that line. The opportunity to photograph them was taken though typically the weather was not at its best. Seen here passing Latchford signal box and approaching the viaduct over the canal. |
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The bridge opened on 9
July 1893, after which the original alignment was cut by the canal construction.
Part of it was kept as sidings and part was used by the canals own industrial
railway. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894.
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| 45446 at Latchford. | 31163
at Black Bear Park 12 Jul 1984. |
47117
at Latchford on 4 Jul 1984. |
| Photos © Peter Spilsbury. | ||
Latchford
Station was closed to
passengers on 10 September 1962, closing for good on 1 July 1965 by its owners,
British Railways (London Midland Region). The line continued in use as a busy
freight artery, particularly for coal heading west towards Fiddlers Ferry Power
Station and Garston Docks.
Today a single track still
remains hidden in the tree growth. The station was demolished, and in April 2005
the station forecourt was being developed with an apartment block. Only a
boundary wall and entrance gates remain on Station Road.
Text in this section (except photo captions) courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
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Warrington and Stockport Railway opened Thelwall Station on 1 November 1853. It remained open until 17 September 1956. British Railways (London Midland Region) owned the station at the end. It was located on the south side of Stockport
Road (A56). |
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47068 at Thelwall on 25 Apr 1984. This is the site where the original line went at road level to Latchford old station and this deviation was made to go over the viaduct when the Manchester Ship Canal was built. Photo and text © Peter Spilsbury. |
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45052
at Thelwall on 6 Apr 1987. When the Low Level line closed on 6 July 1985,
the line was just left in situ until June 1987 when it was prepared for
lifting. In this scene they are unloading rail for relaying. They lifted
the original rail in sections for use elsewhere and re-laid it again to
lift again in sections and remove the track completely. Photo and text © Peter Spilsbury. |
Text in this section courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
Lymm
Station was opened on 1 November 1853 by the Warrington and Stockport Railway. It was
located on the west side of Whitebarrow Road. It was finally closed by British
Railways (London Midland Region) on 10 September 1962. The station house and
section of footbridge are still present as a private residence, but the rest of
the site has been demolished and is now a car park and Ranger Centre.
Text in this section courtesy of Paul Wright. See more of Paul's work at www.subbrit.org.uk.
Built on the east side of Mill
Lane (now the B5159) by the Warrington and Stockport Railway, Heatley &
Warburton Station came into existence on 1 November 1853.
It closed on 9 August 1965, but
British Railways (London Midland Region) spared the station building, which
still stands, but the platforms have been demolished.
Today the trackbed is used by pedestrians and cyclists alike as part of the Trans Pennine Trail.
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