   #copyright

Liverpool and Manchester Railway

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Railway transport

   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
   Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825, but sections of this
   line employed cable haulage, and only the coal trains were hauled by
   locomotives. Horse-drawn traffic could use the railway upon payment of
   a toll.) 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 north-west England.
   Stephenson's viaduct crossing the Sankey Brook
   Enlarge
   Stephenson's viaduct crossing the Sankey Brook

Historic Line

Up to Construction

   The L&MR was intended to achieve cheap transport of raw materials and
   finished goods between the Port of Liverpool, and Manchester, which was
   luckily in close proximity to reap the benefits of the vast amount of
   Textile raw material handled at Liverpool. The existing means of water
   transport, the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and the Bridgewater Canal,
   dated from the previous century, and were felt to be making excessive
   profits from the existing trade and throttling the growth of
   Manchester. (Similar feelings with regard to the railways led in turn
   to the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1890s). There
   was support for the railway from the cities at either end, but
   opposition from the landowners over whose land the railway was proposed
   to pass.

   The original promoters are usually ackowledged to be Joseph Sandars, a
   rich Liverpool corn merchant, and John Kennedy, then owner of the
   largest spinning mill in Manchester. They were influenced by the
   writings of William James. Now something of a forgotten figure, James
   was a land surveyor who had made a fortune in property speculation. He
   advocated a national network of 'railways', based upon what he had seen
   of the development of colliery lines and locomotive technology in the
   north of 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. A
   bill presented in 1825 to Parliament was rejected, but it passed in May
   the following year. In Liverpool 172 people took 1979 shares, in London
   96 took 844, Manchester 15 with 124, 24 others with 286. The Marquis of
   Stafford had 1000, giving 308 shareholders with 4233 shares.

   The initial survey for the line was carried out by William James and
   Robert Stephenson and, being done surreptitiously 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. By this time, he was taking on too much. As
   Robert was absent, George (who could not do the calculations required,
   and had relied on his son for this part of the business) left checking
   the survey to subordinates. 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. A key opposition figure in
   this had been G. H. Bradshaw, one of the trustees of the Marquess of
   Stafford's Worsley estate, which included the Bridgewater Canal.

   In place of Stephenson, who was now in disgrace, the railway promoters
   appointed George and John Rennie as engineers, who chose C. B. Vignoles
   as their surveyor. They also set out to placate the canal interests and
   had the good fortune to be able to approach the Marquess directly
   through the good offices of their counsel, Mr. Adam, who was a relative
   of one of the trustees, and the support of William Huskisson who knew
   the Marquess personally. Implacable opposition to the line changed to
   financial support, a considerable coup.

   The second Bill received the Royal Assent in 1826, and was for a
   railway on a considerably different alignment, avoiding the properties
   of particularly vociferous or effective opponents of the previous Bill,
   but as a consequence facing the challenge of crossing Chat Moss bog. 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. The
   Manchester station was thus fixed at Liverpool Road in the heart of
   Castlefield.

Construction

   The terms asked for by the Rennies proving unnacceptable, George
   Stephenson was reappointed as engineer with his assistant Joseph Locke.
   Previous experience with civil engineers set Stephenson against
   allowing Vignoles to continue his survey and he resigned. L. T. C. Rolt
   in his biography of Stephenson suggests that a faction on the Board
   continued to ask Stephenson for second opinions, and Rennie took
   umbrage at this. Vignoles may have resigned because he had been
   appointed by Rennie, and as an ex-army engineer thought it the
   honourable thing to do.

   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. Following this was a two mile-long-cutting, up to
   70 feet deep, through rock at Olive Mount, and a nine 50-foot span arch
   viaduct over the Sankey Brook Valley, around 70 feet 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. To this day
   the track across Chat Moss floats on the hurdles that Stephenson's men
   laid and if one stands near the lineside one can feel the ground move
   as a train passes. It is worthy of note that the line now supports
   locomotives 25times the weight of the Rocket, which hauled the first
   experimental train over the moss in January 1830.

   The line was laid using 15-foot fish-belly rails at 35 lb. per yard,
   laid either on stone blocks or wooden sleepers.

Cable or locomotive haulage

   In 1829 adhesion-worked locomotives had not proved particularly
   reliable. The experience on the Stockton and Darlington Railway was
   well-publicised, and a section of the Hetton colliery railway had been
   converted to cable haulage. The success of the latter method was
   undisputable, while the steam locomotive was still untried. The L&MR
   had sought to de-emphasise the use of them during the passage of the
   bill, the public having become alarmed at the idea of these monstrous
   machines which, if they did not explode, would fill the countryside
   with noxious fumes. Moreover, attention was turning towards steam road
   carriages, such as those of Goldsworthy Gurney. There was thus a
   division in the L&MR board between those who supported Stephenson's
   "loco-motive" and those who favoured cable haulage, the latter
   supported by the opinion of the engineer, John Rastrick. Stephenson was
   not averse to cable haulage - he continued to build such lines where he
   felt it appropriate - but knew its main disadvantage, that any
   breakdown anywhere would paralyse the whole line.

   The gradient profile of the line had been arranged so as to concentrate
   the steep grades in three places (either side of Rainhill at 1 in 100
   and down to the docks at Liverpool at 1 in 50) and make the rest of the
   line very gently graded, say 1 in 2000. To determine whether and which
   locomotives would be suitable, the directors organised the Rainhill
   Trials. When the line opened the final passenger section from Edge Hill
   to Crown Street railway station was cable hauled as was the section
   down the Wapping Tunnel.

Double track

   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.

   A decision had to be made about how far apart the rails of the double
   track should be. It was decided to make the space between the separate
   tracks the same as the track gauge itself, so that is would be possible
   to operate over-gauge trains up the middle, something which probably
   never happened. In later years, it was decided that the tracks were too
   close together, restricting the width of the trains, so the gap between
   tracks was widened.

Opening

   Stephenson's bridge over the Warrington - Wigan Turnpike Road
   Enlarge
   Stephenson's bridge over the Warrington - Wigan Turnpike Road
   Huskisson monument
   Enlarge
   Huskisson monument

   The line opened on September 15, 1830 with termini at Liverpool Road,
   Manchester (now part of the Museum of Science and Industry in
   Manchester) and Edge Hill, Liverpool. The festivities of the opening
   day were marred when William Huskisson, the popular Member of
   Parliament for Liverpool, seized the opportunity of a temporary halt to
   alight and talk to the Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, through
   the Duke's carriage window. Standing on the permanent way, he misjudged
   the speed of the approaching Rocket and was run over, becoming 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.

   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.

   Although the Act had allowed for it to be used by private carriers
   paying a toll, from the start the company decided to own and operate
   the trains itself. Although the original intention had been to carry
   goods, the canal companies reduced their prices, (an indication that,
   perhaps the railwaymen had been right to suggest their charges were
   excessive) and the extra transit time was acceptable in most cases. In
   fact the line did not start carrying goods until December, when the
   first of some more powerful engines, "Planet", was delivered. What was
   not expected was the line's success in carrying passengers. The
   experience at Rainhill had shown that uprecedented speed could be
   achieved. The train was also cheaper and more comfortable than travel
   by road. So, at first, the company concentrated on this, a decision
   that had repercussions across the country and triggered the " railway
   mania".

   Initially trains travelled at 17 mph, due the limitations of the track.
   Drivers could, and did, travel more quickly, but they would be
   reprimanded. By 1840, the track seems to have been largely replaced by
   parallel rail of 60-75 lb. per yard, with wooden sleepers.

   The tunnel from Lime Street to Edge Hill was fully completed in 1836,
   and 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 1811 metres (1980 yards) long.
   Replica of the Planet
   Enlarge
   Replica of the Planet

   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.

Pioneer

   Being one of the first railways, many lessons had to be learnt from
   experience, but not many passengers were killed except by their own
   negligence. 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 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.

Modern Line

   The original Liverpool and Manchester line still operates as a
   secondary line 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.

   Services are described in detail in the Liverpool to Manchester Line
   article.

Stations

     * Lime Street (work started on Edge Hill - Lime Street tunnel 23 May
       1832; opened 15 August 1836)
     * Crown Street (original Liverpool terminus, replaced by Lime Street;
     * Edge Hill (at first Edge Hill linked Wapping Dock to the L&MR;
       Wapping Tunnel opened in 1829). It was also the site of its
       locomotive works.
     * Wavertree Technology Park (opened in 1990s)
     * Broad Green
     * Roby
     * Huyton
     * Whiston
     * Rainhill
     * Lea Green (closed and re-opened with a completely new station in
       2000)
     * St Helens Junction (opened between 1833 and 1837; junction with the
       St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway)
     * Collins Green
     * Earlestown (built in 1831 by the Warrington and Newton Railway
       company; originally named Newton Junction; renamed after 1837)
     * Newton-le-Willows (originally named Newton Bridge; renamed after
       Newton Junction was renamed Earlestown)
     * Parkside (in 1833 the line to Wigan was opened)
     * Kenyon Junction (built between 1833 and 1837; junction with the
       Bolton and Leigh Railway; closed 2 January 1961)
     * Glazebury & Bury Lane (closed 7 July 1958)
     * Astley (closed 2 May 1956)
     * Flow Moss Cottage (closed 1842)
     * Lamb's Cottage (closed 1842)
     * Barton Moss 1st (closed 1 May 1862)
     * Barton Moss 2nd (closed 23 September 1929)
     * Patricroft
     * Eccles
     * Weaste (closed 19 October 1942; destroyed when M602 road built)
     * Seedley (closed 2 January 1956; destroyed when M602 road built)
     * Cross Lane (closed 15 August 1949; destroyed when M602 road built)
     * Ordsall Lane (work on extension of line to Manchester Victoria
       started 30 July 1842 and the extension opened on 4 May 1844;
       station closed 4 February 1957)
     * Liverpool Road (original Manchester terminus, closed 4 May 1844)
     * Exchange Station (closed 5 May 1969)
     * Victoria (opened in 1844)

   (stations still open in bold)

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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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