The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. The railway did not become part of the Big Four during the implementation of the 1923 grouping, surviving independently with its own management until the railways were nationalised at the beginning of 1948. The railway served Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport, Warrington, Widnes, Northwich, Winsford, Knutsford, Chester and Southport with connections to many other railways.
Formation The Cheshire Lines Committee evolved in the late 1850s from the close working together of two railways, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the Great Northern Railway (GNR); this was in their desire to break the near monopoly on rail traffic held by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in the Southern Lancashire and Northern Cheshire areas. The CLC operated in an area which included the rapidly growing major cities of Manchester and Liverpool, the developing Lancashire coal fields and the growth of the Mersey's seaborne trade.
In 1857, the GNR and MS&LR arranged to work closer together. The MS&LR had just come out of an unhappy alliance with the LNWR and the GNR was motivated by the opportunity to gain access to Manchester, via the MS&LR route from Retford. A joint MS&LR/GNR service between Manchester London Road and London Kings Cross was provided and the arrangements were formalised by Parliament in the Great Northern and Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Companies Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. cxiii).
Relations between the LNWR and MS&LR companies were never strong, but they deteriorated in 1859 when the MS&LR supported several new railways in the Manchester area; two of which, the Cheshire Midland (incorporated 14 June 1860) and the Stockport and Woodley Junction (incorporated 15 May 1860) were to form part of the initial CLC.
In 1860, the MS&LR was interested in three additional bills that would extend its influence towards Liverpool and Chester; they were the Garston and Liverpool (incorporated 17 May 1861), the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction (incorporated 17 May 1861) and the West Cheshire (incorporated 11 July 1861). Unfortunately, the MS&LR was unable to fund the building of these railways by itself.
The shortage of funds led to a variety of negotiations, including the potential of a merger with the GNR, but eventually an agreement was reached on 11 June 1862 between the MS&LR and the GNR. The arrangement was for the establishment of a joint committee to regulate and work traffic on four of the railways already authorised but not yet open. The lines were: Stockport and Woodley Junction Railway opened 12 January 1863. Cheshire Midland Railway opened in two stages in May 1862 and January 1863. Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway opened in December 1865. West Cheshire Railway opened on 1 September 1869.
Each company was to provide an equal amount of capital and four representatives to the joint management committee. This arrangement was confirmed by the (26 & 27 Vict. c. cxlvii); this was the first official use of Cheshire Lines and at the time it was entirely appropriate as the majority of the lines involved were in Cheshire. This act had not, however, formally set up a separate legal body, providing instead for the two companies to manage and work the four railways through their existing structures.
In 1861, the two partners, MS&LR & GNR, had been authorised by the Garston and Liverpool Railway Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. xxxv) to construct the Garston and Liverpool Railway which made an end-on connection with the St Helens Canal and Railway Company at . This line opened on 1 June 1864 and ran for to a terminus at Liverpool Brunswick. This terminus station was only in use from 1864 to 1874, when it was superseded by Liverpool Central, but it did have an extended life as a goods station. The act included a short () line to connect a goods station, Wavertree Road (later Wavertree and Edge Hill), to the LNWR at Edge Hill and running powers from there to Garston.
Included within this act were running powers between Garston Dock and Timperley Junction using the lines of the LNWR through Widnes, Warrington and Lymm. and then the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) through to Manchester. The jointly administered lines at this time were known as The Liverpool, Garston & Cheshire Railways.
Liverpool Brunswick station was inconveniently situated near the Southern docks, a good distance from the city centre. This necessitated the railway to transport passengers and their goods by omnibus into the city centre. To rectify this, the partners applied to build an extension railway and this resulted in the building of a difficult line, mainly in tunnels, to a new , with powers granted by the Liverpool Central Station Railway Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. ccxc).
The Midland Railway (MR) secured a route into Manchester city centre in 1862 and they began to look at options to secure traffic to the west of Manchester and particularly into Liverpool. This led to their associating with the MS&LR and GNR and their partnership working of the lines mentioned above.
These lines were brought together under the direct joint ownership of the MS&LR and GNR by the (28 & 29 Vict. c. cccxxvii). They were: Stockport and Woodley Junction Railway; Cheshire Midland Railway; Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway; West Cheshire Railway; Garston and Liverpool Railway; and The Liverpool Central Station Railway. The act additionally gave powers for the MR to join as an equal partner, which it did in 1866.
The MS&LR's and Branch Railway was transferred to the CLC by the (29 & 30 Vict. c. cccli). This left a small section () of track between Apethorne Junction and Woodley Junction that still belonged to the Sheffield and Midland Joint Railway, with the CLC having running powers.
The Cheshire Lines Committee was finally authorised, by the (30 & 31 Vict. c. ccvii), as a fully independent organisation with a board formed from three directors from each of the parent companies.
Manchester to Liverpool In 1864, Mr Edward Watkin, the MS&LR's chairman, proposed a more direct railway from Manchester to connect with the Garston and Liverpool Railway; this was mainly on the grounds that the existing arrangements for running powers on LNWR lines were inadequate. He had a point, as the lines were being used by three companies and had several curves that needed careful, and therefore slow, negotiation; there were 95 level-crossings and 60 or more signals in each direction.
This proposal was made in the name of the MS&LR only, but Mr Watkin solicited support from the other CLC partners as it was in their interest, because of a competing potential alliance between the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) and the Great Eastern Railway (GER). This proposal led to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (Extension to Liverpool) Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. ccclxxviii); this act was subsequently amended by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (New Lines) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cxcii) which altered the route slightly.
The result was two lines: one from Cornbrook, near Old Trafford in Manchester, where a connection was made with the MSJ&AR to a junction with CLC (former Garston and Liverpool Railway) line near Cressington; the second from a junction with the first line at Glazebrook to a new junction, Skelton junction, with the CLC (former Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway) near Timperley.
The other alteration to the route, promulgated under the 1866 act, was as the result of Warrington residents agitating to have the railway come closer to the town centre. The 1865 plan had Warrington station positioned to the north on the straight route, halfway between and stations in a direct line; this would have been about further from the town. A loop was constructed into the town and and goods yard was constructed on it. The loop and station opened in 1873; the direct route, otherwise known as the Warrington avoiding line, was not opened until 1883. In 1897 an impressive two-storey brick goods warehouse was built in the goods yard, superseding an earlier smaller structure.
A further MS&LR act, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (Liverpool Extension) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cxci), then formally transferred these lines into the CLC.
The direct line to Liverpool Brunswick was opened in 1873 and, from then, the CLC used this more direct route between Manchester London Road and . The route was further improved when Liverpool Central station opened on 1 March 1874, bringing trains into the city centre. The station was situated on Ranelagh Street on the edge of the city centre and was a much grander station of three stories with a large arched roof and six platform faces. At the same time as Central opened, Brunswick closed to passenger traffic; it became a goods station and a much larger warehouse was built around the original station building. The building was so large, about , it was long enough to write the owners names in full Great Northern, Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire and Midland Railways.
In 1879, a connection was made from the direct line to the expanding town of Widnes; the Widnes loop line ran from a junction between and to the south, through and back to join the direct line at . The line was jointly owned by the MS&LR and the MR; the CLC ran a passenger service on the line. The loop line closed in 1964.
The building of the Manchester Ship Canal resulted in two diversions of the line in order to cross the canal at a high level on fixed bridges. The first was at Irlam where a diversion was constructed to the south of the original line and a new was constructed, both the old route and the diversion were operational from 9 January 1893 to 27 March 1893 when the original route closed. The second diversion was between and where both intermediate stations, and , were rebuilt on raised lines either side of the ship canal. Both routes were operational from 27 February 1893 to 29 May 1893 when the original route closed.
Extension to Chester
The Chester and West Cheshire Junction Railway Company had been incorporated in 1865 to construct railways from Mouldsworth to Mickle Trafford and onto , with a junction at Mickle Trafford connecting to the Birkenhead Railway.
This was a natural extension of the CLC network and indeed authorised, albeit by a different company, what the West Cheshire Railway had applied, and failed, to do in 1861. It brought access to the county town of Chester, an important tourist centre and gateway to North Wales to the expanding network. The Chester and West Cheshire Junction Railway Company was transferred into the CLC on 10 August 1866 by the Cheshire Lines Act 1868 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cccli).
Construction work did not start straight away, being delayed by contractual negotiations until 1871. The route was of double track with 23 bridges. There were intermediate stations at and . The railways, but not the junction with the Birkenhead Railway, opened for goods traffic on 2 November 1874 and for passengers on 1 May 1875. The junction at Mickle Trafford was made in 1875 to enable traffic between the CLC and but it was not used due to a dispute. The CLC ran five trains in each direction daily between which was a MSJ&AR station and .
Improvements in Manchester