Manchester and Bolton Railway

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Manchester and Bolton Railway
IndustryRailway company
Founded23 August 1831
Defunct1846
FateAmalgamation
SuccessorManchester and Leeds Railway
HeadquartersGreater Manchester
Key people
Jesse Hartley (engineer)

The Manchester and Bolton Railway was a railway in Greater Manchester, England connecting Salford to Bolton. It was built by the proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway Company who had in 1831 converted from a canal company. The railway was originally to have replaced most of the line of the canal, but was eventually built alongside the Salford and Bolton arms of the canal. The Act of Parliament[1] also allowed the construction of a connection to Bury but due to technical constraints this was not built. The 10-mile (16 km) long railway was opened in 1838, and was amalgamated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1846.

History

London and Birmingham Railway Centenary, 1938 souvenir illustrating the 2-2-0 locomotive of Edward Bury.

In 1830 the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal Company, led by their direction John Tobin, began to promote a proposal to build a railway along the line of their canal, from Salford to Bolton and Bury. Alexander Nimmo was employed to report on the proposal and told that it was possible "so far as he expressed himself capable of judging from his present cursory view of the canal".[2] The shareholders then sought a bill for a railway from Bolton to Manchester and on 23 August 1831 obtained an Act of Parliament to become the "Company of Proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway Company".[3][2] They were empowered to build a line from Manchester to Bolton and Bury, "upon or near the line of...the Canal", and a branch from Clifton Aqueduct through to Great Lever. In 1832 this company obtained an Act that allowed it to build the railway.[4] Due mainly to the objections of local mine owners who would have lost access to the canal and supplies, and would not have had branch railways built for them, the company agreed to an amending bill which would keep the canal and allow the new railway to be constructed alongside it.[5][6] The connection to Bury was never built, due mainly to the objections of the company's engineer, Jesse Hartley. The Bury branch would have required a 1,100 yards (1,000 m) tunnel on a gradient of 1 in 100, at the time a difficult and expensive proposition.[7]

The company began construction of the line. Initially there were to have been three tracks, one for goods and another two for passengers, but only two were built.[7]Work proceeded at a slow pace, in a piecemeal fashion, with contracts let for portions of the work as occasion demanded. Advertisements in the Bolton Chronicle appealed to Quarrymen for quantities of stone blocks to support the rails, and for excavators to construct parts of a proposed addition to the embankment from Agecroft towards Clifton Hall. Another advertisement in November that year advertised for tenders for contracts for the construction of bridges, viaducts, culverts and other structures to finish the line from Irwell Street in Salford, to Bolton.[8] A difficult section of the railway was the two tunnels at Farnworth. Each single-bore, and 295 yards long, the bore on the down line is slightly larger than on the up line - a feature that remains to this day.[9]

In July 1834 the committee of management applied to Parliament for 'an act to amend the line of the railway between Manchester and Bolton'. Work proceeded so slowly that further clauses were added to the proposed act, including a continuation of the railway from Bolton, to Liverpool. Although this continuation was never built, the Liverpool and Bury Railway built such a connection in 1848.[8]

Four acts of parliament were required to raise the necessary funds,[10] and the line opened on 28 May 1838.[9] From a report of the Directors on 9 January 1839, the railway had carried 228,799 passengers since its inception. In 1841 the company had 10 locomotive engines[11]

A branch line was also "to join and communicate with the...Bolton and Leigh Railway", at a junction near the Daubhill Stationary Engine, this line was however, not built.[12]

The company later shared their railway, including their station at Salford, with the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway Company and both worked together to construct a junction at Clifton Junction railway station.[13]

In 1846 the company was taken over by the Manchester and Leeds Railway,[4][14] which itself became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway the following year. In 1922 it amalgamated into the London and North Western Railway, and in 1923 this company amalgamated into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. This company was nationalised in 1948 under the Transport Act 1947, becoming part of British Railways.

Route

A map of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal showing the Manchester to Bolton line, and the later Manchester Bury and Rossendale line.

The original terminus was at Salford Central railway station on New Bailey Street in Salford. Passing through Pendleton, Dixon Fold, Stoneclough and Farnworth the line ended at Bolton railway station. The initial act of Parliament for the construction of the railway allowed for a connection to Bury, but a following act amending the line of the railway was most likely the reason this branch was never built.[15] In 1841 the line was extended to Preston by the Bolton and Preston Railway. The route northwards to Blackburn followed four years later, whilst the Liverpool and Bury Railway's arrival in 1848 gave the town links eastward to Bury and Rochdale and westwards to Wigan and Liverpool. From Salford, the line was extended 1,290 yards (1,180 m)[16] via several bridges and across Chapel Street, to Victoria Station in 1844. These lines had all become part of the expanding Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway system by 1858.

Design

The rails were of broad-based parallel form, weighing 55 pounds (25 kg) per 1 yard (0.91 m). Gauge was 4 feet (1.2 m) 8 inches (20 cm).[17] Significant earthworks were required along the route, and a 300 yards (270 m) tunnel was constructed in favour of a cutting. Thirty three bridges were constructed, along with stone drainage facilities to keep water from the cuttings.[18]

Locomotive types and coaches

The company purchased four Bury Type locomotives from Bury, Curtis, and Kennedy[19], two from George Forrester and Company[20], and two from William Fairbairn & Sons. Two further Bury 2-2-0s were acquired by the railway in 1844/5.[21] Coaches were first and second class, first class holding eighteen passengers per carriage and second class holding 32 passengers per carriage.[22] Third class carriages were introduced on 11 June 1838 but discontinued on 1 December 1838 after the company found that many passengers were vacating first and second class, for the cheaper third class.[23] The company had 15 first class carriages, and 22 second class carriages.[24]

Fares

To begin with, first class fares were 2s 6d (two Shillings and six pence) for the entire ten mile journey, or 3d per mile. Second class was 2s, or 2.40d per mile.[23] On 11 June 1838, a new pricing structure was introduced, with first class costing 2s, 1s 6d, and 1s. Passenger's tickets were taken while travelling, presumably by a ticket inspector.

The first train to use the new line was pulled by the 'Victoria' locomotive, and left Manchester at 8:00am, arriving in Bolton after a journey lasting 26 minutes 30 seconds. The second train was pulled by the 'Fairfield' locomotive. The trains ran on the right hand set of rails, an unusual practice in England.[9]

Services

Ten trains ran in each direction per weekday, with only two on Sundays. The journey from Salford to Bolton took approximately 35 minutes.[25]

See also

Manchester to Preston Line

References

Notes

  1. ^ An Act to enable the Company of Proprietors of the Canal Navigation from Manchester to Bolton and to Bury to make a Railway from Manchester to Bolton and to Bury, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, upon or near the Line of that Canal Navigation, and to make a collateral Branch to communicate therewith, afterwards known and cited in Acts of Parliament by the short title of 'The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal and Railway Act, 1831'
  2. ^ a b Hadfield 1970, pp. 256-257.
  3. ^ Paget-Tomlinson 2006, pp. 148-149.
  4. ^ a b Backtrack Volume 17, www.steamindex.com, retrieved 2008-06-30
  5. ^ Hadfield 1970, p. 257.
  6. ^ Canal at Pendleton in 19 November 1966, Manchester Libraries, retrieved 2008-06-30
  7. ^ a b Wells 1995, p. 3.
  8. ^ a b Bardsley 1960, p. 5.
  9. ^ a b c Bardsley 1960, p. 7.
  10. ^ Whishaw 1842, p. 307.
  11. ^ House of Commons 1842, pp. 207-208.
  12. ^ Bardsley 1960, pp. 5-6.
  13. ^ Chauncey 1842, pp. 567–568
  14. ^ By an Act of Parliament
  15. ^ Chauncey 1842, p. 566
  16. ^ Chauncey 1842, p. 570
  17. ^ Bardsley 1960, p. 6.
  18. ^ Whishaw 1842, p. 308.
  19. ^ named Victoria, Fairfield, Manchester and Bolton
  20. ^ named Forrester, and Buck
  21. ^ Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway locomotives, www.steamindex.com, retrieved 2008-08-30
  22. ^ Whishaw 1842, p. 309.
  23. ^ a b Whishaw 1842, p. 311.
  24. ^ Bardsley 1960, p. 8.
  25. ^ N/A 1858, p. 324

Bibliography

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