Manchester and Birmingham Railway
The Manchester and Birmingham Railway (M&BR) was a British railway company that existed from 1837 to 1846. It built the route between Manchester and Crewe and was part of the later London and North Western Railway .
After the construction of the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), investors looked for other possible routes south of Manchester. In 1835 the GJR planned a route to Stoke-on-Trent , while the Manchester and Cheshire Junction Railway wanted to build a route between Manchester and Crewe . George Stephenson was investigating a route from Manchester via Stockport to Stoke-on-Trent, and there were plans to build a competing line through the River Trent valley to rugby . After two years of proposals and counter-proposals, the proposal to build a line from Crewe via Stockport to Manchester received parliamentary approval. An extension towards rugby was not pursued due to lack of money.
In 1840 the first section was opened between Heaton Norris and a temporary station on Travis Street in Manchester. However, what was missing was a viaduct with 22 arches over the River Mersey near Stockport. From 1841 the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway also ran to Travis Street. In 1842 the definitive station was opened on Store Street (later London Road and, since 1960, Piccadilly ). Also in 1842 the remaining section to Crewe was put into operation. There, the GJR route enabled the connection to Birmingham . In 1846 the M&BR, the GJR and the London and Birmingham Railway merged to form the London and North Western Railway .
See also
literature
- MC Reed: The London & North Western Railway, a History . Atlantic Transport, 1996. ISBN 0-906-89966-4 (including the history of the predecessor companies).