page_title: Warrington Corporation Tramways
section_title: South of the Ship Canal
hierarchical_section_title: Warrington Corporation Tramways / History / South of the Ship Canal
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph by Guy Hatton, July 9 2003.
context_page_description: Warrington Corporation Tramways was the owner and operator of an electric tramway system in the early 20th century serving the town of Warrington, at the time a county borough of Lancashire, England.
context_section_description: The line south along Wilderspool Causeway initially operated to a terminus at Stafford Road just north of the Manchester Ship Canal, being at the time the boundary between Lancashire and Cheshire. On the Cheshire side of the canal was the village of Stockton Heath, which may have been expected to provide a more suitable terminus. However, strong opposition from Stockton Heath Parish Council was encountered, so for the time being the line terminated on the Lancashire side of the canal. Alternative proposals came in 1901 from the Warrington and Northwich Light Railway (WNLR), who wished to run a tramway from Northwich to Stockton Heath and onwards to meet the Warrington Corporation Tramways system at both the Wilderspool and Latchford termini. The crossing of the Manchester Ship Canal at both locations would only be allowed by an exorbitant annual sum which made the scheme unviable, so Warrington Corporation applied for a Light Railway Order to cover the sections north of Stockton Heath, being in a better position to press the Canal Company not to apply such charges. As a result, the official title of the tramway changed, with timetables and tickets amended to bear the legend "Warrington Corporation Tramways & Stockton Heath Light Railways".
  As the line crossed the canal on a swing bridge, special precautions had to be made to ensure that trams did not end up in the canal whilst the bridge was out. Catch points were provided on the southern side of the canal, whilst the current in the vicinity was cut as soon as the bridge swung out of its closed position, leaving a neutral section in the overhead wires until the bridge swung back into position. A single-line spur in Stockton Heath provided for the proposed link to Northwich, and in 1906 the WNLR proposed as a first step to lay tracks as far as Stretton, with the proviso that the Corporation would operate this section. The negotiations came to nothing as the WNLR were not prepared to offer a guarantee to the Corporation against any losses. The powers held by the Corporation to build a line between Latchford and Stockton Heath were left to lapse.
  The route to Stockton Heath was the most prone to delays due to both the swing bridge across the Manchester Ship Canal as well as a level crossing over the London & North Western Railway's Garston to Timperley railway at Wilderspool, which had a similar set of precautions to prevent trams from fouling the crossing. The line was thus operated independently of the other routes. A northern spur up Bridge Street was put in at the same time as the Stockton Heath extension, so that trams could terminate there instead of causing delay to through services on Rylands Street.
caption: Northwich Road swing bridge on the Manchester Ship Canal over which the tramway extension to Stockton Heath operated, with the village centre visible in the background.
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