page_title: Cheshire Lines Committee
section_title: Manchester to Liverpool
hierarchical_section_title: Cheshire Lines Committee / Manchester to Liverpool
caption_attribution_description: English: Liverpool Central railway station in 1911.
context_page_description: The Cheshire Lines Committee 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 143 miles of track in the then counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. The railway did not get grouped into one 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.
context_section_description: 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 MS&LR (Extension to Liverpool) Act of 1865; this Act was subsequently amended by the MS&LR (New Lines) Act of 1866 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 & 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  not openedon the straight route, halfway between Padgate and Sankey stations in a direct line; this would have been about 1,000 yards (910 m) further from the town. A loop was constructed into the town and Warrington Central 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 MS&LR (Liverpool Extension) Act of 1866, 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 Liverpool Brunswick. 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 300 by 500 feet (91 m × 152 m), 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 Sankey and Farnworth to the south, through Widnes Central and back to join the direct line at Hough Green. 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.
caption: Liverpool Central Station
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