Industry Railway company Headquarters Leeds, United Kingdom Defunct 9 July 1847 | Fate Amalgamation Founded 4 July 1836 | |
Successor Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway | ||
The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting Manchester with Leeds via the North Midland Railway which it joined at Normanton.
Contents
Its route now forms the backbone of the present-day Caldervale Line.
History
It was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1836, with a second Act in 1839 which authorised the extension from the original Manchester terminus at Oldham Road railway station to join the Liverpool and Manchester Railway when the latter was extended to Hunt's Bank (later called Manchester Victoria). The Act also authorised branches to Oldham and Halifax with a diversion at Kirkthorpe. Superintended by George Stephenson, its engineer was Thomas Longridge Gooch, a brother of Daniel Gooch of the GWR.
The 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) line was opened in 1839 as far as Littleborough, and from Normanton to Hebden Bridge in 1840. The final linking section opened on completion of the Summit Tunnel in 1841.
The line became the chief constituent of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which was incorporated in 1847. Several railways had earlier been absorbed by the M&LR:
Route
The line climbed out of Manchester with an average gradient of 1 in 260 (0.38%) until it arrived at the summit and a 2,860 yards (2,620 m) long tunnel at Littleborough. From there it descended towards Normanton.
It used the North Midland's line to run into Leeds since Parliament had refused to sanction two parallel lines. Not an easy line to build, there were eight tunnels in all, mostly through very difficult rock, a hundred and sixteen bridges and long cuttings and embankments. One tunnel, that at Charlestown, had to be given up due its collapse and the continued instability of the ground. This entailed a diversion with some tight curves at variance with the norm for the line of 60 chains (130.62 m). Two large bridges were avoided by diverting the course of the River Calder. In 1951 instability of the track on a retaining wall above the river required a 5mph speed limit until repairs were completed in 1953. The rails were of 15 feet (4.6 m) lengths laid at a gauge of 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) with a mixture of stone blocks and, on the embankments, wooden sleepers.
Locomotives
The locomotives were provided by local manufacturers, to the six-wheeled Stephenson pattern. Carriages were all four-wheeled. First and Second had three compartments, the latter with wooden shutters instead of glazing. The third class was "Stanhopes," that is, without seats, each divided into four sections by lateral and longitudinal bars. There were also some mixed carriages having a first class centre compartment, with the end ones second class. The average weight of a train would be about 18 tons, with an average speed of about 25 MPH (40 km/h), reaching approx. 42 MPH (67.6 km/h) downhill.
The railway was an early user of Edmonsons Ticketing System. Tickets were checked en route, the guard presumably having to move from carriage to carriage by means of the external footboard - just as is described in Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.