The national background
Railways, although not fully developed until the 19th century, have a history actually going back thousands of years. The ancient Babylonians used parallel lines of stone blocks, with a gauge of about 1500 mm (5 ft.), surprisingly similar to the standard gauge of 1435 mm (4 ft. 8 1/2 in.) of today. These can be dated to around 2245 B.C. Similar grooved stone wagonways were used by the ancient Greeks, with a gauge of 1626 mm (5 ft. 4 ins.).
In Europe primitive railways were used in the Middle Ages, especially by miners. A stained glass window at Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, dating from about 1350, shows a miner pushing a tub on a railway.
The earliest known railway in Britain was built in 1603-4, and was about 3 km. long (2 miles). This used baulks of timber as the rails, on which wagons with flanged wheels were drawn by horses from coal pits at Strelley to Wollaton Lane End, near Nottingham. Other similar railways were built in the 17th century on Tyneside and near Ironbridge in Shropshire.
Such railways, used mainly to transport coal, were used and developed throughout the 18th century. Other names for these early lines were railroads (the word generally used in America for railways), wagonways, tramways and plateways (named after an early type of rail). Cast iron flanged wheels were made at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire from 1729. Various types of iron rails were also developed during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The standard gauge, of 1435 mm (4 ft. 8 1/2 ins.) was first established in 1764-5, on the Willington Colliery wagonway near Newcastle upon Tyne. Killingworth Colliery was part of this system, and it was here that George Stephenson later began working on steam engines.
Meanwhile steam power had been invented and used, as long ago as the late 17th century, by Newcomen and Watt. These were condensing steam engines, of the beam type, using atmospheric pressure, and were stationary. Richard Trevithick, of Cornwall, was the first to use high-pressure steam. He experimented with model steam locomotives from 1796, and by 1801 he made the first full-scale steam locomotive, which he used to pull a passenger carriage on a road. He designed the first ever locomotive to run on rails, at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire in 1803, for the narrow-gauge, 914 mm (3 ft.) 'plateway' system used there, although it is not certain it was ever actually built. He did, however, design and build a steam locomotive for the Penydarren Ironworks near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, but this turned out to be too heavy for the cast-iron plateway rails. He designed a third locomotive which was built in 1805 in County Durham, and was the first to run on flanged wheels. In 1808 he ran a steam locomotive on a circular track in London, as a publicity stunt. It caused much interest, but not enough, and he gave up working on locomotives. He later went to Peru to help set up his stationary steam engines at mines there, but lost all his money after a rebellion. He was rescued by Robert Stephenson, but later died in poverty in Dartford, Kent in 1833.
It was George Stephenson, father of Robert Stephenson, who really developed steam locomotives. He built his first one in 1813-14, and further ones later. In the early 1820's he was appointed by Edward Pease to build the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in County Durham. He built the first locomotive for this line, called 'Locomotion'. This was the first public railway to use steam from the beginning. It was opened in 1825. The line was used only for goods trains at first, and for passenger trains only from 1833, three years after the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M), which opened for goods and passenger trains from its opening in 1830.
The L&M Railway had George Stephenson as its chief engineer. There were several Acts of Parliament for this, the first being passed on 5th May, 1826, and the line was opened on 15th September, 1830. In spite of the progress over many years in steam locomotion, there were still doubts about it. The Rainhill Trials were held in October 1829, and it was George Stephenson's son Robert who won the £500 prize, for his locomotive 'Rocket'.
Mineral and industrial railways
Collieries in the St. Helens and Haydock areas used railways several years before the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M) in 1830. These lines used horses to pull the wagons. Another colliery railway, linking Pewfall Colliery with a wharf at Blackbrook was very ingenious, using gravity. Wagons were linked by a continuous chain, which went round large wheels at the top and bottom of the hill. The full wagons trundled down the hill to the wharf and the empty ones were pulled up at the same time.
There was a colliery line, using horses, linking the Haydock collieries with a shipping wharf on the Sankey Canal, beside Bradley Lock. This line was later linked to the L&M and Grand Junction Railways. This colliery line was not only used for coal, but there were branches to the Crown Glass Works, later the Glass Bottle Works (north of Crow Lane), the Vitriol Works, and even to Newton Racecourse. This branch is marked as 'Race Course Railway' on the Tithe Map dated 1839, and splits into five separate lines at its terminus near the Grandstand, at the top of Common Road.
The line to the Vitriol Works was later used by the Sankey Sugar Works. Within these works, a railway using horse-drawn wagons and trailers was used at least until 1908.
Early railways around Newton
In the 1820s Newton was only what we would think of today as a village. In the Census of 1821 the population was only 1,643. Newton owes its importance in railway terms to its position half-way between Liverpool and Manchester. With the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, Newton became destined to play a major role in the development of the U.K.'s railway system.
The first railway in Newton, however, was several years before 1830. Coal used to be taken in horse-draw wagons running on rails, from collieries in Haydock to a shipping wharf on the St.Helens Canal at Newton. When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was being built, a flat crossing had to be made for the colliery line, and two cottages built for men to 'police' the crossing.
In constructing the Liverpool and Manchester Railway the Chief Engineer, George Stephenson, recruited in 1826 a group of resident assistants, four young men who had been apprenticed to him and employed by his own contracting company.
The men who built the Railway were either local or Irish. The supervisors mainly came from the north-east. They had been engaged in the construction of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Construction work began in 1826. By 1827, the main earthworks were started. During this time, Stephenson lived for a time in a cottage within sight of the Sankey Valley Viaduct which was then being built. Locally this viaduct, fourteen miles east of Liverpool, is the most spectacular engineering feature on the Railway. The chosen route of the Railway involved crossing the valley, through which passed the St.Helens Canal and the Sankey Brook. The engineers faced the problem of how to carry the Railway over the valley without disrupting traffic on the canal and avoiding steep gradients.
The solution was to form an embankment over the western half of the valley, starting near Collins Green station and running nine hundred yards east, rising to a height of sixty feet. From this embankment the line continued over the nine arch viaduct.
In June, 1827 work began on the western embankment. The contractor was a Mr. Greenshields. 100,000 tons of marl and moss, compacted with brushwood, were used in the construction, handled and transported with the simplest mechanical aids. The embankment was later planted with trees to blend it naturally into the surrounding countryside.
In Spring, 1828, work began on the Viaduct itself, with the sinking of 200 piles, driven between 25 and 30 feet in depth, to provide a solid foundation for 10 piers. Nine semi-circular arches, each of 50 feet span, were built of brick faced with stone, laid on sandstone slabs. It was joined to the embankment by retaining walls. The construction was later strengthened by stay bolts extending through the embankment and fastened outside each retaining wall. The width between the parapets on the top of the Viaduct is 25 feet. This was the first crossing in the world of a commercial waterway by a commercial mainline railway. To accommodate the Viaduct a loop in the canal was eliminated and the curve of the waterway altered to a constant radius.
The general design was by George Stephenson, Chief Engineer. Architectural features were by Thomas Gooch, Chief Draughtsman. The Resident Engineer was Mr. Holkyard, and his assistant was a Mr. Fife.
In the Summer of 1829 the piers were completed. The parapet walls were finished by February, 1830. The majestic Viaduct was now virtually finished, carrying the double track 70 feet above the valley floor. Excursion trains were run from both ends of the line, to enable passengers to view the Viaduct before the Railway was officially opened. The Viaduct was not in fact fully completed until July, 1833 (3 years after the Railway opened) with the addition of coping on to the parapet walls. The total cost of construction was £45,208 18s. 6d.
The Sandy Mains or Newton Embankment carried the line out of the valley, 40 feet high towards Newton. Further east Newton Bridge was built, comprising four arches, each with a span of 30 feet, and 27 feet high, built like the Sankey Viaduct of stone-faced brickwork and it spanned the Warrington to Wigan Turnpike ( the present day A49 road). A fifth, much smaller arch spanned Newton Brook where it became the old mill dam. It was completed in 1828. It gave the engineers valuable experience before completing the much larger Sankey Viaduct.
At this point, Colonel Legh built a hotel, the Legh Arms, as part of the first Newton Station, to provide accommodation and refreshment for passengers halfway along the Railway. This was a different building from the present Legh Arms, which was built on another site in 1852.
Early locomotives were unable to complete the full journey between Liverpool and Manchester without stopping to refill with coal and water. Parkside, to the east of Newton became a halt where engines could be serviced. This was also the location of the accident on the opening day of the Railway, on 15th September, 1830, when William Huskisson, the M.P. for Liverpool was fatally injured. The incident is commemorated by a trackside memorial, which has been completely refurbished and was re-dedicated in June, 2001.
The Kenyon Cutting is the greatest single earthwork on the line. Construction began in May, 1827. Nearly 3/4 of a million cubic yards of material were excavated, much of it used to form the nearby Newton and Brosley embankments.
Another railway line was built soon afterwards. This was the Warrington and Newton Railway, completed in June, 1831. This provided a link with both the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Haydock Colliery Railway, enabling coal to be carried quickly to Warrington.
The meeting with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway created the world's first railway junction. A station, sometimes known as Newton Junction and sometimes as Warrington Junction, was built at this point. The original station building still stands, and is now known as Earlestown Station.
This junction was constructed with a much tighter curve than became usual later. An extract from the 'General Regulations Applicable to all Servants of the London and North-Western Company', dated 1847, reads:
There were further railway developments at Newton. In 1832 the North Union Railway linked the L&M Railway with Wigan, with another junction at Parkside. The triangular layout of lines at Newton Junction (later Earlestown) was completed by the construction of the east curve in 1837. The triangular layout at Parkside was completed by the construction of the west curve in 1847.
In 1845, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway became part of the Grand Junction Railway. This merged with the London and Birmingham Railway to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in July, 1846.
Later, in 1864 a 'cut off' line was opened, linking Winwick Junction with Golborne Junction.
The Railway Companies
The first railway company in the North-West was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company (L&M) first formed in 1826. The Warrington and Newton Railway was the next, their line being completed in 1831.
The Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Company (which had consolidated with a rival company, the Birmingham and Liverpool Railway Company!) decided to build their line so that it would join with the Warrington and Newton Railway, at Warrington. In late 1832, the Liverpool and Manchester and the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Companies decided to unite under the title of Grand Junction Railway Company. Their complete new railway, from Birmingham via Warrington to Newton, to connect with the L&M Railway, was opened in 1835, linking the West Midlands with Liverpool, the second largest port in the country.
Meanwhile, a new line had been built from St.Helens, the St.Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, the company being formed in 1830. By the 1840s, this was in financial difficulties and decided to amalgamate with the Sankey Brook Canal Navigation Company, which also had financial problems, to form the St.Helens Canal and Railway Company. The new company came into being in 1845. This new venture became a great rival of the Grand Junction Railway, each company producing various competing schemes for new lines. Another new company was formed, the North Union Railway.
This was built in two sections, linking Bolton to Leigh, and Leigh to Kenyon, in 1832, where a junction was made with the L&M Railway. The Vulcan Foundry made their first locomotive, the 'Tayleur', for the Bolton to Leigh line.
In 1846, the London and North-Western Railway Company (LNWR) was formed by the amalgamation of the Grand Junction, Manchester and Birmingham and the London and Birmingham Railways. In 1853, the Viaduct Works were leased from the partnership of Jones and Potts by the LNWR. One of the directors of the company was Sir Hardman Earle. Earlestown was named in appreciation of his efforts. Labour was brought in for the Viaduct Works from the Railway Company's Ordsall Lane Works in Manchester (including a number of Welshmen), and over 600 houses were built for them by 1860.
The LNWR lasted for 77 years and during that time became an integral part of the life of Newton, especially in Earlestown. In 1923, the LNWR became part of the newly-formed London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). Under the Railways Act of 1921, a total of 123 separate railway companies in Britain were amalgamated into just four groups. These were the LMS, the London and North Eastern, the Great Western, and the Southern. The grouping came into effect on 1st January 1923, and the LMS continued the close association with Earlestown which the LNWR had begun.
Nationalisation
When the Labour Government was elected in 1945, they announced a proposal to nationalise railways, canals and long-distance road haulage. The Transport Act was passed in 1947 and took effect from 18th January, 1948.
The new nationalised railway system was called British Railways This was divided into six regions: Scottish, North Eastern, London Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern.
The Viaduct Works were nationalised as part of the former London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), so British Railways continued the long association with Earlestown laid down by the London and North Western Railway and LMS.
Decline of the railways
Just as the canals lost business to the railways so to the railways lost business to road transport as this improved and developed during the 20th century, especially from about the 1950's.
In 1960 Dr. Richard Beeching was appointed by the government to 'rationalise' the rail system. Under his guidance the rail network was reduced from 30,209 km. (18,771 miles) in 1960 to 21,342 km. (13,261 miles) in 1969. As part of this rationalisation of the rail system the Viaduct Works in Earlestown was finally closed in 1964, after 131 years, although of course the railway lines laid down in the 19th century still remained, as did Earlestown and Newton Stations. There were proposals to close these, but fortunately they were not carried out.
Another change in 1964 was that the name British Railways was changed to British Rail. At the same time the lion and wheel crest (which had been redesigned in 1956) was replaced by the emblem of two horizontal lines and two arrow heads. This symbol is still universally used as symbol for stations, even now the rail system has been privatised.
Privatisation
In 1992 the Conservative Government published proposals for privatisation of the railways. These were put into effect by the Railways Act in 1993. The British Rail system was broken up unto separate private companies, but in a different way from how they had been before nationalisation in 1948.
An organisation, Railtrack, was given responsibility for the track and infrastructure (including bridges, tunnels and stations). A separate unit then sold franchises to independent operators to run passenger services. The freight and parcels business was also sold off separately, bit by bit, to the private sector.
Locally, a proposal for the future is the planned Railtrack development on the site of the former Parkside Colliery.
Railways, although not fully developed until the 19th century, have a history actually going back thousands of years. The ancient Babylonians used parallel lines of stone blocks, with a gauge of about 1500 mm (5 ft.), surprisingly similar to the standard gauge of 1435 mm (4 ft. 8 1/2 in.) of today. These can be dated to around 2245 B.C. Similar grooved stone wagonways were used by the ancient Greeks, with a gauge of 1626 mm (5 ft. 4 ins.).
In Europe primitive railways were used in the Middle Ages, especially by miners. A stained glass window at Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, dating from about 1350, shows a miner pushing a tub on a railway.
The earliest known railway in Britain was built in 1603-4, and was about 3 km. long (2 miles). This used baulks of timber as the rails, on which wagons with flanged wheels were drawn by horses from coal pits at Strelley to Wollaton Lane End, near Nottingham. Other similar railways were built in the 17th century on Tyneside and near Ironbridge in Shropshire.
Such railways, used mainly to transport coal, were used and developed throughout the 18th century. Other names for these early lines were railroads (the word generally used in America for railways), wagonways, tramways and plateways (named after an early type of rail). Cast iron flanged wheels were made at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire from 1729. Various types of iron rails were also developed during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The standard gauge, of 1435 mm (4 ft. 8 1/2 ins.) was first established in 1764-5, on the Willington Colliery wagonway near Newcastle upon Tyne. Killingworth Colliery was part of this system, and it was here that George Stephenson later began working on steam engines.
Meanwhile steam power had been invented and used, as long ago as the late 17th century, by Newcomen and Watt. These were condensing steam engines, of the beam type, using atmospheric pressure, and were stationary. Richard Trevithick, of Cornwall, was the first to use high-pressure steam. He experimented with model steam locomotives from 1796, and by 1801 he made the first full-scale steam locomotive, which he used to pull a passenger carriage on a road. He designed the first ever locomotive to run on rails, at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire in 1803, for the narrow-gauge, 914 mm (3 ft.) 'plateway' system used there, although it is not certain it was ever actually built. He did, however, design and build a steam locomotive for the Penydarren Ironworks near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, but this turned out to be too heavy for the cast-iron plateway rails. He designed a third locomotive which was built in 1805 in County Durham, and was the first to run on flanged wheels. In 1808 he ran a steam locomotive on a circular track in London, as a publicity stunt. It caused much interest, but not enough, and he gave up working on locomotives. He later went to Peru to help set up his stationary steam engines at mines there, but lost all his money after a rebellion. He was rescued by Robert Stephenson, but later died in poverty in Dartford, Kent in 1833.
It was George Stephenson, father of Robert Stephenson, who really developed steam locomotives. He built his first one in 1813-14, and further ones later. In the early 1820's he was appointed by Edward Pease to build the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in County Durham. He built the first locomotive for this line, called 'Locomotion'. This was the first public railway to use steam from the beginning. It was opened in 1825. The line was used only for goods trains at first, and for passenger trains only from 1833, three years after the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M), which opened for goods and passenger trains from its opening in 1830.
The L&M Railway had George Stephenson as its chief engineer. There were several Acts of Parliament for this, the first being passed on 5th May, 1826, and the line was opened on 15th September, 1830. In spite of the progress over many years in steam locomotion, there were still doubts about it. The Rainhill Trials were held in October 1829, and it was George Stephenson's son Robert who won the £500 prize, for his locomotive 'Rocket'.
Mineral and industrial railways
Collieries in the St. Helens and Haydock areas used railways several years before the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M) in 1830. These lines used horses to pull the wagons. Another colliery railway, linking Pewfall Colliery with a wharf at Blackbrook was very ingenious, using gravity. Wagons were linked by a continuous chain, which went round large wheels at the top and bottom of the hill. The full wagons trundled down the hill to the wharf and the empty ones were pulled up at the same time.
There was a colliery line, using horses, linking the Haydock collieries with a shipping wharf on the Sankey Canal, beside Bradley Lock. This line was later linked to the L&M and Grand Junction Railways. This colliery line was not only used for coal, but there were branches to the Crown Glass Works, later the Glass Bottle Works (north of Crow Lane), the Vitriol Works, and even to Newton Racecourse. This branch is marked as 'Race Course Railway' on the Tithe Map dated 1839, and splits into five separate lines at its terminus near the Grandstand, at the top of Common Road.
The line to the Vitriol Works was later used by the Sankey Sugar Works. Within these works, a railway using horse-drawn wagons and trailers was used at least until 1908.
Early railways around Newton
In the 1820s Newton was only what we would think of today as a village. In the Census of 1821 the population was only 1,643. Newton owes its importance in railway terms to its position half-way between Liverpool and Manchester. With the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, Newton became destined to play a major role in the development of the U.K.'s railway system.
The first railway in Newton, however, was several years before 1830. Coal used to be taken in horse-draw wagons running on rails, from collieries in Haydock to a shipping wharf on the St.Helens Canal at Newton. When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was being built, a flat crossing had to be made for the colliery line, and two cottages built for men to 'police' the crossing.
In constructing the Liverpool and Manchester Railway the Chief Engineer, George Stephenson, recruited in 1826 a group of resident assistants, four young men who had been apprenticed to him and employed by his own contracting company.
- Joseph Locke, who was made responsible for the western end of the line.
- William Allcard, entrusted with the preliminary drainage of Chat Moss, before moving to the central section of the line.
- John Dixon, at 30 years the oldest of the four, looked after the eastern end of the line, including Chat Moss.
- Thomas Gooch, 18 years old, made nearly all the plans and working drawings for the line at the Railway's office in Clayton Street, Liverpool, and acted as Stephenson's secretary.
The men who built the Railway were either local or Irish. The supervisors mainly came from the north-east. They had been engaged in the construction of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Construction work began in 1826. By 1827, the main earthworks were started. During this time, Stephenson lived for a time in a cottage within sight of the Sankey Valley Viaduct which was then being built. Locally this viaduct, fourteen miles east of Liverpool, is the most spectacular engineering feature on the Railway. The chosen route of the Railway involved crossing the valley, through which passed the St.Helens Canal and the Sankey Brook. The engineers faced the problem of how to carry the Railway over the valley without disrupting traffic on the canal and avoiding steep gradients.
The solution was to form an embankment over the western half of the valley, starting near Collins Green station and running nine hundred yards east, rising to a height of sixty feet. From this embankment the line continued over the nine arch viaduct.
In June, 1827 work began on the western embankment. The contractor was a Mr. Greenshields. 100,000 tons of marl and moss, compacted with brushwood, were used in the construction, handled and transported with the simplest mechanical aids. The embankment was later planted with trees to blend it naturally into the surrounding countryside.
In Spring, 1828, work began on the Viaduct itself, with the sinking of 200 piles, driven between 25 and 30 feet in depth, to provide a solid foundation for 10 piers. Nine semi-circular arches, each of 50 feet span, were built of brick faced with stone, laid on sandstone slabs. It was joined to the embankment by retaining walls. The construction was later strengthened by stay bolts extending through the embankment and fastened outside each retaining wall. The width between the parapets on the top of the Viaduct is 25 feet. This was the first crossing in the world of a commercial waterway by a commercial mainline railway. To accommodate the Viaduct a loop in the canal was eliminated and the curve of the waterway altered to a constant radius.
The general design was by George Stephenson, Chief Engineer. Architectural features were by Thomas Gooch, Chief Draughtsman. The Resident Engineer was Mr. Holkyard, and his assistant was a Mr. Fife.
In the Summer of 1829 the piers were completed. The parapet walls were finished by February, 1830. The majestic Viaduct was now virtually finished, carrying the double track 70 feet above the valley floor. Excursion trains were run from both ends of the line, to enable passengers to view the Viaduct before the Railway was officially opened. The Viaduct was not in fact fully completed until July, 1833 (3 years after the Railway opened) with the addition of coping on to the parapet walls. The total cost of construction was £45,208 18s. 6d.
The Sandy Mains or Newton Embankment carried the line out of the valley, 40 feet high towards Newton. Further east Newton Bridge was built, comprising four arches, each with a span of 30 feet, and 27 feet high, built like the Sankey Viaduct of stone-faced brickwork and it spanned the Warrington to Wigan Turnpike ( the present day A49 road). A fifth, much smaller arch spanned Newton Brook where it became the old mill dam. It was completed in 1828. It gave the engineers valuable experience before completing the much larger Sankey Viaduct.
At this point, Colonel Legh built a hotel, the Legh Arms, as part of the first Newton Station, to provide accommodation and refreshment for passengers halfway along the Railway. This was a different building from the present Legh Arms, which was built on another site in 1852.
Early locomotives were unable to complete the full journey between Liverpool and Manchester without stopping to refill with coal and water. Parkside, to the east of Newton became a halt where engines could be serviced. This was also the location of the accident on the opening day of the Railway, on 15th September, 1830, when William Huskisson, the M.P. for Liverpool was fatally injured. The incident is commemorated by a trackside memorial, which has been completely refurbished and was re-dedicated in June, 2001.
The Kenyon Cutting is the greatest single earthwork on the line. Construction began in May, 1827. Nearly 3/4 of a million cubic yards of material were excavated, much of it used to form the nearby Newton and Brosley embankments.
Another railway line was built soon afterwards. This was the Warrington and Newton Railway, completed in June, 1831. This provided a link with both the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Haydock Colliery Railway, enabling coal to be carried quickly to Warrington.
The meeting with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway created the world's first railway junction. A station, sometimes known as Newton Junction and sometimes as Warrington Junction, was built at this point. The original station building still stands, and is now known as Earlestown Station.
This junction was constructed with a much tighter curve than became usual later. An extract from the 'General Regulations Applicable to all Servants of the London and North-Western Company', dated 1847, reads:
All trains passing from or to Liverpool, Manchester, and the Grand Junction Railway at Newton, are to slacken speed so that the same shall not exceed five miles an hour before passing from one line to the other.
There were further railway developments at Newton. In 1832 the North Union Railway linked the L&M Railway with Wigan, with another junction at Parkside. The triangular layout of lines at Newton Junction (later Earlestown) was completed by the construction of the east curve in 1837. The triangular layout at Parkside was completed by the construction of the west curve in 1847.
In 1845, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway became part of the Grand Junction Railway. This merged with the London and Birmingham Railway to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in July, 1846.
Later, in 1864 a 'cut off' line was opened, linking Winwick Junction with Golborne Junction.
The Railway Companies
The first railway company in the North-West was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company (L&M) first formed in 1826. The Warrington and Newton Railway was the next, their line being completed in 1831.
The Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Company (which had consolidated with a rival company, the Birmingham and Liverpool Railway Company!) decided to build their line so that it would join with the Warrington and Newton Railway, at Warrington. In late 1832, the Liverpool and Manchester and the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Companies decided to unite under the title of Grand Junction Railway Company. Their complete new railway, from Birmingham via Warrington to Newton, to connect with the L&M Railway, was opened in 1835, linking the West Midlands with Liverpool, the second largest port in the country.
Meanwhile, a new line had been built from St.Helens, the St.Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, the company being formed in 1830. By the 1840s, this was in financial difficulties and decided to amalgamate with the Sankey Brook Canal Navigation Company, which also had financial problems, to form the St.Helens Canal and Railway Company. The new company came into being in 1845. This new venture became a great rival of the Grand Junction Railway, each company producing various competing schemes for new lines. Another new company was formed, the North Union Railway.
This was built in two sections, linking Bolton to Leigh, and Leigh to Kenyon, in 1832, where a junction was made with the L&M Railway. The Vulcan Foundry made their first locomotive, the 'Tayleur', for the Bolton to Leigh line.
In 1846, the London and North-Western Railway Company (LNWR) was formed by the amalgamation of the Grand Junction, Manchester and Birmingham and the London and Birmingham Railways. In 1853, the Viaduct Works were leased from the partnership of Jones and Potts by the LNWR. One of the directors of the company was Sir Hardman Earle. Earlestown was named in appreciation of his efforts. Labour was brought in for the Viaduct Works from the Railway Company's Ordsall Lane Works in Manchester (including a number of Welshmen), and over 600 houses were built for them by 1860.
The LNWR lasted for 77 years and during that time became an integral part of the life of Newton, especially in Earlestown. In 1923, the LNWR became part of the newly-formed London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). Under the Railways Act of 1921, a total of 123 separate railway companies in Britain were amalgamated into just four groups. These were the LMS, the London and North Eastern, the Great Western, and the Southern. The grouping came into effect on 1st January 1923, and the LMS continued the close association with Earlestown which the LNWR had begun.
Nationalisation
When the Labour Government was elected in 1945, they announced a proposal to nationalise railways, canals and long-distance road haulage. The Transport Act was passed in 1947 and took effect from 18th January, 1948.
The new nationalised railway system was called British Railways This was divided into six regions: Scottish, North Eastern, London Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern.
The Viaduct Works were nationalised as part of the former London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), so British Railways continued the long association with Earlestown laid down by the London and North Western Railway and LMS.
Decline of the railways
Just as the canals lost business to the railways so to the railways lost business to road transport as this improved and developed during the 20th century, especially from about the 1950's.
In 1960 Dr. Richard Beeching was appointed by the government to 'rationalise' the rail system. Under his guidance the rail network was reduced from 30,209 km. (18,771 miles) in 1960 to 21,342 km. (13,261 miles) in 1969. As part of this rationalisation of the rail system the Viaduct Works in Earlestown was finally closed in 1964, after 131 years, although of course the railway lines laid down in the 19th century still remained, as did Earlestown and Newton Stations. There were proposals to close these, but fortunately they were not carried out.
Another change in 1964 was that the name British Railways was changed to British Rail. At the same time the lion and wheel crest (which had been redesigned in 1956) was replaced by the emblem of two horizontal lines and two arrow heads. This symbol is still universally used as symbol for stations, even now the rail system has been privatised.
Privatisation
In 1992 the Conservative Government published proposals for privatisation of the railways. These were put into effect by the Railways Act in 1993. The British Rail system was broken up unto separate private companies, but in a different way from how they had been before nationalisation in 1948.
An organisation, Railtrack, was given responsibility for the track and infrastructure (including bridges, tunnels and stations). A separate unit then sold franchises to independent operators to run passenger services. The freight and parcels business was also sold off separately, bit by bit, to the private sector.
Locally, a proposal for the future is the planned Railtrack development on the site of the former Parkside Colliery.