The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Businessmen in Liverpool engaged George Stephenson to build one of his new-fangled railways.
1830
King William IV 1830-1837
Businessmen in Liverpool engaged George Stephenson to build one of his new-fangled railways.
1830
King William IV 1830-1837
The first purpose-built freight and passenger railway line linking two cities was opened in 1830, joining the port of Liverpool with the mills around Manchester. The social and economic impact was instant, bringing more real and tangible benefit to Britain’s common man than he had ever known before.
ON May 24th, 1823, Liverpool corn merchant Henry Booth founded the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, to build nothing less than the world’s first intercity railway. The canals had created lucrative markets by linking the port at Liverpool to bustling manufacturing towns inland, but were overwhelmed by rising demand.
The Company really wanted George Stephenson and his son Robert to survey the line, but Robert, who did all George’s maths, was in South America. When John Rennie missed a historic opportunity by overcharging, George returned, bringing Joseph Locke, a colliery manager’s boy, as his assistant. Together, they addressed every problem with innovation and flair.
The Sankey Canal and the tall sails of the Mersey flats were spanned by a record-breaking nine-arched viaduct.* The line floated across boggy Chat Moss on nearly five miles of heather bundles topped with tar and rubble. After George’s preferred route was thwarted by landowners, he sliced a two-mile diversion through the sandstone of cliff-sided Olive Mount Cutting.*
Mersey flats were flat-bottomed canal boats powered by tall sails and capable of carrying up to 80 tons of goods. They plied the canals between Liverpool and Manchester prior to the advent of the railways, and lasted until as late the 1890s.
There is a striking picture at Olive Mount Cutting (Wikimedia Commons). The depth reaches 80ft.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company formed in 1823?
Because canals could not handle growing traffic.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Several canals connected Liverpool and Manchester. There was too much freight for them. Businessmen decided to build a railway.