Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway

West Riding Union Railways, 18 August 1846 – 17 November 1846

Ashton, Stalybridge and Liverpool Junction Railway, 19 July 1844 – 9 July 1847

Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway, 31 July 1845 – 9 July 1847

Manchester and Southport Railway, 22 July 1847 – 3 July 1854 (joint ELR)

Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway, 2 July 1847 – 14 June 1855

Blackburn Railway, 24 July 1851 – 12 July 1858 (joint ELR)

Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway, 9 July 1847 – 24 July 1851

Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton Railway, 30 June 1845 – 9 July 1847

Blackburn, Clitheroe and North Western Junction Railway, 27 July 1846 – 9 July 1847

Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Goole Railway, 7 August 1846 – 2 August 1858 (acquired northern half of line)

East Lancashire Railway, 21 July 1845 – 13 May 1859

Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway, 4 July 1844 – 21 July 1845

Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington and Colne Extension Railway, 30 June 1845 – 21 July 1845

Blackburn and Preston Railway, 6 June 1844 – 3 August 1846

Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway, 18 August 1846 – October 1846

Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway, 27 July 1846 – 17 June 1866 (joint LNWR)

Preston and Longridge Railway, 14 July 1836 – 23 June 1856

Blackpool and Lytham Railway, 17 May 1861 – 29 June 1871 (joint LNWR)

Lancashire Union Railway, 25 July 1864 – 16 July 1883 (joint LNWR)

North Union Railway, 22 May 1834 – 26 July 1889 (joint LNWR)

Wigan Branch Railway, 29 May 1830 – 22 May 1834

Preston and Wigan Railway, 22 April 1831 – 22 May 1834

Bolton and Preston Railway, 15 June 1837 – 10 May 1844

Bury and Tottington District Railway, 2 August 1877 – 24 July 1888

West Lancashire Railway, 14 August 1871 – 15 July 1897

Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway, 7 August 1884 – 15 July 1897

Joint lines

The L&YR was a co-owner of several joint railways and joint stations. Besides those listed above, they included:

Axholme Joint Railway (L&YR, NER)

Halifax and Ovenden Junction Railway (GNR, L&YR)

Halifax High Level Railway (GNR, L&YR)

Huddersfield railway station (LNWR, L&YR)

Knottingley railway station (GNR, L&YR)

Leeds Central railway station (GNR, LNWR, L&YR, NER)

Methley Joint Railway (GNR, L&YR, NER)

South Yorkshire Joint Railway (GCR, GNR, L&YR, MR, NER)

Wakefield Kirkgate railway station (GNR, L&YR)

Unless otherwise stated, the owning railways had equal shares. In addition, the L&YR had a one-third stake in the Dearne Valley Railway, the remaining two-thirds of which was owned by private shareholders.

The system

The system consisted of many branches and alternative routes, so that it is not easy to determine the location of its main line. For working purposes the railway was split into three divisions:

Western Division:

Manchester to Blackpool and Fleetwood;

Manchester to Bolton, Wigan, Southport and Liverpool; and the direct line to Liverpool;

East Lancashire or Central Division

Manchester to Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Todmorden, Accrington, Burnley and Colne. It also included the connection to the LNWR at Stockport for through traffic to London.

Eastern Division:

Todmorden to Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Normanton, Goole, and Doncaster.

Whereas there were various lines split between the Central and Western Divisions there was only one route connecting the Eastern and Central Divisions. This line cut through the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire using a number of long tunnels, the longest of which was Summit Tunnel (2,885 yards (2,638 m) in length) near Rochdale. There were six other tunnels each more than 1,000 yards (900 m) long.

Manchester Victoria railway station

Manchester Victoria railway station was one of the largest railway stations in the country at the time. It occupied 13+1⁄2 acres (55,000 m2) and had 17 platforms with a total length of 9,332 feet (2,844 m). After the grouping, a structural change led platform 11 to run through and join with platform 3 in the LNWR's adjacent Exchange station; at 2,238 feet (682 m) between ramps it became the longest railway platform in Britain. Lately the station capacity has been reduced to two platforms for Metrolink trams, two bay platforms, and four through platforms under Manchester Arena, which now replaces a significant area once occupied by the station. The main façade and station building of the original Hunts Bank station still exist and are kept in relatively good condition.

Electrification

The L&YR was the first in the country to electrify a mainline route, and when amalgamated into the LNWR in 1922, the combined total length of the suburban lines in Liverpool and Manchester reached 46 miles (74 km), with the main principle routes being:

Liverpool Exchange – Southport and Crossens: 22 March 1904

Liverpool – Aintree (two routes): July and December 1906

Southport – Meols Cop: 1909

Aintree – Ormskirk: 1913

Bury Bolton Street - Holcombe Brook: 1913 (Converted to 3rd Rail in 1918)

Manchester Victoria - Bury Bolton Street: 1916

Liverpool to Southport

The first route to be electrified was between Liverpool Exchange and Southport. The primary reasoning for this was due to the line because increasingly traffic heavy, with up to 36 through and 40 local trains daily, with the terminating facilities at Liverpool Exchange no longer able to cope with any more additional traffic. Alongside this, the completion of the electrification of the Liverpool Tramways Company's lines in 1901 also saw passenger numbers decrease, and such the decision to electrify the route was put forward as early as 1902 by the recently appointed General Manager John Audley Frederick Aspinall.

It was originally intended for the services on the line to be mixed traffic, making use of both current steam traction and the to-be-built electric stock, with single coach electric units being considered. This would ultimately be rejected, with all passenger services to be operated by electric stock. Come October 1902, the final decisions had been made, and it was decided that Dick, Kerr & Co. would be the ones to undertake the electrification of the whole route, with the overall estimated cost coming in at £286,724 for the full Southport to Liverpool line. In 1903, the L&YR Board decided that the line between Southport and Crossens would also be electrified, due to the large residential population along the route.

The line would first be electrified first using a fourth rail system, similar to what had been used on the tube railways in London, with the positive rail being energised at 650 Volts D.C. (Then trains themselves would only require 600). As standard, a fourth rail would be laid down the middle for the return current, although this would be later removed. The L&YR would have a power station built between Hightown and Formby by the River Alt, referred to as "Power House", in order to provide the necessary power required for the full route. Four sub-stations would also be constructed, one at Power House itself, then at Bank Hall, Seaforth and Litherland, and Birkdale. It has been noted that the speed at which the route was electrified was remarkably quick, with partial services beginning on 22 March 1904, with full services starting on 13 May, roughly two years after the final decisions had been made.

Extensions to the Liverpool and Southport line

In 1906, the old North Mersey Branch to Aintree would be electrified, with services beginning on 1 June. In the meanwhile, the line from Aintree to Kirkdale was also being electrified, with services beginning in December of the same year. On the line between Crossens and Southport, electric services would reach Meols Cop on 15 February 1909, with only one platform being electrified as to permit trains to pull in and reverse out again to either Southport and Crossens, with the aid of the triangle junction just West of Meols Cop, which itself would see and new workshop built in the middle of it in 1912, coming into use the following year. On the 1 October 1909, electrification on the North Mersey Branch would reach Maghull, with services reaching Town Green on 3 July 1911, before finally reaching Ormskirk on 12 July 1913. A new terminus station for the North Mersey Branch would open to the public in 1914, referred to as Gladstone Dock, not to be confused with the later Liverpool Overhead Railway station of the same name, using the Lightweight Stock that was now surplus due to the withdrawal of the Southport to Dingle services. The station would not be profitable, due to passengers favouring the nearby and more convenient Seaforth Sands railway station, and was closed in 1924 by the LMS.

Liverpool Overhead Railway connection

By 2 July 1905, a new connecting route from Seaforth and Litherland to the Liverpool Overhead Railway at Seaforth Sands railway station was opened, permitting the L&YR to operate services from Southport to Dingle, with this service beginning on 2 February 1906, running hourly. Whilst the trains of the LOR would not run beyond Seaforth and Litherland, specially laid on services did run up to Aintree, in order to serve the Grand National at Aintree.

Manchester to Bury

Due to the notable success of the electrification in the Liverpool area, the L&YR moved to see the lines it owned around Manchester similarly electrified, although only two lines would have this done so, the Bury Line, and notably short branch to Holcombe Brook. The Bury Line would be electrified during the Holcombe Brook experiment, although to the L&YR's now standard fourth rail system. Although unlike the other systems, the rail would be energised to 1200 V D.C., which necessitated the collector shoes to make contact on the side of the rail instead. Alongside this, similar to the Southport lines, the fourth rail would be removed. A power station would be constructed at Clifton Junction, although this would close in 1933, with power taken from the National Grid. The line re-opened with electric services on 7 April 1916.

Holcombe Brook Branch

The small branch up to Holcombe Brook would be the first line electrified in 1913, although this was due to Dick, Kerr & Co. wishing to experiment with a new electrification system much different from that seen in Liverpool at their expense, as they had a potential contract in South America that could benefit from this. This would be in the form of overhead lines, energised to 3500 V D.C., and a notably simple catenary construction. Service would begin in July 1913, and last until 1918, when the line would be converted to a similar system used on the then newly electrified Bury line.

Rolling Stock

For the newly electrified lines in Liverpool, and later Manchester, new bespoke stock was constructed. One notable feature of most stock on the Liverpool lines is that due to the incredibly wide loading-gauge of the lines out of Liverpool Exchange, stock was able to be built to 10 ft (3 m) in width, which not only gave them a very distinct look, but also made them the widest stock built in the UK before or since.. Stock on the Manchester lines would be built to the standard UK loading gauge.. All stock would be painted in the L&YR's standard coaching stock livery buff and purple-brown.

Livery

Locomotives of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway were originally painted dark green with ornate brasswork and copper-capped chimneys. Lining was black and white. In 1876 the dark green was changed to a light green and goods engines were painted plain black. 1878 saw the goods locomotives also appearing in light green. This livery was discontinued from 1883 when all locomotives were painted black. Lining was red and white for passenger locomotives and, if present, red only for goods locomotives.

Passenger coaching stock was originally painted teak, changing in 1875 to an overall light brown. In 1879 a decision was made to use 'a little brighter shade'. Finally in June 1881 it was announced that the lower panels were to be painted 'lake colour'. Between 1896 and 1914 the upper panels became buff with the lower in purple-brown, ends were dark brown. Roofs were normally dark grey but some did appear in red oxide.

Wagons were unpainted until 1902 except for the ironwork which was black. After 1902 it was painted dark grey. The graphical symbol of an inverted solid triangle within a circle was replaced in 1902–03 with the letters LY. Brake vans were black and special traffic wagons were painted in various colours, such as red for gunpowder, white for fish, and pale blue for butter.

The football team of the L&YR Carriage and Wagon works at Newton Heath, Manchester, evolved into Manchester United F.C.

Post-grouping history

On 25 March 1921, the L&YR and LNWR agreed terms under which the two railways would amalgamate. Before this could occur, the Railways Act 1921 became law on 19 August 1921, under which the L&YR and LNWR would be forced to amalgamate on 1 January 1923 with each other and with other railways, such as the Midland Railway and the Caledonian Railway. The Act included provisions for two or more railways to amalgamate voluntarily before 1923; and the L&YR and LNWR took the opportunity to implement their March 1921 agreement, and on 1 January 1922 both railways were dissolved and a new company was formed, which was also named the London and North Western Railway; its board of twenty directors included six from the former L&YR. The 1923 Grouping duly occurred one years later, which involved the expanded LNWR forming part of the new London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The general manager, secretary and chief mechanical engineer positions of the expanded company were taken by L&YR employees. Ex-L&YR lines formed the core of the LMS's Central Division.

The LMS did little to develop the former L&YR routes, which in many places ran parallel to ex-LNWR or ex-Midland routes now forming part of the same network. Nationalisation followed in 1948 followed by a period of rationalisation and modernisation. The L&YR system has survived largely intact, although the following routes have been closed, many within the L&YR's old East Lancashire division:

Bury to Manchester (converted to Manchester Metrolink operation in 1992)

Bury to Clifton Junction, closed 1966

Bury/Radcliffe to Bolton, closed 1970

Bury to Rochdale, closed to regular passenger traffic 1970, but now partly preserved as the East Lancashire Railway heritage railway line

Bury to Accrington/Bacup, closed to regular passenger traffic in 1966, but now partly preserved as the East Lancashire Railway heritage railway line

Bury to Holcombe Brook, fully closed 1963

Rochdale to Bacup, fully closed 1967

Rochdale to Manchester via Oldham – The Oldham Loop, now converted to Manchester Metrolink operation

Blackburn to Burnley via Padiham – The North Lancs or Great Harwood Loop, closed 1964

Blackburn to Chorley, closed 1960

Preston to Southport, closed 1964

Preston to Longridge, closed 1930

Southport to Altcar, closed 1952

The routes today

Most ex-L&YR routes are now operated by Northern. Manchester Victoria station has been rebuilt in a more modest form and retains the former terminal building. The Caldervale Line, as named by West Yorkshire Metro, is also operated by Northern and uses a large part of the former L&YR.

A collision between a London and North Western Railway (LNWR) empty stock train and a passenger train at Huddersfield, Yorkshire on 21 April 1905 killed two people. The driver of the LNWR train had overrun signals, but fatigue was a contributory factor.

The Hall Road rail accident at Blundellsands in what is now Merseyside on 27 July 1905 saw 20 killed and 48 injured when two Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway electric passenger trains collided due to human error on the part of a signalman and a train driver.

Two locomotives were shunted into a siding at Hindley & Blackrod Junction, Lancashire on 22 January 1909, but one of them remained foul of the main line. A passenger train collided with it, killing one person and injuring 33.

A passenger train was derailed on the Charlestown Curve when the track spread under it on 21 June 1912. Four people were killed and twelve were injured.

A freight train became divided on 28 October 1913. The rear portion ran back and was derailed at Lockwood, Yorkshire.

On 18 March 1915, an express passenger train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with an empty stock train at Smithy Bridge, Lancashire. Four people were killed and 33 were injured.

A viaduct at Penistone, Yorkshire collapsed on 2 February 1916 due to subsidence. A locomotive was on the bridge at the time, but its crew had time to escape before it fell.

A freight train became divided at Pendlebury, Lancashire. The rear portion was too heavy for the banking locomotive to hold, and it was pushed back downhill and derailed by catch points, as were the wagons.

The Lostock Junction train collision near Bolton on 17 July 1920 saw four fatalities and 148 injured as the result of a near head-on collision between two Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway passenger trains due to a signal having been passed at danger