Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal Company
After the completion of the Manchester & Leeds Railway (M&LR) in 1841, which passed three miles to the north of Huddersfield, a number of schemes were proposed to provide a rail link to the town.
In April 1844 the Huddersfield & Manchester Railway & Canal scheme was proposed with the aim of building a line through Huddersfield with a capital of £600,000:
- a high-level line northwards from Huddersfield to the existing Manchester & Leeds Railway (M&LR) station at Cooper Bridge
- a high-level line southwards from Huddersfield to connect to the proposed station at Stalybridge, which was to be the terminus of both the Ashton-under-Lyne to Stalybridge Branch of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Railway (SA&MR) and also the Ashton, Stalybridge and Liverpool Junction Railway (AS&LJR)
The members of the company's provisional committee included Joseph Walker of Lascelles Hall, Joseph Armitage of Milnsbridge House, and William Leigh Brook of Meltham Hall.
The company's Parliamentary Act was given Royal Assent on 21 July 1845. A second shorter Act was passed in July 1846 to amend the route through Huddersfield and to formally agree that a section of the line — including the section through Huddersfield Railway Station — would be operated jointly with the Huddersfield & Sheffield Junction Railway (H&SJR). The two companies also agreed to jointly operate the new railway station.
At a meeting held on 28 February 1846, the company decided against becoming part of the proposed Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR).[1] Instead, the MS&LR was formed on 1 January 1847 from the following companies:
- Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction Railway (S&LJR)
- Great Grimsby & Sheffield Junction Railway (GG&SJR)
- Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Railway (SA&MR)
The company was acquired in 1847 by the London & North Western Railway (L&NWR).
Although the Manchester & Huddersfield Railway Company no longer existed as a separate entity, its logo was incorporated into the right-hand booking office of the railway station at Huddersfield.
Further Reading
- Articles about the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway
- The Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester Railway: The Standedge Line (1984) by Martin Bairstow
- Books about the Standedge Line
- Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal: Prospectus
Route
The early route of the line from Stalybridge through to the junctions with the M&LR are shown below:
Notes and References
- ↑ "Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal" in Railway Times (07/Mar/1846).