Old railway line in Warrington

[Cheshire Lines Committee]

Old railway line in Warrington
Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'm wondering if anyone could help me with information about old railway infrastructure.

I want to ask about an old spur of the CLC line through Warrington to Manchester. When i was a child we used to play on a number of old disused railway embankments through Bewsey and Orford, Warrington. There were no bridges or rail still in place by this time (mid-eighties) and i'd forgotten about them until I recently found an old rail map showing this "spur". (The yellow line. It by-passed Warrington Central, was accessed from "Sankey junction" and rejoined todays existing line at "Padgate junction". It crossed the WCML near to the old Dallam sheds.)



I also found these pictures of the old bridges in, first Bewsey (then and now) and Orford.





I was wondering what the line was for, when/why it closed etc, as much info as you're able to give. There are lot's of interesting old lines in Warrington but I'm especially interested in because of my childhood memories.

Cheers.

[childwallblues]

RE: Old railway line in Warrington
The line that you refer to was the "direct line" and by-passed Warrington Central. It was used by all trains that did not need to stop at Warrington Central. Examples were freight plus passenger special trains to Southport and Aintree Central (for race days).Unsure when it was closed. I assume the 1960s but will try to be more exact.

[Cheshire Lines Committee]

RE: Old railway line in Warrington
Hi, "Childwall Blues", thanks for the reply.

I had guessed that it was some form of diversionary or freight line but I'm quite surprised that it was used merely to by-pass WAC. I don't suppose there's a great deal of mystery into why it was closed. It couldn't have shaved more than three or four minutes off a journey and must have been expensive to maintain for very little use. Still I would love to see a photograph of a steam locomotive thundering down there! Or even a picture of the massive bridge that must have been required to cross the WCML and Dallam sheds.

[507022]

RE: Old railway line in Warrington
I think this had something to do with the rivalry between the three railway companies operating between Liverpool and Manchester before grouping in 1923.
The L&Y (via Kirkby and Wigan) the LNWR (via Chat Moss) and the CLC (via Warrington) were competing to see who had the fastest journey between the two cities and I think all could do the journey in about 40 mins. The CLC built the spur to bypass Warrington Central to shave a few minutes of the time, in order to match or beat the timings of the other two.

[SNL 824]

RE: Old railway line in Warrington
Now that's what I call competition!

[enrag2000]

RE: Old railway line in Warrington

(26/06/2013 17:16)childwallblues Wrote:  The line that you refer to was the "direct line" and by-passed Warrington Central. It was used by all trains that did not need to stop at Warrington Central. Examples were freight plus passenger special trains to Southport and Aintree Central (for race days).Unsure when it was closed. I assume the 1960s but will try to be more exact.

I have an old book "Passengers No More" which gives the closure of this line to passenger services as 3rd July 1967.