Manchester and Cheshire Junction Railway
In the last months of 1835 two other schemes with Manchester backing surfaced, and these were to prove more significant.
The Manchester and Cheshire Junction Railway put forward plans for a line surveyed by J. U. Rastrick running 30 miles from a terminus in Store Street to a junction with the Grand Junction Railway line at Crewe. The line was to run through open country; the towns of Stockport, Macclesfield, and Congleton, and the collieries of Poynton were to be served by branches.
In favour of the line were its relative shortness, the fact that it would run through easy country and would therefore not be difficult or expensive to build, and a saving of 15 miles on the distance to Birmingham. Against it was a route that did not serve any town and passed through a purely agricultural district, without coal or other minerals.
The Grand Junction was supportive, seeing the line as a useful potential feeder. Despite such significant support, the company’s Bill was rejected by the Lords in 1836 even though it had passed the Commons.