Manchester and Bolton Railway
1824 December 23rd. Manchester and Bolton Railroad Company formed. Chairman is Thomas Worthington with fourteen (named) others forming the committee. [1]
1825 January 4th. Meeting held at the Albion Hotel, Manchester. George Stephenson appointed to survey the line and Mr. Piggot and John Crook to accompany him. [2]
1825 February 17th. Business in Parliament. Manchester and Bolton Railway. [3]
1825 February 23rd. Business in Parliament. [4]
1825 March 2nd. Business in Parliament. [5]
1825 July. The bill presented to Parliament was rejected. [6]
1831 It was sanctioned to convert the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal into a railway and to build the Kearsley branch - a total length of 11 miles. This proposal was subsequently modified; the railway was built parallel to the canal from Salford to Clifton Junction, and then took a direct route to Bolton, and was opened on May 29th, 1838[7] - see Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway
There were two noticeable features about this line: (1) The trains ran on the right-hand and not the left-hand pair of metals; and (2) the rails were laid on longitudinal wooden sleepers, then being introduced on the Great Western Railway. [8]
1924 The canal still exists, and is the property of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.