Liverpool and Bury Railway
Liverpool & Bury Railway was formed in 1845 and opened 28 November 1848.
The line ran from Bury via Bolton and Kirkby to Kirkdale, where it shared lines with the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway into Great Homer Street railway station.
Railway communication out of Liverpool, otherwise than by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was first given by the Liverpool and Bury Railway, which started in Great Howard-street, Liverpool, and passed through Wigan and Bolton. When the Bury line was opened on November 20th, 1848, the Castleton - Bury line was extended a short distance to join it. The present Exchange Station in Liverpool, then known as Tithebarn-street, was opened on May 13th, 1850. [1]
Later the terminus was moved to Liverpool Exchange.
In 1846 it merged with the Manchester and Leeds Railway
Tithebarn Street Station - 1850 Report [2]
'LIVERPOOL. One of the immediate effects of the completion of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was to make the latter town a great centre from which the supply of the manufacturing districts diverged. Many of these places were felt to be of too great importance to rely upon a single and indirect market, and hence it was resolved to connect them with the Liverpool seaport, on which they so much depended.
'Amongst the places so circumstanced were Wigan, Bolton, and Bury; to connect which with Liverpool, the Liverpool, Bolton, and Bury Railway Company was formed. Subsequent events changed and extended the design, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire and the East Lancashire Railways became jointly interested in the speculation as a great artery for their traffic. These companies found it essential to make Liverpool a grand terminus; and, by their united efforts, the people of Liverpool possess not only an independent competing line to Manchester, but a direct communication with the whole of the important districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire.
'The new station in Tithebarn-street, which we have engraved, will form a terminus for three distinct lines. The Lancashire and Yorkshire will carry the traffic of the two Ridings; the East Lancashire will conduct the business of that district of the county whose name it bears and the Liverpool and Southport, which will be amalgamated with the first-named railway, will open out the traffic through Bootle and Waterloo. The entrance to the town may be said to commence at the Walton Tunnel. Immediately afier leaving the tunnel, the line crosses the Leeds and Liverpool Canal by a wooden bowstring bridge, of a novel and peculiar construction. A short embankment succeeds, followed by a series of arches and bridges, by which the road is carried to the temporary station in Great Howard-street. Here it crosses the London and North-Western Railway means of a brick arch, of large span and exquisite workmanship, and after a few more arches it reaches the canal bank, where the new works commence. It should be stated that the arches just alluded to are the joint work of Messrs. Holme and M'Cormick, and are creditable specimens of their ability.
'The new works, as already stated, commence at the canal bank, and extend to the terminus in Tithebarn-street. They are constructed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, from the designs of their engineer, John Hawkshaw, Esq., and under the immediate direction of Wm. Dodds, Esq., resident engineer.
'Perhaps no instance can be found in which so much work has been done in so short a time, and not only performed, but substantially executed. The contractors were Messrs. George Thomson and Co., who undertook the whole of the works, with the exception of the iron roof and lattice-bridges. The Butterly Iron Company executed the four lattice-bridges ; and Messrs. Galloway, of Manchester, furnished the iron-work for the remaining bridges. The whole of the work has been constructed with a view to durability, and at the same time it has been advanced as rapidly as the safe furtherance of so large an undertaking required.
'To give some idea of the rapidity of the work, it may be stated that 540 houses and a church have been pulled down to make way for the works. The contractors got possession of the first house on the 7th May, 1849, and the last the 21st of August, 1849. The mason-work began on the 4th of June, and the last arch was keyed on the 8th November. As many men as could possibly be employed were taken on, and upwards of a hundred horses were kept at work. The contractors’ foremen were C. M'Gaw and J. Knox, masons, and John Tattersall and John Jamieson for the joiners’ work.
'We have not space to describe the extension, but pass on to the Station.
'From Edmund-street to Tithebarn-street the line is continued by means of eleven thirty-feet brick besides eleven eighteen-feet arches for the approaches. The arches by which the approaches are supported are semicircular, five of them being appropriated to the west approach and six to the eastern. The end of the works in Tithebarn-street is supported by an abutment 155 feet long. The entire width of the station from Key-street to Bixteth-street is 240 feet.
'The interior presents ample accommodation for the traffic of the lines. There are five lines of rails into the station. Each company will have a separate departure station, but the arrival station will be for common use. The arrival platform is 630 feet long, and more than an acre of flags will be laid down.
'The passengers’ station at Tithebarn-street is completely covered in by two iron roofs, one of which is of great magnitude, being 136 feet span at the widest end, and 128 feet span at the narrowest end, the total length being 638 feet. The width is in one entire span, without any intermediate supports. The area, thus covered by this single roof alone, is 83,457 square feet. The smaller roof is 78 feet in the clear span, and 161 feet long. It is, however, the larger roof which we intend to describe, and to which beg to call the attention of our readers. This roof, both regards the framing and the covering, entirely of iron, and is constructed with a series of wrought-iron framed principals.
'The roof is lighted by four lines of skylights, and is ventilated galvanised wrought-iron courses. The covering ot the roof is entirely of galvanised, corrugated iron plates, lapped over each other, the joints well riveted with rivets and washers, which ate also galvanised. This roof has been erected by Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co., of Birmingham. The booking-offices and waiting-rooms are in a handsome stone building, in the Italian style of architecture, having a frontage to Tithebarn-street of 117 feet; and, at right angles to this, two wings, one story high—the one having a frontage to Key-street of 193 feet, and the other to Bixteth-street of 193 feet. That to Key-street stands about 30 feet, and to Bixteth-street about 60 feet from the street. In these are contained two distinct sets of waiting and refreshmentrooms, one for either company. The elevation of each of these wings towards the street consists of eighteen handsome windows, surrounded wiih finely-polished stone dressings, and surmounted bold cornices and finely-carved trusses. The spaces between these windows are filled in with rock-laced work, which shows the dressings to the windows to great advantage, and gives the elevation a very architectural and chaste appearance; the whole being surmounted a bold cornice and parapet.
'The front to Tithebarn-street consists of a two-story building, containing booking-office for each company, 36 feet by 26 feet inches, and 20 feet high, and over these the committee-rooms and other offices. The elevation consists of a lofty and beautiful rusticated basement, having circular-head d windows and handsome elliptical entrance arch, which forms the division between the offices of the two companies; and lofty upper story of tooled ashlar, the windows being surrounded with polished stone dressings, surmounted by moulded pediments supported ou finely-carved trusses. The whole being crowned by bold cornice 3 feet thick, enriched with modellions dentils, and a row of finely-carved heads on the top, has a very fine appearance. The total height of this elevation is 50 feet from the base, and 90 feet above the level of Tithebarn-street.
'The station will be approached from Tithebarn-street, two large ornamented iron gates, having massive stone piers. From these an incline road, 30 feet wide, brings carriages to the level of the platform, while the approach tor foot-passengers will be by a flight of highly ernamented stone steps. In front of the booking-offices, ana on a level with the platform, is considerable open space, surrounded by ornamental balustrade, which also runs down the incline road next Bixteth-street, and adds much to the general effect of the whole. Seen from the top of Moorfields, this building has a very fine appearance, being second in architectural effect to none in Liverpool, yet it has been completed in the short space of six months. The extension will be opened on Monday next.'
See Also
Sources of Information
[1] Wikipedia