Ashton, Stalybridge and Liverpool Junction Railway

Ashton, Stalybridge and
Liverpool Junction Railway

Legend

Mainline and Connections 1847

To Huddersfield

under construction by the LNWR

Stalybridge L&YR

Stalybridge (SAMR)

Link may not have

opened until 1849

to Ardwick

to Stalybridge

AS&LJR to Ardwick

(under construction)

Ardwick (SAMR)

L&NWR

to Stockport

Manchester London Road (SAMR)

M&LR

to Rochdale

Miles Platting (M&LR)

Manchester Oldham Road (M&LR)

Manchester

Victoria (M&LR)

L&NWR

to Liverpool Lime Street

					AS&LJR lines
					Ashton, Stalybridge and Liverpool Junction Railway (AS&LJR)
					Ashton, Stalybridge and Liverpool Junction Railway (AS&LJR) under construction
					Other lines
					Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR)
					Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway (SAMR)
					London and North Western Railway (L&NWR)

The Ashton, Stalybridge and Liverpool Junction Railway was opened in 1846 to connect the industrial town of Ashton-under-Lyne to the developing railway network, and in particular to the port of Liverpool. It was a short line, joining the Manchester and Leeds Railway at Miles Platting (east of Manchester) and the connection to Liverpool was over that line and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

A branch line to Ardwick, near the present-day Manchester Piccadilly station, was built giving passenger and freight connection to the West Midlands and southern England.

The AS&LJR was closely aligned to the Manchester and Leeds Railway, and in 1847 the two companies amalgamated, along with another line still under construction, and the combined company was named the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The Ardwick branch was not opened until after the amalgamation.

When the London and North Western Railway developed a route to Leeds via Huddersfield, its trains used the AS&LJR line from Manchester to Stalybridge, so that the S&LJR formed part of an important main line. Most of the small network remains in use at the present day.