Liverpool & Manchester The Basics

The first mainline railway was built between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool & Manchester 190 years ago this month. It had a troubled gestation but was formally opened on 15 September 1830 by the Prime Minister of the day, the Duke of Wellington, an event which turned triumph into tragedy with the mortal wounding of an MP. Yet despite this public service commenced the following day and the morden, mainline railway was born.

[@liverpoolandmanchesterrailway]

In a good way, that felt a lot longer than 16 minutes! Jam-packed with lots of good stuff.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Thank you. It was very hard to keep it simple and also define what the L&M was. It could have got very long, very technical and a bit yawn-tastic.

[@malcolmtaylor518]

Refreshing to be reminded of a time when vision was translated into hardware and things actually got done. Your series on pioneering railways is long overdue, and most interesting.

[@giliarmson7293]

One of the best videos of the topic....and I've seen a lot. Great pics !

[@MrFazz84]

I actually live in rainhill, So a good video

[@nightlightabcd]

I think that is is amazing that they found the real, actual Rocket!

[@muir8009]

in reference to the paint scheme, I vaguely recall an article that yellow as a pigmented colour (rather than some earthen ochre based morasse) that could be ground with turpentine etc had been newly invented by a German chemist, and yellow was a bit of the "in" colour, and defined tech at the time. bit like a Bentley in BRG or slapping some uber alles silver on your auto union (that excludes lost private taxis), as you said so eruditely, it's racing colours...

[@anglewoden]

It would be great if we had extra details like the Rocket being altered and what happened to the other 4 Loco's that were used before the Planet came along.

[@connormclernon26]

Good to see a video on this topic

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Thanks :-) Going to be covering a few more early lines in the future

[@tommcglone2867]

The line from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime Street today uses the trackbed of the LTMR. Including the Chatt Moss straight.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

It does indeed. It's amazing that structures like the Sankey Viaduct and all the bridges were engineered for trains weighing about 25 tons and travelling at 20mph and they're now carrying several hundred tons and trains doing a ton.

[@tommcglone2867]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory well the track bed and bridges were strengthened to handle the increase in traffic and the weight of modern trains

[@TheClass56xxfan]

i love these videos

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Thankyou :)

[@axidraws4326]

You should do a video about locomotive number 1

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

I've done one on Trevithick's machine if that's what you mean?

[@benburch3250]

Semi-off topic question; Were there any water-powered winding engines used on railway inclines?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

Off the top off my head in Wales. I think there was one on pre-locomotive Ffestiniog that was powered by a waterwheel but I could be wrong.

[@HamStrains]

Not quite what you mean I suspect but there's the water balance powered incline in Aberystwyth, converted to electric in the 20's.

[@eliotreader8220]

what did the railway do with all the peat they dug out of Chatt Moss did they use it to keep their station waiting rooms warm during the winter

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

It went back into Chat Moss: the Moss was crossed by dumping interleved layers of woven hurdles and branches with gravel, stones and soil.

[@eliotreader8220]

how many people where killed building the Liverpool and Manchester railway?

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

unfortunately I dont know. I've never looked into it.

[@eliotreader8220]

was the Liverpool and Manchester partially build to transport steam coal for the stationary steam engines that powered the cotton mills in Manchester?

[@DiegoLiger]

Whilst it carried coal, Steam Coal comes from South Wales and is a particular type of coal. Most of coal trade was toward Liverpool rather than Manchester for onward transport by ship along the coast. Coal was transported by the collieries themsleves using their own locomotives and waggons on the L&M Mainline for which they paid tolls.

[@eliotreader8220]

@@DiegoLiger so how did the mill owners buy their steam coal and get it Delievered then?

[@DiegoLiger]

@@eliotreader8220 They bought it from coal merchants, who had purchased the coal from the collieries.

[@eliotreader8220]

@@DiegoLiger did the railway company buy coal so they could convert it into coke or did they buy their smokeless soild fuel from someone else? a bit like the Great Western railway?

[@DiegoLiger]

@@eliotreader8220 they bought Foundry Coke from Worsley (near Manchester) and also tried coke produced at gasworks from making coal gas.

[@colors7792]

Stephen isn’t a rocket, he’s slow. One time he was trying to beat glen in a race even tho no one won when they reached tidmouth station

[@xekussy]

This is real life railway history,what you are taking about is Thomas,don't bring Thomas into everything.

[@eliotreader8220]

I was reading the first book in the railway dectective book series the other day in the chaper where the train robbery takes place it said that the steam engine's soild fuel was coal and not coke. does this mistake not matter because the story is set during 1851 and is it a easy to make a mistake like that especially if the writer never saw a steam locomotive fueled by coke

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

It's a mistake. The writer hasn't done their research.

[@eliotreader8220]

@@AnthonyDawsonHistory I understand that the book was originally written back in 2005 i believe. i understand that the writer's Dad was a engine driver just like the victim Driver Andrews.

[@AnthonyDawsonHistory]

@@eliotreader8220 Doesn't menat they're a historian. I've read other books by the same writer and, sadly, have also been unimpressed by them :(