Crossing the Bridgewater Canal

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 28th October 2011 by Liam Physick

One of the images donated to Metal by Eric Shenton. Here a locomotive pulls a train over the famous Bridgewater Canal in Manchester. The Canal had been one of the major transport routes until the advent of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The Railway itself started due to dissatisfaction with the canals: their fares were high, they did not cope well with large amounts of cargo, and they were seen as a monopoly in the hands of the landowners: by contrast, the pioneers of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway came from the nascent capitalist class. The Bridgewater Canal Trustees successfully lobbied against the first bill to construct the Railway, but dropped their opposition after the Marquess of Stafford, owner of the Canal (nephew of its founder Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater) was persuaded by William Huskisson to buy shares in the Railway Company. After the Railway was opened, the Canal lowered its fares, and thus managed to maintain its level of traffic, but profits steadily declined due to competition from the emerging railways

Tagged under: steam locomotives, liverpool and manchester railway, eric shenton, tender locomotives, coaches, carriages, passengers, william huskisson, canals, bridgewater canal

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives