West Coast roots TheWigan Branch and its connections

摘要

Much of Britain's early railway history is dominated by locally promoted schemes, with countless lines proposed in the aftermath of the 15 September 1830 opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (L&MR) as the first inter-city route, the railways and waggonways of Britain until then being very much created to serve the needs of industry, particularly the movement of minerals. Inevitably, connectivity with established railways made sense to those with a wider view and as early as 31 October 1838 it was possible to travel from London to Preston by rail, albeit not a seamless journey, and the names of the companies that made up the original patchwork of links were largely to be lost in amalgamations of the 1840s.