ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

A RAIL buff has been put on the right track regarding what seems to have been a totally unique locomotive route.

Regulars may recall that a correspondent styling himself "Curious" asked ( July 24) if anyone could shed further light on an area known to folk down Sutton way as The Intersection - a point where the old disused Widnes rail route crossed the Liverpool-Manchester main line.

"Curious" believed this to be the first example in the world of one railway line crossing over the top of another by rail-bridge. But he sought confirmation.

"I'm sure he is right!" declares my old chum Kevin Heneghan, retired teacher and keen student of local history, who seems a little concerned that there might be no preservation order on this site of special historical significance.

Kevin, from North Road, St Helens, has kindly burrowed back in time to come up with evidence to support his belief.

"The Liverpool-Manchester line, opened in 1830, was the first true railway," he adds, "as the Stockton-Darlington (though five years older) used horse-drawn coaches as well as steam locomotives."

The St Helens and Runcorn Gap railway , which crossed the Intersection, opened in 1833, and was Merseywide's second railway.

Digging out the Ordnance Survey map for 1841, Kevin sees that this line also intersected with the Liverpool-Warrington. But that line came at a later date.

"The Sutton Leach Intersection was first!" claims Kevin, who explains that the line to Runcorn Gap was built in competition with the Sankey Canal to carry coals from collieries which were less accessible by the watery route.

The original plan showed branches to no fewer than eleven collieries, but debt and technical hitches reduced this number to five . It was anything but an easy ride for those who speculated on the scheme. The Intersection, Kevin reveals, was approached on each side by an inclined plane. And as the gradient was too steep for early locomotives, the loaded wagons had to be hauled up by a stationary steam engine or by men and horses.

"Although the company survived the despression of the early 1840s, it amalgamated with prosperous Sankey Canal in 1845."

Our North Road informant points out that there are two pictures of the Intersection - plus one of the seal of amalgamation - in Mary Presland's excellent publication, "St Helens: A Pictorial History" (Phillimore £12.95).

"It is a book which I commend to all overs of local history," adds Kevin, who has had a little chat with her on this railtrack theme.

"The first picture is of a print showing a Novelty-type loco crossing the splendid Intersection Bridge over the Liverpool-Manchester line," he goes on. On the lower-level line, a Rocket-type locomotive is heading towards Manchester and to the right of the bridge is the still-rural Penlake Lane. The second illustration is an intriguing late 19th-century photograph showing a wider and far less elegant Intersection being crossed by a goods train, and with a Liverpool-bound passenger train standing on the track below.

"A crowd of at least 200 men and boys, all dressed in their Sunday best, throng track and fence, with some standing on the footbridge."

All are gazing towards Liverpool and only one woman and a girl are included in the crowd. What all the excitement is about remains a mystery.

One theory is is that they were waiting for a glimpse of a Royal Train. But Kevin has his doubts. If so, he reasons, surely more women and girls would have been drawn to the scene.

And, he points out, had they all be waiting to board a Manchester train between stations, they would have been positioned on the other side of the tracks.

And Kevin signs off: "When I spoke to Mary Presland she was unable to say if there is a preservation order on the Intersection Bridge - but in her view there ought to be, before a famous local landmark disappears."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.