Chester to Manchester Line Through Time

The route covered by this book dates from 1849 and ran from Manchester to Altrincham, utilising the infrastructure of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway, then to Knutsford by 1862, with extensions to Northwich and Mouldsworth and a new terminus at Chester Northgate by 1874. Operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee, trains from Chester via Altrincham terminated at Manchester Central, until its closure in 1969, with Northgate closing later in the same year. For many years the line had the reputation of being one of the busiest in the country and today serves many small rural communities in Cheshire. From its beginning in the historic Roman City of Chester, this book details the contrasts, through the agricultural farmland and villages of Mid Cheshire, and the remaining industrial remnants of the salt and chemical industries around Northwich, through the outer suburbs of Greater Manchester to the city centre, with its rich heritage of Victorian railway infrastructure.