Timperley area chord query

[Xenophon PCDGS]

After leaving Timperley station, heading towards Altrincham, there was a short chord on the left hand side leading from Timperley station to to the major junction area. Does anyone know who constructed this chord and what passengers services (if any) used this chord and what destination was reached by such a service.

 

[Bill Stanier]

It connected to the CLC line to Stockport Tiviot Dale via Northenden. I think it was built by the MSJ&AR, but was lifted very early 1900s so probably not used much. To be precise this was 'Timperley Junction'. Skelton Junction was at the east of the layout.

 

[Emyr]

This thread needs maps/charts/images.

 

[Bill Stanier]

Try this:

http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps/TwinMaps.aspx?township=EDT_397-2

You'll see 2 maps - a modern map of Timperley on the right, and a tithe map on the left. Move the 'modern' map until it's centered on Skelton Junction, then click on the 'OS c1910' tab on the left map. Enlarge to view it best.

You'll see a chord heading east from Timperley junction to join the chord connecting the stockport line to the Altrincham line.

A check in my books confirms the curve was built in 1879 by Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway to connect Timperley station to the Stockport & Altrincham Junction Railway. It was lifted in 1903, and one wonders why. It was only a short link, would have had minimum maintenance overhead, yet would have allowed otherwise impossible routings. Why not just leave it in place?

So as I surmised, it would have enabled trains to run from Manchester via Sale and Timperley, over the MSL 'curve' onto the STAJ line, then via Northenden to Stockport Tiviot Dale and points east, or via Northenden Junction to join the Midland main line via Peak Forest and Monsal dale.

 

[table38]

This thread needs maps/charts/images.

There's this, but it's wrong as it doesn't show the curve! And neither does the map here

-- edit --

Ah, there's one here which just about shows it (or where it was)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A check in my books confirms the curve was built in 1879 by Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway to connect Timperley station to the Stockport & Altrincham Junction Railway. It was lifted in 1903.

Many thanks, my ancient archive reference material on that specific area appears to have gone missing, so I am most grateful for this historical information. I was unaware that the construction date was as far back as 1879.

 

[lancastrian]

Many thanks, my ancient archive reference material on that specific area appears to have gone missing, so I am most grateful for this historical information. I was unaware that the construction date was as far back as 1879.

You can also read about this curve in George Dow's History of the Great Central Railway Volume 2. Sorry that I cannot check this as I am going by memory as sadly I don't have any of the three volumes. Have you seen the cost of them on Amazon?????

 

[thewiltog]

You can also read about this curve in George Dow's History of the Great Central Railway Volume 2. Sorry that I cannot check this as I am going by memory as sadly I don't have any of the three volumes. Have you seen the cost of them on Amazon?????

I think the query has been fully answered, but I've got a copy of Dow and I'll look it up if any more information is required.

 

[Greybeard33]

A check in my books confirms the curve was built in 1879 by Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway to connect Timperley station to the Stockport & Altrincham Junction Railway. It was lifted in 1903, and one wonders why. It was only a short link, would have had minimum maintenance overhead, yet would have allowed otherwise impossible routings. Why not just leave it in place?

So as I surmised, it would have enabled trains to run from Manchester via Sale and Timperley, over the MSL 'curve' onto the STAJ line, then via Northenden to Stockport Tiviot Dale and points east, or via Northenden Junction to join the Midland main line via Peak Forest and Monsal dale.

I suspect that the complicated ownership arrangements may have contributed to the closure. In 1903 I think the chord would still have been owned by the GCR (as the MS&LR had become). It linked the MSJ&AR, then jointly owned by the GCR and LNWR, to the ST&AJR, part of the CLC, which at that time was jointly owned by the GCR, GNR and MR. I doubt that there were regular passenger services on the chord, because CLC trains between Stockport Tiviot Dale and Liverpool served nearby West Timperley station on the Skelton Junction to Glazebrook line. It is difficult to see much demand for freight traffic over the chord either, since there were more direct routes from Manchester to Stockport and Northenden. So if it had become disused, it was probably cheaper for the GCR to lift it than to continue arrangements with its partners/rivals for on-going maintenance of the junctions.

 

[Senex]

The Timperley Curve was authorised by the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Act, 41-42 Vict. cap. xxx, 16 April 1878, and was opened on 1 December 1879. That day the MS&L started a Manchester-to-Manchester via Stockport Tiviot Dale local service. This proved a failure, and ran for the last time on 20 March 1880. (Two days later a revised Midland service between Manchester Central and Stockport began.) The Timperley Curve remained purely MS&L property, as that company’s partners in the MSJ&A, the LNW, refused to accept it as part of the joint undertaking.

In 1885 the MS&L proposed a line from Fairfield to Throstle Nest Junction, running parallel to the Midland’s Manchester South District Railway from Chorlton. In the spring of 1886, before the Act had been obtaied, agreement was reached with the Midland for the MS&L not to build the section of its proposed line parallel to the South District line from Chorlton and for the Midland to pass this section of its line to the CLC. The opening of this direct connection from the MS&L main line to the South District line in 1891 effectively rendered the Timperley Curve, which had never had any very obvious goods-traffic use, redundant, and so it is not surprising that it should be described as not maintained by the end of the decade and then reported as being removed just a few years later, in 1903.