The Skew Bridge

At Rainhill station. It’s one of the most important places in Railway history, for it was here over 9 days in 1829 that the Rainhill trials were conducted.

From the latter part of the eighteenth century both Liverpool and Manchester saw huge growth. Cotton and other goods were imported through the port of Liverpool, and taken to the engineering, processing and manufacturing works in Manchester. But the growth of both cities was constrained by the poor transport links over the 35 miles separating the two cities.

So businessmen in both cities came up with a novel proposition, a railway line linking them. The proposition was opposed by canal companies and landowners, but eventually powers were granted in 1826 to construct the line. Its proponents lost no time in commencing works, which involved much novel engineering design, and by 1829 it was substantially complete (which I still find extraordinary). The Rainhill trials were set up as a competition - to test what vehicle could adequately pull the carriages. Thousands turned up here to watch the trials, with George Stephenson’s steam powered “Rocket” emerging as the clear winner.

The Skew Bridge”, under which the train is passing on its way to Liverpool Lime Street, is grade 2 listed - the first road bridge ever constructed over a railway. The turnpike operators refused to change the alignment of the turnpike, so the railway had to pass under it at an angle of 34 degrees. Tricky to build - a model was built in an adjacent field so the stone cutting could be achieved correctly.

This otherwise rather ordinary place has a claim that what happened here in 1829 changed the world forever, as the technology first tested at the Trials rapidly developed and spread around the world.