The
Manchester and Milford Railway (M&MR) was an
ambitious proposal to connect Manchester and the
industrialised Midlands and North West England
with the docks and deepwater port at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire. It was to be a standard gauge line using the
LNWR and Midland Railway tracks. The
M&MR would have connected with the Mid Wales Railway at Llanidloes, and
then, via a junction at Strata Florida, Ceredigion (Cardiganshire) with the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway (C&CR) at Pencader. Trains would
then have run on the C&CR to Carmarthen
before connecting to the Pembroke and Tenby Railway for connection to the
deepwater port at Milford Haven. The plan was that, combined with industrial
traffic from South Wales, Milford Haven could "provide the Lancashire
cotton industry with [an] alternative port to Liverpool ."
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| The Manchester & Milford Railway schemes - Source:spellerweb.net |
Almost
from the start, the scheme ran into financial difficulties. Construction began
in 1860, with the simplest section built first which meant that the Company
faced undertaking the toughest engineering challenge, the line between
Llanidloes and Strata Florida, when the money was running out. Though it
started on the line from Llanidloes, diverging from the Mid Wales line at
Penpontbren Junction, and got as far as Llangurig, it was decided, in 1865,
instead to simply divert the Lampeter route to Aberystwyth rather than build it
through the mountains, thus abandoning the hope for a strategic route. It has
been suggested that the bankruptcy of Thomas Savin, renowned Welsh railway
engineer and investor, in the 1860s, may have been partly to blame as it was
with the failure of several other Welsh railway projects. The M&M opened this modified through line in 1867.
In
1880, James Cholmeley Russell was appointed manager with the support of his
friend James Szlumper who had been involved with the M&M as the civil engineer from the very
start. Russell was soon at odds with the
Directors over the extent of his powers but quickly exerted his authority,
leading to his appointment as Receiver in November 1880. Despite the opposition
of the Directors, Russell worked tirelessly to put the M&M on a sound footing
and by the last years of the 19th century the railway was casting
off its previously somewhat ramshackle appearance, Russell having had his way
with investment in new rolling stock and signalling equipment.
However
by the end of the 19th century it had become clear that the only way
out of its difficulties was for the directors to sell out to one of the railway’s
larger neighbours. An initial but abortive approach was made to the Great Western
Railway in 1896 but the deal foundered on the price to be paid. Russell made a
second approach to the GWR in 1903, by which time he was beginning to wind down
his business activities. However in 1904 Russell also opened negotiations with
the Cambrian Railway but in that year he resigned, probably because of illness and
he was succeeded as manager and Receiver by T B Grierson.
The
M&M remained independent until taken
over by the Great Western Railway in 1911.
Sources:
Wikipedia and the
excellent history ‘The Manchester & Milford Railway’ by J S Holden
published by The Oakwood Press in 2007 (Second revised edition)
Map:
spellerweb.net
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