Clifton Country Park, Salford, M27 6
The East Lancashire Railway line from Clifton Junction to Bury, now closed, crossed the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal and the river irwell by means of this 13 arch stone viaduct. The canal crossed the river by means of an aqueduct close by. The river was crossed again by the Outwood Viaduct further north. It is a fine structure rising 24 m. (80 ft.) above water level.
In 1849 Clifton Junction was the scene of a pitched battle between employees of the Lancashire & Yorkshire and East Lancashire Railways. The latter had running powers over the LYR from Clifton Junction into Manchester and was charged a rate according to the number of passengers carried. The LYR distrusted their competitor and insisted on checking the numbers. When the ELR ceased stopping at Clifton in order to avoid the control, the LYR placed obstacles across the track to force a stop. They also placed a train on the line in order to take those passengers who had a ticket. The ELR removed the obstacles and then had to push the LYR train out of the way, a task made harder by the LYR bringing up an extra locomotive. Meanwhile the ELR blocked the other line. After a physical struggle between locomotives the ELR won the day.
By Road: Follow a cycle track, the irwell Sculpture Trail, north from Clifton station through an industrial estate to the Clifton Country Park.
Biddle, Gordon, Britain's Historic Railway Buildings, Oxford University Press, ISBN-10: 0198662475 (2003)
Biddle, Gordon & Nock, O.S., The Railway Heritage of Britain : 150 years of railway architecture and engineering, Studio Editions, ISBN-10: 1851705953 (1990)
Biddle, Gordon and Simmons, J., The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, Oxford, ISBN 0 19 211697 5 (1997)
Bonavia, Michael, Historic Railway Sites in Britain, Hale, ISBN 0 7090 3156 4 (1987)
Conolly, W. Philip, British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas And Gazetteer, Ian Allan Publishing, ISBN 0-7110-0320-3 (1958/97)
Jowett, Alan, Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland, Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. (March 1989)
Morgan, Bryan, Railways: Civil Engineering, Arrow, ISBN 0 09 908180 6 (1973)
Morgan, Bryan, Railway Relics, Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 0092 1 (1969)
Simmons, J., The Railways of Britain, Macmillan, ISBN 0 333 40766 0 (1961-86)
Simmons, J. The Victorian Railway, Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0 500 25110X (1991)
Smith, Martin, British Railway Bridges and Viaducts, Ian Allan, ISBN 0 7110 2273 9 (1994)
Turnock, David, An Historical Geography of Railways, Ashgate, ISBN 1 85928 450 7 (1998)
