The original Bridge
"The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the first railway to carry passengers between two cities on a scheduled basis and powered by steam. Its construction involved overcoming a number of geographical challenges and required the engineers to construct 64 bridges and viaducts, all of which were built of brick or masonry. When the railway first arrived in Manchester, the terminus was actually on the Salford side of the Irwell. However, eventually a piece of land was located close to the canals of Castlefield for a station and sheds. One last challenge was the crossing of Water Street. This was achieved by the construction of a cast iron beam girder bridge by William Fairbairn and Eaton Hodgkinson. It was cast at their factory in Ancoats."
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There was an arched brick viaduct at each end of this bridge. To the west it connected to a stone arch bridge with wide spans over the river Irwell to allow river traffic to pass freely. To the east it connected this bridge to the station buildings.
Conversion to goods trains only
From the start the trains carried both passengers and goods and warehouses were constructed on the northern side of the station.
The Liverpool Road railway station was a terminus, but the line proved to be such a success that the rail network expanded rapidly and better connections were required.
In 1844 Victoria Railway station was built on the north bank of the river Irwell and to the east of this location. When it opened on the 1st January 1844 its lines ran to the east of Manchester to Leeds.
It was realised that it would be useful to connect the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Victoria station so that Manchester would have a through route.
A connecting line was built on the north bank of the Irwell bypassing the crossing of the river into Liverpool Road Station.
This new section of line opened on 4th May 1844 and all passenger services stopped crossing the river, but goods trains still continued to use warehouses next to Liverpool Road station.
Rebuilding the bridge
The original bridge on this site was partly supported by 11 Doric style columns on each side of the road which both provided a covered walkway and a decorative feature.
By 1904 the bridge was in need of repair and it was decided to replace the bridge with a steel girder bridge. By replacing the supporting columns the width of the roadway beneath was widened to 48 feet wide and the height of the bridge was 17 feet.
Change of Use to heritage status
The station continued to act as a goods only station until 1975 when the warehouses were closed. Part of the area including the original station became the Museum of Science and Industry whilst the remaining land was sold to Granada Television who used the area to build television studios and offices.
The bridge remained connected to the main railway system and although did not carry regular services, occasional heritage trains were used to carry passengers between Preston and the museum site.
The Ordsall Chord and closure of the bridge
Manchester had a number of railway stations connecting to the rest of the UK, but although Victoria Station had through connections from West to East, Piccadilly Station, the other major station mainly served lines north to south with no direct connection between the east to west routes..
Many schemes had been proposed to allow connecting trains between Victoria and Piccadilly station and finally the Ordsall Chord was accepted. This short section of line connected The Liverpool and Manchester Railway to the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway and allows trains to travel between Victoria and Piccadilly stations.
This curved section of track had to cross the River Irwell close to the original crossing point of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and because of the relative heights of the two connected lines it was not possible make the new bridge high enough.
It was therefore necessary to cut through the original route and the short distance of track from Liverpool Road Station across water street and then the River Irwell became unusable.
The Ordsall Chord was completed in 2017 at which point this bridge over Water Street became totally redundant.
Because of the historical importance of this area the bridge is a Historic England Grade II listed building.
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