The East Lancashire Railway (ELR) was created by an Act of Parliament in 1846, as an amalgamation of two railway schemes. The Manchester, Bury, and Rossendale Railway was incorporated in 1844, as a means of affording direct communication between Bury and Manchester, with the extension to Rawtenstall as an afterthought. The promoters wished to reach the intended Manchester station at Hunts Bank (Victoria Station) by means of a junction with the Manchester and Leeds Railway at Collyhurst, but the Leeds company was promoting its own scheme. Consequently it made an agreement with the Manchester and Bolton Railway, to reach Victoria by means of a junction at Clifton.

Public interest was aroused by the scheme, and pressure was exerted to extend the line further. This could only be done by promoting a separate line. The Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington and Colne Extension Railway was incorporated in 1845, the Act making provision for subsequent amalgamation with the original company.

The united line was opened in stages:

• 25 September 1846: from a junction at Clifton via Radcliffe and Bury and then through the Rossendale Valley serving Summerseat and Ramsbottom to Rawtenstall
• August 1848: from a junction on the original line at Stubbins Junction north of Ramsbottom via Helmshore and Haslingden to Accrington The latter was a triangular junction. From here, a line went westward to Blackburn, linking with the Blackburn and Preston Railway, which the company absorbed.
• December 1848: eastwards from Accrington to Burnley
• 1 February 1849: extended from Burnley through Nelson to Colne, where it made a junction with the Midland line to Leeds and Bradford.

In the meantime, the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway was acquired. This gave direct access from the East Lancashire towns to Liverpool Docks.

The ELR was now guided by Cornelius Nicholson, something of a Victorian polymath - he was an ex-mayor of Kendal, a promoter of the Caledonian Railway, and a correspondent of Wordsworth. Nicholson modelled himself upon George Hudson, the Railway King, and proposed a railway empire based upon Bury. His wilder schemes (which included promoting a line to Scotland) came to nothing, but the ELR certainly expanded.

A separate approach to Preston was constructed, to avoid paying tolls to the North Union Railway; the original line was extended from Rawtenstall to Bacup in 1852; and branches constructed to Southport and Skelmersdale.

The East Lancashire Railway built the Skelmersdale Branch from Ormskirk to Skelmersdale and Rainford Junction, which opened on 1 March 1858. Passenger services ended on 5 November 1956, goods to Rainford finished on 16 November 1961 and Skelmersdale on 4 November 1963.

Unfortunately, Nicholson's ambitions, especially the promotion of the ELR as part of an alternative trans-Pennine route, had made a serious enemy. In 1847 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y) had been formed from the Manchester and Leeds Railway and the Manchester and Bolton Railway, upon which the ELR relied for access to Manchester. The Leeds company tried to cause delays by insisting upon inspecting every ticket at Clifton Junction. The result was the so-called Battle of Clifton Junction in 1849.

This curious episode began when L&Y inspectors stopped a Manchester-bound ELR train and demanded to see the tickets. The ELR guard said that they had all been collected at the previous station. The train was forbidden to proceed. To make sure, a large baulk of wood had been placed upon the track, and an empty L&Y train stood beyond it. (The L&Y were intending to convey the ELR passengers to Manchester after their point had been made). But the ELR had hidden a gang of navvies on their train. While the two sides argued, they removed the baulk. The order was given to proceed. Alas, there was still the train on the line in front of them! The ELR train tried to push it, but the L&Y train was put into reverse. While these two trains grappled, the ELR remembered that they had a ballast (stone) train in the vicinity. They reversed it down the opposite line directly on to the Bolton line, effectively blockading it. The contest continued for several hours until both sides gave up.

In August 1859 the ELR and the L&Y amalgamated.

Source: www.wikipedia.org