Chat
Moss is a vast peat bog lying north of the River Irwell and five miles
west of Manchester. Almost twelve square miles in area with the widest
part lying across the direct route between Liverpool
and Manchester.
All the early route surveys of proposed railway routes between Liverpool
and Manchester made detours to avoid Chat Moss. The owners of the
Liverpool & Manchester Railway were
therefore surprised when their chief engineer, George
Stephenson, argued that it was possible to cross the peat bog.
Members of the House of Commons also had
doubts about Stephenson's proposal and this was one of the main reasons
why Parliament rejected the Liverpool &
Manchester company's plans for a railway in 1824. Stephenson was
unwilling to change his proposed route and two years later Parliament
gave in and passed the bill given permission for the
building of the railway.
John Dixon was recruited as resident engineer and together they devised
a strategy for crossing Chat Moss. George
Stephenson believed that it would be possible to use a floating
raft to support the four mile trackbed across the bog. At first a
footpath of heather was laid along the proposed route. This worked
well and so it was broadened out to carry a contractor's line on which
boys pushed the one ton wagons of construction material.
Over 200 men were employed to lay drains on each side of the track
area. Although this worked in the shallower parts, it made no impact
on the deeper areas of the bog. George
Stephenson now had to change his plan and the drain was replaced
with barrels and casks jointed together and coated with clay to create
a form of pipe. This improved the situation but at an area known as
the Blackpool Hole, the barrels continued to rise to the surface.
It was suggested to Stephenson that he should abandon his strategy
and instead build a viaduct across the bog. Stephenson refused to
accept defeat, and no doubt influenced by the large amounts of money
already used at Chat Moss, decided to keep trying. One of the men
on the site, Robert Stannard, suggested a plan that would produce
a firm but pliable track. Stephenson accepted Stannard's idea of timber
laid in herring-bone
fashion. This was combined with moss, heather and brushwood hurdles.
Progress was slow and the track across Chat Moss was not finished
until December, 1829. On 1st January 1830, the Rocket
successfully hauled a one-ton carriage train across the four mile
section.
The Rocket crossing Chat Moss
in 1830.
(1)
Samuel Smiles described Chat Moss in his
book Lives of the Engineers (1899)
Chat
Moss is an immense peat bog of about twelve square miles. Unlike the
bogs or swamps of Cambridge and Lincolnshire, which consist principally
of soft mud or silt, this bog is a vast mass of spongy vegetable pulp.
The spagni, or bog-mosses, cover the entire area; one year's growth
rising over another, the older growths not entirely decaying. the
peculiar character of the Moss has prevented an insuperable difficulty
in the way of reclaiming it by any system of extensive drainage.
(2)
Thomas Harrison, an opponent of the proposed Liverpool
& Manchester Railway, criticised Stephenson's plan to cross
Chat Moss.
It
is ignorance almost inconceivable. It is perfect madness. Every part
of the scheme shows that this man has applied himself to a subject
of which he has no knowledge, and to which he has no science to apply.
(3)
On 25th April, 1825, George Stephenson gave evidence to the House
of Commons committee looking into the proposed Liverpool
& Manchester Railway. Edward Alderson, criticised Stephenson's
plans for Chat Moss.
Everybody
knows that the iron sinks immediately on its being put upon the surface.
I have heard of culverts, which have been put upon the Moss, which
after been surveyed the day before, have the next morning disappeared.
As fast as one is added, the lower one sinks! There is nothing, it
appears, except long sedgy grass, and a little soil to prevent it
sinking into the shades of eternal night.
(4)
On 23rd December, 1837 George Stephenson
made a speech in Birmingham about building the railway over Chat Moss.
After working for weeks and weeks we went on filling in without the
slightest apparent effect. Even my assistants began to feel uneasy
and to doubt the success of the scheme. The directors, too, spoke
of it as a hopeless task, and at length they became seriously alarmed,
so much so, indeed, that a board meeting was held on Chat Moss to
decide whether I should proceed any further. they had previously taken
the opinion of other engineers, who reported unfavourably. We had
to go on. An immense outlay had been incurred and a great loss would
have been occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned.
(5)
Samuel Smiles later interviewed George
Stephenson and Robert Stephenson
about how they managed to overcome Chat Moss.
George Stephenson's idea was, that a railroad might be made to float
upon the bog. As a ship, or raft, capable of sustaining heavy loads
floated in water, so in his opinion, might a light road be floated
upon a bog. The first thing done was to form a footpath of heather
along the proposed road, on which a man might walk without risk of
sinking. A single line of temporary railway was then laid down, formed
of ordinary cross-bars about 3 feet long and an inch square, with
holes punched through them at the ends and nailed down to temporary
sleepers. Along this way ran the waggons in which were conveyed the
materials requisite to form the permanent road. These waggons carried
about a ton each, and were propelled by boys running behind them along
the narrow iron rails. The boys became so expert that they would run
the 4 miles at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour without missing a
step.
(6)
Samuel Smiles, Life of George Stephenson
(1875)
During
the progress of these works the most ridiculous rumours were set afloat.
The drivers of the stage-coaches who feared for their jobs, brought
the most alarming intelligence into Manchester from time to time,
that "Chat Moss was blown up!" "Hundred of men and
horses had sunk and the works were completely abandoned!" The
engineer himself was declared to have swallowed up in the Serbonian
bog; and "railways were at an end for ever!"
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