The Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR)

The truly unique line from Manchester to Altrincham, run for almost a hundred years by a community based company, was opened on 20 July 1849 as the Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway. The company was jointly controlled by the London and North Western Railway and the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later the Great Central Railway) until 1923, and then by the London Midland and Scottish (LMS) and the London and North Eastern Railway ( LNER) until nationalisation when the line became part of British Railways.

In 1931 the line was electrified in a pioneering1500 volt DC overhead system and the 3car multiple units built remained in use until 1971. In May of that year the line was converted to the, now standard, 25 kV AC electric system which enabled trains from Altrincham to run beyond Manchester to Stockport and Crewe. The line underwent a further change in 1992 when most of it became part of the ground breaking 750 volt DC Metrolink light rail system which operates onstreet  through the city centre of Manchester and out to Bury.