The Warrington and Altrincham Junction Railway railway was created by act of parliament on the July 3 1851[1] to build a line between Timperley Junction on the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway(MSJAR), to provide a through route to Manchester, and Warrington Arpley on the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway providing a link with Liverpool.
A bill to build an extension, designed by Thomas Brassey, to Stockport was authorised on the 4 August 1853 also renamed the railway company to the Warrington and Stockport Railway.
The Warrington and Stockport Railway (W&SR) was opened on 1 November 1853 from a temporary station at Wilderspool in Warrington to a station at Altrincham which later became Broadheath. Delays in the delivery of iron work for the bridges over the Mersey and Bridgewater Canal meant that the line was initially isolated from the rest of the railway network. The line was opened throughout from 1 May 1854 although passenger trains terminated at Broadheath until the W&SR and MSJAR could agree on charges for passengers travelling beyond there to Manchester via Timperley.
A link with Stockport was achieved when the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway (ST&AJ) opened its line on 1 February 1866 from Broadheath Junction on the W&SR to Skelton Junction on the newly opened line from Deansgate Junction to Stockport.
The LNWR operated the line from opening and on 1 January 1861 bought it. On 9 July 1893 the line was re-routed to allow for the Manchester Ship Canal, which would open in 1894, the canal being crossed by the high level Latchford Viaduct.
Passenger trains on the line ended on 10 September 1962. The line to the east of Latchford closed completely on 7 July 1985. The line was still busy at this time but extensive (and costly) repairs would have been needed to the Latchford Viaduct for continued operation - these were deemed not to be economically justifiable given that the remaining traffic could be diverted via alternative routes.
The trackbed between Latchford and Broadheath now forms part of the Trans Pennine Trail