Quote Originally Posted by captain kong View Post
Having just done a long sea voyage it made a nice change to sail up the Canal to Manchester, To see the green fields and trees and sheep and cattle, it wasnt all industry. It was the same when outward bound, the last sight of trees and grass for maybe many months.
and I was only ten minutes from home.

In the `old` days cotton camefrom Batton Rouge 200 miles up the Mississipi, down to New Orleans on barges to be loaded onto a Harrison boat and all the way to Manchester then unloaded onto barges then up the canal to the town center of Bolton, to make Bolton the `Cotton Town` of the world, the cotton travelled all those thousands of miles and had never been on a road.What a wonderful way of transportation.
But, off loading at Liverpool, or Eastham if Manchester wanted to bi-pass Liverpool, and trains direct to Bolton is quicker and cheaper and more flexible and trains could go directly into companies sidings, preventing another handling from one transport mode to another.

The canal is poorly sold. Lay-bys can easily be cut into the side of the canal at any point along its length. That means companies can have cargo loaded and unloaded directly into the plant. It is a 36 mile long linear dock.