THIS painting is one by S. G. Hughes of the original Intersection Bridge that crossed the Liverpool and Manchester railway a few hundred yards to the west of St Helens Junction station.

It shows the first place IN THE WORLD where a railway crossed a railway.

It was the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, who wanted to take coal from our local collieries to Spike Island in Widnes, where the coal could be taken down the Weaver to the Cheshire salt fields, or further down the Mersey to Liverpool.

On May 29, 1830 the Bill authorising the St Helens and Runcorn Railway received its Royal Assent. Now this was nearly four months before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened. The Act stipulated that the line should not cross the L&M on the level, but by means of a bridge or a tunnel. They opted for a bridge.

Initially, when it opened, it was a relatively flat route to the bridge, with a train due to be pulled up by stationary engine, but the engine was still incomplete and accounts say “and the coals were obliged to be drawn up the Inclined Plane at Sutton by Locomotive Engine and also by men and horses”.

My dad took me along that stretch a couple of times and showed me the traces of the structure that housed the stationery engine.

Photographs taken in the 1880s show the original bridge had been removed, to be replaced by a less attractive structure, so while the site is of historical significance, the rather rusty wreck that was recently removed by Network Rail was not.

However, it is sad that only at Rainhill are there proper interpretation boards to boast our fascinating heritage, and this is as much the borough’s fault as Network Rail.