that the line by-passed many important towns is emphasised by the notes in the timetable: Mills Hill (for Oldham); Blue Pitts (for Heywood); Todmorden (for Burnley); Sowerby Bridge (for Halifax); Brighouse (for Bradford); and Cooper Bridge (for Huddersfield). The M&LR quickly achieved a high profit level, owing to the density of population along the route and the fact that in the early years much southbound traffic from Manchester was routed this way owing to disputes affecting the Grand Junction Railway. In July 1844, the M&LR seized all the Midland Railway goods wagons on its system in order to run a cheap excursion from Dewsbury to Liverpool—at the time a commonplace form of accommodation. The Midland reacted by taking all the M&LR wagons it could find and moving them to Derby. On 16 September 1847, a train headed by a 2-2-2 engine was derailed by a broken rail at Sowerby Bridge, killing two passengers and injuring one. In his report Captain J L A Simmons, the government inspector, strongly condemned the permanent way. Over a distance of the chairs had worked loose in the stone blocks, the gauge varied by plus and minus and the rails were badly worn. Between 1844 and 1846, some seventeen and a half miles of line had been relaid with 80-lb double-head rails in chairs, but much remained to be done. Manchester Victoria Station After the opening of the Leeds to Manchester line, only the gap between the M&LR's Oldham Road station and the L&MR's Liverpool Road terminus in Manchester, prevented there being a through line from Liverpool to Hull. As well as the inconvenience to passengers, goods had to be unloaded and carted across Manchester and reloaded into railway wagons. The companies agreed to make a connecting line from the M&LR at Miles Platting to a new station at Hunt's Bank and on to the terminus of the Manchester and Bolton Railway (close to the present-day Salford Central station) and over an ‘S’-shaped link to join the L&MR to the west of its terminus in July 1838. The Hunt's Bank site was purchased privately by Samuel Brooks, vice-chairman of the M&LR, and presented to the company in August 1838. The section from Miles Platting to Hunt's Bank was built by the M&LR, and the western section by the L&MR. The Royal Assent was given to an L&MR Act for this arrangement on 14 June 1839,